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Small Package QuotesPurolator Edition for Shopify |
The Purolator Small Package Quotes app retrieves your negotiated parcel rates, takes action on them according to the app settings, and displays the results as shipping options in the Shopify checkout process. Purolator is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario and is Canada’s premier courier company. If you don’t have a Purolator account number, contact them at 888-744-7123, or register online.
Basic Plan $20/month
Live negotiated carrier rates returned to the checkout process.
Supported origins: Canada.
Supported destinations: All destinations Purolator provides service to.
Select which services to present to your shoppers.
Use the optional Standard Box Sizes feature to retrieve hyper-accurate rate estimates supported by step-by-step graphic illustrations of the packaging solution.
Support for individual items that ship as multiple packages. (Requires use of the optional Standard Box Sizes feature)
Define multiple warehouse locations.
Identify products that drop ship from vendors.
Compatible with Shopify Locations.
Assign products and variants a shipping weight and dimensions.
Basic option for residential delivery.
Embed a handling charge in the displayed rates to recover the cost of packaging materials or other shipping related expenses. The handling charge can be specified as dollars and cents, or as a percentage of the quoted rate.
Dynamic presentation of parcel and LTL freight rates with the installation of compatible apps from Eniture Technology
Standard Plan $25/month
Everything in the Basic Plan, plus…
Do not display rates if a post office box is detected
Support for products that ship hazardous material.
Advanced Plan $40/month
Everything in the Standard Plan, plus…
Limit when Ground service is offered based on transit time.
Offer options for in-store pick up and local delivery.
Support for products that can be nested when shipped, such as garbage cans or drinking cups.
Current version: 2.0
Requirements
A Shopify account with the Real-Time Carrier Shipping feature enabled. The feature is standard on the Advanced Shopify subscription package. It can be added to other packages by contacting Shopify customer service.
A Purolator account number.
Your username and password to purolator.com.
Your Purolator Activation Key.
FAQ’S
How do I get this application?
This application can only be installed from the Shopify App Store. Click here to locate the app in the Shopify App Store and then click the GET button to install the app. You must have the Shopify store owner credentials to perform the installation.
How do I get a Purolator account number?
Contact them at 888-744-7123, or register online.
Where do I find my purolator.com username and password?
Contact Purolator customer service at 888-744-7123, or try to recover it online.
Where do I get my Purolator Activation Key?
Obtaining a Purolator Activation Key is done on purolator.com and requires a few steps. Refer to the Documentation tab on this page for detailed instructions.
Why were the shipment charges I received on the invoice from Purolator different than what was quoted by the application?
The rates will be the same if the shipment parameters used to obtain the quote are exactly the same as those that were used for the invoice. Compare the shipment parameters in the application with those on the invoice. Pay close attention to product weight, dimensions and various accessorial fees like residential delivery. Consider making changes as needed. Remember that the weight of packaging materials is included in the weight of the shipment and that your use of box size may also have an impact on the shipment’s billable weight. If you are unable to reconcile the differences call Purolator for assistance.
Why do I sometimes get a message that a shipping rate estimate couldn’t be provided?
There are several possibilities:
The city entered for the shipping address may not be valid for the postal code entered. A valid City+State+Postal Code combination is required to retrieve a rate estimate and Shopify does not perform this level of address validation. Contact us by phone (404-369-0680) or email (support@eniture.com) to inquire about solutions to this problem.
Purolator has restrictions on a shipment’s maximum weight, length and girth which your shipment may have exceeded.
There wasn’t enough information about the weight or dimensions for the products in the shopping cart to retrieve a shipping rate estimate.
The Purolator web service isn’t operational.
Your Purolator account has been suspended or cancelled.
Your subscription to the application has expired because payment could not be processed.
There is an issue with the Eniture Technology servers.
There is an issue with the Shopify servers.
User’s Guide
To use these instructions you must be logged in to Shopify as the store’s administrator, or with a login that has administrative privileges.
Setting up the application to retrieve Purolator quotes consists of the following steps:
- Prepare Shopify to use the application.
- Obtain a Purolator Production Key.
- Choose the desired plan.
- Connect the application to Purolator’s E-Ship Web Service.
- Choose the desired quote settings.
- Identify your warehouse and drop ship locations.
- Box Size (Packaging) Settings.
- Enter the product shipping parameters.
Other information contained in this guide:
1. Prepare Shopify to use the application. |
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You must have the Third-party calculated shipping rates feature on your Shopify plan to have live carrier quotes displayed in the checkout process. It is standard on the Shopify Advanced plan and can be added to other Shopify plans by calling Shopify Customer Service at 888-746-7439. (Learn more)
Navigate to the Settings>Shipping page. Click on the Manage rates link for the General shipping rates in the Rates at checkout section.
In the General shipping profile, locate the shipping origin from which you want the app to provide quotes.
If the only shipping zone you have is Rest of world, click on the Create shipping zone link and then enter a zone name (i.e. “Domestic”).
Locate the shipping zone for which you want to app to provide quotes. Click the Add rate button.
Select the option Use carrier or app to calculate rates.
It may take a moment for Shopify to retrieve the list of apps capable of providing shipping quotes for your store. After it has, the appearance of the Add rate page will be similar to the image below. Perform the following actions:
- Select the app from the drop down list.
- Enable the Services are selected in the app preferences setting. If this setting isn’t available to enable, don’t be concerned. Click the Done button at the bottom of the page and continue on to the next step.
- Click the Done button at the bottom of the page.
Repeat the steps above to enable the app for any other shipping zone. You should only enable the app in shipping zones that the app is capable of returning quotes for.
The app will return rates for the following types of shipments:
- – Canadian domestic shipments
- – Shipments from the United States to Canada
- – Shipments from Canada to the United States
- – Shipments from Canada to countries serviced by Purolator
2. Obtain a Purolator Production Key. |
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To successfully connect the app to Purolator, in addition to a Purolator account, and purolator.com username and password, you also need a Purolator Production Key. If you don’t have one, sign into purolator.com and navigate to Purolator E-Ship Resource Centre.On the left hand side of the page, locate and click on the button to register for Purolator E-Ship Web Services.
You will be presented with three choices. Choose the Corporate Account Holder option.
Complete the Profile Information form and click the Submit Registration button.
You will receive an email from Purolator containing a link to use to complete the registration process. Click on it and log back into the E-Ship Resource Center. A message will appear informing you that your registration is complete.
Now you’re ready to request your Production Key. Sign back into the Purolator E-Ship Resource Centre. You will be presented with the main Purolator E-Ship Resource Centre page. Click on the Ready for Production tile.
Select the Corporate option.
Complete the form and click the Submit button. The Production Key you receive will be inactive until Purolator verifies the request. A Purolator representative may contact you for security purposes before the Production Key is activated. If you intend to use the app’s multiple warehouse and/or drop ship feature, ask the Purolator representative to remove the sender address restriction.
Once the Production Key is activated you can connect the Purolator Small Package Quotes app to the Purolator E-Ship Web Service by following the instructions in Step 4.
3. Choose the desired plan. |
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Begin by selecting Apps from the Shopify menu. Locate the entry for the Purolator Small Package Quotes app and click on the app name to access the app preferences.
The Plans page is used to confirm the plan you are currently subscribed to, see the features offered on each plan, and to perform upgrades or downgrades according to your needs. The plan you’re currently subscribed to will have This is your current plan above the monthly subscription rate. To change plans, click on the desired plan’s monthly subscription rate. You must be signed into Shopify with the Store Owner credentials to change plans.
4. Connect the application to Purolator’s E-Ship Web Service. |
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The Connection Settings page is used to establish the app’s connection to Puroloator’s web services. Enter the information prompted for, then click Save Settings. After the settings have been saved, click the Test Connection button. You will see a success message if your credentials validated. If not, correct them and try again.
| Billing Account Number | Your billing account number. If you don’t have one please contact Purolator at 888-744-7123. |
| Registered Account Number | The account number used to register for the Production Key. Often this will be the same as the Billing Account Number. |
| Registered Address | Enter the City, Province and Postal Code associated with the Registered Account Number. |
| Production Key | Enter the Production Key you received as a result of Step 2. |
| Production Key Password | Enter the password associated with the Production Key you received as a result of Step 2. |
5. Identify your warehouse and drop ship locations. |
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You can choose to use the app’s warehouse and drop ship functionality, or Shopify’s Locations feature to determine the shipment origins for orders placed on your store. Make your selection using the drop-down field labeled, How will your shipment origins be identified?
If you ship from only one location, it doesn’t matter which option you choose. However, your decision will matter if you ship from more than one location.
The app’s functionality assumes than an unlimited amount of inventory is available from each stocking location. The app has two types of stocking locations: warehouses and drop ship locations. If multiple warehouses exist, the one closest to the ship-to address is used as the ship-from location. This approach minimizes the estimated shipping costs and, if you have the setting enabled, presents your shopper with quicker estimated delivery dates. When an item is assigned to a drop ship location, it always ships from there.
Shopify Locations introduces the ability to do inventory tracking at multiple locations. Shopify Locations may be a good option for you if:
- You have visibility to the inventory levels at all your shipping locations.
- You will maintain accurate inventory counts in Shopify.
- You have items that can ship from more than one location, but not all locations.
Be aware that Shopify’s selection of the ship-from location isn’t influenced by its proximity to the ship-to address. Instead, you’ll list your locations in the order in which you want Shopify to look for available inventory. Once Shopify finds it, that location (or locations) becomes the ship-from address even if the next one on your list is across the street from the ship-to address and has enough inventory to fulfill the order. To get a better understanding of how Shopify Locations identifies the ship-from location, look over the example borrowed from Shopify’s Help Center.
If you choose to use Shopify Locations, you’ll lose visibility to how the app built the shipping quote when Shopify determines that more than one location is needed to fulfill the order. This occurs because Shopify makes individual shipping rate requests for each location and doesn’t provide enough information to relate each of them back to the same order. The section in this document titled, What you see, has examples of the information normally captured with an order. This information will be missing when Shopify Locations is used, and more than one location is used to fulfill the order.
Click the Add button in the appropriate sections to add warehouse and drop ship locations. Warehouses should have a complete inventory of all products not otherwise assigned to a drop ship location. If you have more than one warehouse defined, the warehouse closest to the shopper will be used to retrieve shipping rate estimates.
Drop ship locations usually represent vendors that supply items that you don’t inventory. These items are shipped directly to your customer on your behalf. An item can be assigned to only one drop ship location. Items not assigned to a drop ship location are assumed to ship from your warehouse(s).
When an order will ship from more than one stocking location (e.g. warehouse and drop ship locations or more than one drop ship location) a single figure will display for the shipping rate estimate labeled “Shipping”. The amount of the quote will be equal to the sum of the cheapest shipping option for each location.
A best practice is to define at least one warehouse, even if all your products are drop shipped. If all your products are drop shipped (you have no warehouses), make the highest volume drop ship location a warehouse. This ensures that shipping rate estimates will still be returned in the event a product was added to your catalog and its drop ship location wasn’t identified.
| Nickname | Enter a nickname for the location. It will only be seen in the app settings. |
| Street Address | Enter the street address for the location. This is important for features in the app that need to know the distance between the location and the ship-to address. Examples are the In-store pick up and Local Delivery features. |
| ZIP | Enter the postal code for the location. Enter only the five digit ZIP Code for US addresses. |
| City | The plugin will attempt to prefill the City based on the postal code. Edit it if the prefilled value is incorrect. |
| State | The plugin will attempt to prefill the State based on the postal code. Edit it if the prefilled value is incorrect. |
| Country | The plugin will attempt to prefill the Country based on the postal code. Edit it if the prefilled value is incorrect. Use only the two character standardized country code. |
| Handling Fee / Markup | Increases the amount of the quote received for this location by a specified amount prior to displaying it/them in the shopping cart. The number entered will be interpreted as dollars and cents unless it is followed by a % sign. For example, entering 5.00 will cause $5.00 to be added to the quotes. Entering 5.00% will cause each quote to be multiplied by 1.05 (= 1 + 5%).
Note: The app has four settings that can be used to mark up shipping quotes. They are applied to shipping quotes in the following order: 1) Product-specific Mark Up (Product settings); 2) Location-specific Handling Fee / Mark Up (Warehouse settings); 3) Service-specific Mark Up (Quote settings); and 4) General Handling Fee / Mark Up (Quote settings).
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The locations you identified in Shopify will be displayed on the page when you select Shopify Locations from the How will your shipment origins be identified? drop down. Any changes to your locations will need to be made in Shopify. If you are on the app’s ADVANCED plan you can use the Edit link to enable and manage your in-store pickup and local delivery settings.
5a. In-store pick up settings |
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The Advanced Plan is required to use this feature. If you aren’t on the Advanced Plan the words Advanced plan required will appear adjacent to the settings header, and the fields associated with the feature will be inaccessible.
Click on the text Advanced plan required to upgrade your plan and gain access to the feature. You must be signed into Shopify with the Store Owner credentials to perform the upgrade.
In-store pick up can be offered as an option in the checkout process based the shopper’s postal code or proximity. It will only be offered if the feature is enabled and only one stocking location (warehouse or drop ship location) is involved in providing a quote. The settings for In-store pick up are visible on the page used to add or edit a warehouse or drop ship location.
| Enable in-store pick up | Check the box to enable the in-store pick up feature. |
| Offer if address is within (miles) | The distance in miles within which you’d like to offer in-store pick up. The distance is route miles (driving distance). Leave blank if you don’t want to use distance to determine if in-store pick up should be offered. If both distance and postal codes are used as evaluation criteria, in-store pick up will display if either is satisfied. |
| Offer if postal code matches | The postal codes to which you’d like to offer in-store pick up. Enter only the five digit ZIP Code for US addresses. Leave blank if you don’t want to use postal codes to determine if in-store pick up should be offered. If both distance and postal codes are used as evaluation criteria, in-store pick up will display if either is satisfied. |
| Checkout description | The description to use to identify the option in the checkout process. The most obvious candidate is In-store pick up, but you can make it anything you’d like. |
5b. Local delivery settings |
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The Advanced Plan is required to use this feature. If you aren’t on the Advanced Plan the words Advanced plan required will appear adjacent to the settings header, and the fields associated with the feature will be inaccessible.
Click on the text Advanced plan required to upgrade your plan and gain access to the feature. You must be signed into Shopify with the Store Owner credentials to perform the upgrade.
Local delivery can be offered as an option in the checkout process based the shopper’s postal code or proximity. It will only be offered if the feature is enabled and only one stocking location (warehouse or drop ship location) is involved in providing a quote. Local delivery can display as a free option or have a charge associated with it. Other shipping options provided by the app can be suppressed when local delivery is to be offered. The settings for Local delivery are visible on the page used to add or edit a warehouse or drop ship location.
| Enable local delivery | Check the box to enable the local delivery feature. |
| Offer if address is within (miles) | The distance in miles within which you’d like to offer local delivery. The distance is route miles (driving distance). Leave blank if you don’t want to use distance to determine if local delivery should be offered. If both distance and postal codes are used as evaluation criteria, local delivery will display if either is satisfied. |
| Offer if postal code matches | The postal codes to which you’d like to offer local delivery. Enter only the five digit ZIP Code for US addresses. Leave blank if you don’t want to use postal codes to determine if local delivery should be offered. If both distance and postal codes are used as evaluation criteria, local delivery will display if either is satisfied. |
| Checkout description | The description to use to identify the option in the checkout process. The most obvious candidate is Local delivery, but you can make it anything you’d like. |
| Local delivery fee | Enter the amount to charge for local delivery. Leave blank to offer local delivery for free. |
| Suppress other rates | Check the box to show only the option for local delivery when the criteria for doing so (distance or postal code) is met. Leave unchecked to have local delivery offered in addition to the shipping options normally displayed by the app. |
6. Choose the desired quote settings. |
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On this page you’ll choose the settings that will affect every Small Package Quote your shopper sees. Enter the information prompted for, and then click the Save Settings button at the bottom of the page.
| Purolator Services | Place checkmarks next to the Purolator services you want to display in your shopping cart at checkout. For a description of the service guarantees for each option go to purolator.com and retrieve the current year’s Service Guide.
Beneath each service is a markup field. You can enter a dollar amount (e.g. 5.00) or percentage (e.g. 3.5%) in the field if you’d like to mark up the rate returned for that service. You can also enter a negative value if you want to mark down the rate. Later in the Quote Settings there is a general Handling Fee / Mark Up field that will be applied to all returned rate estimates. The service level markups are applied before the general setting. |
| Delivery Estimate Options | Don’t display delivery estimates Select this option if you don’t want information about the delivery estimate to display with the shipping quote. Display estimated number of days
Select this opiton to display the number of days the shipment will be in transit. Display estimated delivery date
Select this opiton to display the orders estimated delivery date. The shipment date will be the date of the order, unless you are using the Order Cut Off Time, Shipment Offset Days or Shipping Days Of The Week features to adjust the shipment date. |
| Cut Off Time & Ship Date Offset | The Standard Plan is required to use these settings. The settings are only relevant if you have the Display estimated delivery date setting enabled.
When the app requests shipping quotes, it identifies a ship date. The estimated delivery date is dependent on the ship date. These settings allows you to influence the ship date so that it aligns with your fulfillment operations. Order Cut Off Time
Enter the cut off time for orders. Orders received before the cut off time are quoted using the order date as the ship date. Orders received after the cut off time use the next workday as the ship date. Workdays are Monday through Friday except for public holidays on which the carrier does not provide pick up service. When left blank, the order date will be the ship date. Orders received on weekends will use the next workday as the ship date. Fulfillment Offset Days
Enter the number of days to offset the ship date. This setting allows you to postpone the ship date by a specified number of workdays. Example 1 Example 2 Workdays are Monday through Friday except for the public holidays on which the carrier does not provide pick up service. What days do you ship orders?
Identify the days of the week on which you ship orders. The ship date used for the rate request will be modified accordingly, which may affect the expected delivery date. |
| Ground transit time restrictions | The Advanced Plan is required to use this feature. If you aren’t on the Advanced Plan the words Advanced plan required will be displayed. Click on the Advanced plan required text to upgrade your plan and gain access to the feature.
This feature is commonly used by merchants who sell perishable products and need to prevent Ground service from displaying as an option when the shipment transit time exceeds a certain number of days. Enter the number of transit days to restrict ground service to. Leave blank to disable this feature.
In the box provided, enter the maximum number of days your products can be in transit. Leave blank to disable this feature. Restrict by the calendar days in transit
Pick this option to if you want to include weekends and holidays when determining if Ground service will be displayed. Choose this option if you always ship orders at the first opportunity to do so. Restrict by the carrier’s in transit days metric
Pick this option to apply the rule based on the carrier’s in transit days estimate. Carriers identify the in-transit days as business days. Choose this option if you hold orders until a ship date occurs upon which the order can be shipped and not be delayed by weekends or holidays. |
| Do not return rates if the ship to address appears to be a post office box | The Standard Plan or higher is required to use this feature. If you aren’t on the Standard Plan or higher the words Standard plan required will be displayed. Click on the Standard plan required text to upgrade your plan and gain access to the feature. You must be signed into Shopify with the Store Owner credentials to perform the upgrade.
When enabled the app will not return rates when it detects that the address is a post office box. The identification of a post office box is performed by text string matches to “PO Box”, “P.O. Box” and a number of other probable representations. This method is not infallible or guaranteed. It will not interfere with the presentation of shipping methods by other apps. |
| Hazardous material settings | The Standard Plan or higher is required to use this feature. If you aren’t on the Standard Plan or higher the words Standard plan required will be displayed. Click on the Standard plan required text to upgrade your plan and gain access to the feature.
Only quote ground service for hazardous materials shipments
Check this box if you only want ground service quoted in the event that one or more of the products in the shopping cart is identified as hazardous material. Ground Hazardous Material Fee
Enter in the amount that should be added to the ground rate estimate in the event that one or more of the products in the shopping cart is identified as hazardous material. The fee will only be added once per shipment. Air Hazardous Material Fee
Enter in the amount that should be added to the air service estimates in the event that one or more of the products in the shopping cart is identified as hazardous material. The fee will only be added once per shipment. A special agreement/contract may be required to use air services to ship hazardous materials. |
| Handling Fee / Mark Up | Increases the amount of each returned quote by a specified amount prior to displaying it/them in the shopping cart. The number entered will be interpreted as dollars and cents unless it is followed by a % sign. For example, entering 5.00 will cause $5.00 to be added to the quotes. Entering 5.00% will cause each quote to be multiplied by 1.05 (= 1 + 5%). |
| Error management | Quote shipping using known shipping parameters, even if other items are missing shipping parameters. Choose this setting if you want the app to return shipping quotes using the known shipping parameters of the items in the Cart. If the shipping parameters of items in the Cart are incomplete, they will be excluded when retrieving shipping quotes. Don’t quote shipping if one or more items are missing the required shipping parameters.
Choose this setting if you don’t want the app to return shipping quotes if any of the items in the Cart have incomplete shipping parameters. |
| Quote Details | Write the quote details to the Additional Details widget Choose this option if you want the details of the shipping quote selected by the shopper to be recorded in the Additional Details widget. Write the quote details to More Actions > Shipping quote details page
Choose this option if you want the details of the shipping quote selected by the shopper to be recorded in this alternate destination. You should choose this option if you have other apps installed that also record information in the Additional Details widget. Each app writing to the Additional Details widget will replace the information previously recorded there. |
7. Box Size (Packaging) Settings |
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These settings are active when the Standard Box Sizes feature is disabled. Use of the Standard Box Sizes feature will result in the most accurate shipping rate estimates possible, but it is a usage billed feature (3¢ per packaging solution). If you’d prefer not to use the Standard Box Sizes feature, choose the method you want the application to use for rating your shipments.
| Quote each item as shipping as its own package | Each item in the Cart will be quoted as shipping as its own package. Unless orders are shipped this way, the shipping rate estimates using this method will tend to be high. |
| Quote shipping as if all items ship in one package | All the items in the Cart will be quoted as shipping in one box and the shipping rate estimates will be based on weight only. If the total weight of the Cart exceeds 150 pounds, the total weight will be divided in to multiple packages of equal weight. Shipping rate estimates using this method will tend to be low. |
| Combine the weight of all items without dimensions as shipping as one package while quoting each item with dimensions as shipping as its own package | A hybrid of the other two options. Shipping rate estimates may be higher or lower than the actual shipping charges depending on the contents of the Cart. |
The Standard Box Sizes feature is optional and will allow you to retrieve hyper-accurate shipping rate estimates. With the Standard Box Sizes feature enabled, you can identify:
- The sizes of the boxes you inventory.
- The rotational property of items that can be packed in a box with other items.
- Items that ship as their own package (Can’t be packed in a box with other items).
- Items pre-packaged to ship in more than one box.
When items in the cart can be packaged together, the app will identify the best box(es) to use for the order and send the packaging solution to the carrier when requesting rates. The packaging solution is saved as a step-by-step graphical illustration which you can access from the Order Details page. Use the step-by-step instructions to pack the order exactly as it was quoted.
Dimensional weight is an extremely important factor when calculating rates for parcel services. Have a clear understanding of the topic when deciding whether or not to use the Standard Box Sizes feature. (Learn more about dimensional weight)
7a. Identify your standard box sizes |
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| Enable checkbox | Check this box to enable the standard box sizes feature. While enabled a charge of 3¢ for each calculated packaging solution will be incurred unless the capped amount for the billing cycle has been reached. If the capped amount has been reached you can re-enable the feature by increasing the capped amount. |
| Current usage | Shows the usage of the feature at the time the page loads. |
| Capped amount | The amount entered into this field is the maximum you can be charged for the standard box size feature in a billing cycle. If this amount is reached the feature will stop working and the optimal packaging solution algorithm will be used instead. This may effect the accuracy of your shipping rates. You can increase the capped amount to re-enable the feature. |
| Notification email address | An email will be sent to the email address entered when the usage of the standard box sizes feature is 80% of the capped amount. Taking action to increase the capped amount immediately after receiving the email will mitigate the risk of the feature being disabled which can otherwise lead to less accurate shipping quotes. |
| Optimization mode | Maximize space utilization Choose this setting if you want the packaging algorithm to prioritize the amount of space used in each box. For example, two boxes may be selected for the packaging solution if they have a higher utilization percentage than using a single, larger box. Minimize the number of packages
Choose this setting if you want the packaging algorithm to prioritize the fewest number of boxes used for the packaging solution. |
| Save button | Clicking the save button will save changes made to the fields located above the button provided the changes pass the field level validation.. |
| Add Box button | Clicking this button will display a form for use to capture the box parameters. |
| Nickname | Enter a nickname for the box. This will be used to identify the box in the graphical representation of the packaging solution. |
| Length | Enter the length in inches. |
| Width | Enter the width in inches. |
| Height | Enter the height in inches |
| Max Weight | Enter the maximum weight, in pounds, that the box can weigh. This includes the weight of the box. |
| Box Weight | Enter the weight of the box in pounds. |
| Box fee | Enter an amount to charge a fee for the box. The fee will be added to the shipping quotes after the service level markup and the general markup/handling fee (found on the Quote Settings page) are applied. Leave the field blank if no fee is to be collected. |
| Available | Select this checkbox to make the box available to the algorithm that calculates the packaging solution. |
7b. Items that ship as multiple packages |
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When you enable the Standard Box Sizes feature, a setting is available on the Product Shipping Parameters page to allow you to specify that the item ships as multiple packages. When you enable the setting, the item will appear on the Box Sizes page in the Items that ship as multiple packages section.
To add a box, click the Add Box button. A popup will display prompting you for the following information about the box:
| Quantity | Enter the number of boxes there are of this size. |
| Nickname | Enter a nickname for the box. The nickname will be used to identify the box in the graphical illustration of the packaging solution. |
| Length | The length of the box in inches. |
| Width | The width of the box in inches. |
| Height | The height of the box in inches. |
| Weight | The weight of the box in pounds. |
If you also have one of Eniture Technology’s LTL Freight Quotes plugins installed, it will use the Freight Class and Weight entered on the Product Shipping Parameters page when an LTL freight quote will be returned. However, if the Freight Class is set to Density Based (and the Item ships as multiple packages setting is enabled), then a freight class for the item will be calculated using the weight and dimensions of the boxes entered here.
8. Enter the product shipping parameters. |
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Now that the application settings have been established, it’s time enter the product settings. Repeat these instructions for every product that you want to ship via a small package service. Select Products from the Shopify menu. Locate the product on the list and choose it by clicking on it. You’ll be delivered to the product’s details page. Click on the More actions button located at the top right hand corner of the page and select the app.
You’ll be delivered to a page on which you’ll enter the product’s shipping parameters. Enter the information prompted for, and then click the Save & Return button at the bottom of the page to return to the product’s Shopify product details page.
The image above and the instructions below are for a single product. If you have product variants, each variant will have its own settings. When product variants are present, copy buttons will appear. Use the buttons to copy the settings of the first product variant to the remaining product variants. Afterwards the product variant settings may still be edited. The copy buttons are provided to eliminate the entry of redundant data.
| Quote as a parcel shipment | Check this box to indicate that the product or product variant will ship as a parcel shipment. |
| Quote as an LTL shipment | This option will be visible if you have one of Eniture Technology’s LTL Freight Quote apps installed. Checking this box will indicate that the product or product variant will ship LTL freight. |
| Weight | Enter the weight of the product in pounds. Include the weight of any packaging materials that are used to ship the product. |
| Freight Class | Freight class is relevant to LTL freight shipments. If you installed one of Eniture Technology’s LTL Freight Quotes apps, its a good idea to set this parameter even if the product normally ships through the parcel network. When there are products in the cart that ship both parcel and LTL freight, or the weight of the order exceeds the parcel network weight threshold, a quote for LTL freight will be offered. In these cases, the accuracy of the quoted shipping rate will be improved greatly if the freight class setting is populated.
Select the product’s freight class from the drop down list. You may also select Density Based from the list, which will calculate freight class on the fly using the product’s weight and dimensions. The density based calculation will return the correct freight class in most, but not all cases. You are solely responsible to identify the correct freight class of your product(s). If you need assistance, contact your LTL freight provider or refer to the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) directory published by the National Motor Freight Transportation Agency (NMFTA.org). |
| NMFC | Usually an NMFC number is not required to get an LTL freight quote. However, in certain circumstances, an LTL freight provider may require it for individual accounts. If you are required to provide a commodity’s NMFC number to obtain an LTL freight quote, enter it here. |
| Length | Enter the length in inches. |
| Width | Enter the width in inches. |
| Height | Enter the height in inches. |
| Fulfillment Offset Days | The Standard Plan is required to use this setting. The setting is only relevant if you have the Display estimated delivery date setting enabled on the Quote Settings page.
When the app requests shipping quotes, it identifies a ship date. The estimated delivery date is dependent on the ship date. The Quote Settings page has three settings that are applied globally that will alter the ship date so that it aligns with your fulfillment operations. The product-level setting for Fulfillment Offset Days allows the offset to be different for individual products. The product-level setting for Fulfillment Offset Days takes precedent over its globally applied counterpart on the Quote Settings page. In cases where the Cart contains multiple products with different Fulfillment Offset Days, the largest number of offset days is used to adjust the ship date. Enter the number of days to offset the ship date for this product. If you don’t need a unique setting for this product, leave it blank. |
| Handling Unit Settings | These settings are relevant only if you are using an Eniture Technology product that retrieves LTL freight quotes. Skip these settings (leave them blank) if you are not.
The Quote Settings page has handling unit settings that are applied globally. If different handling unit settings are required for an individual product, enter them here. Leave these settings blank to utilize the global handling unit settings on the Quote Settings page. Product-level handling unit settings take precedent over the global handling unit settings. Weight of handling Unit
Enter in pounds the weight of your pallet, skid, crate or other type of handling unit you use. The amount entered will be added to shipment weight for this product prior to requesting a quote. Maximum Weight per Handling Unit
Enter in pounds the maximum weight that can be placed on the handling unit. If the total weight of the the product exceeds this value, the weight of additional handling units will be added as needed. For example, if the maximum weight is 500 LBS, and the total weight in the Cart for the product is 1200 LBS, the weight of the handling units added to the shipment shall be 3 times the weight entered in the Weight of Handling Unit field. (=roundup(1200/500,0)*Weight of Handling Unit) |
| Nested item | The Advanced Plan is required to use this feature. If you aren’t on the Advanced Plan the words Advanced plan required will appear adjacent to the settings header, and the fields associated with the feature will be inaccessible.
Enable this checkbox if the item can be stacked into another identical item when it is shipped. An example would be 13 gallon trashcans or plastic cups. When this setting is enabled, the Freight Class is always Density Based. |
| Nested dimension | This setting is only relevant if the Nested item setting is enabled.
Identify the dimension (length, width or height) on which the nesting occurs. |
| Nesting percentage | This setting is only relevant if the Nested item setting is enabled.
Enter the percent of the item that can be nested inside of another identical item. For example, if an item is 10 inches in height and after stacking two together the total height is 11 inches, the stacking percentage is 90%. (11 inches = 10 inches + (10 inches x 90%)) |
| Maximum nested items | This setting is only relevant if the Nested item setting is enabled.
Enter the maximum number of items you’ll allow in a single stack of nested items. |
| Stacking property | This setting is only relevant if the Nested item setting is enabled.
Select Maximized or Evenly. If your Maximum nested items is 6, and there are 7 items in the cart, then the Maximized option will result in one stack of 6 and one of 1. If the Stacking property is set to Evenly, it will result in one stack of 4 and one of 3. |
| Boxing properties | This setting requires the optional Standard Box Sizes feature to be enabled.
Allow item to be rotated vertically when placing it in a box
Enabling this setting allows the item to be rotated while identifying a packaging solution involving standard box sizes. This setting provides the most flexibility for arriving at a solution. This item ships as its own package
Enabling this setting prevents the item from being combined with other items into one of the standard box sizes. The item will be included in the shipment as its own package with the weight and dimensions specified. Items with this setting enabled are not fed to the Standard Box Sizes packaging algorithm and do not incur a charge. This item ships as its own package when it is the only item in the cart
Enabling this setting prevents the item from being combined with other items into one of the standard box sizes when the Cart contains only one of it. In this case the item’s weight and dimensions will be used as the package shipping parameters. Items with this setting enabled are not fed to the Standard Box Sizes packaging algorithm and do not incur a charge. This item ships as multiple packages
When this setting is enabled, the product will be added to the Items that ship as multiple packages section of the Box Sizes page. The section appears below the list of standard box sizes. Locate the product there to record boxes that contain the materials and parts that the item is comprised of.Items with this setting enabled are not fed to the Standard Box Sizes packaging algorithm and do not incur a charge. |
| Markup | Use this field to modify the shipping quotes returned by app. Enter a dollar amount (e.g. 1.00 or -1.00) to increase or decrease the shipping quotes. The amount of the adjustment will be multiplied by the quantity of the item in the Cart. Enter a percentage (1.0% or -1.0%) to have a percentage of the item’s price added to or subtracted from the shipping quotes. When a percentage is entered and there is more than one of the item in the Cart, the percentage will be applied to the extended price (quantity x price).
Note: The app has four settings that can be used to mark up shipping quotes. They are applied to shipping quotes in the following order: 1) Product-specific Mark Up (Product settings); 2) Location-specific Handling Fee / Mark Up (Warehouse settings); 3) Service-specific Mark Up (Quote settings); and 4) General Handling Fee / Mark Up (Quote settings).
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| Hazardous Material | The Standard Plan or higher is required to use this feature. If you aren’t on the Standard Plan or higher the words Standard plan required will be displayed. Click on the Standard plan required text to upgrade your plan and gain access to the feature. You must be signed into Shopify with the Store Owner credentials to perform the upgrade.
Check this checkbox if this item must be identified as hazardous material. If so, when the item is included in the cart, the hazardous material fee identified in the quote settings will be added to the rate estimate. |
| UN Number Header | Displays only when the Hazardous Material checkbox is checked. Select a UN number Header from the list of options. |
| UN Number | Displays only when the Hazardous Material checkbox is checked. Enter the UN number for the item. |
| Hazmat Class | Displays only when the Hazardous Material checkbox is checked. Select a hazardous material class from the list of options. |
| Emergency Contact Phone | Displays only when the Hazardous Material checkbox is checked. Enter the emergency contact phone number for the shipment. |
| Packaging Group | Displays only when the Hazardous Material checkbox is checked. Select a packaging group from the list of options. |
| Shipping Mode | Displays only when the Hazardous Material checkbox is checked. Select a shipping mode from the list of options. |
| Drop ship this product | Check this box if this item is drop shipped from a location other than your warehouse. |
| Drop ship location | Displays only when the Drop ship the product checkbox is checked. Select the drop ship location from the drop down. These locations are defined on the Warehouses tab in the app settings that was described in step 4. |
What your customer sees. |
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Once you’ve completed the three preceding steps, your Shopify store is ready to begin quoting Purolator services. To ensure the best possible outcome, it is highly recommended that weight and dimensions be entered for every product you sell.The exact presentation of the rates in the checkout process will depend on the options selected in the Quote Settings. The illustration below shows an example with multiple service options enabled.
What you see. |
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The app populates shipping related information in the Additional details widget on the Order Details page. The content varies on whether or not the optional Standard Box Sizes feature is enabled. Content falls into two categories: 1) Shipment Origin & Services; and 2) Shipment Content.
Shipment Origin & Services
This information block will identify the shipment origin, the selected carrier service and a list of any additional services (such as residential delivery) associated with the shipment. A separate Shipment Origin & Services information block will appear for each shipping location that will participate in fulfilling the order. This is particularly useful for stores with multiple warehouses and drop ship locations.
Shipment Content
A Shipment Content information block is presented beneath each Shipment Origin & Services information block. It identifies the products that will ship from that location.
If the optional Standard Box Sizes feature is enabled, a separate Shipment Content information block will be present for each box in the shipment. Each information block will identify the box’s nickname, its dimensions and its contents. This information is available graphically by clicking on the More Actions button at the top of the Order Detail page and selecting the Packaging Solution option.
A graphic will be presented illustrating the packaging solution. Each box will have an illustration of it fully packed and step by step illustrations on how each item should be placed in the box.
Updating products with the Import CSV Utility. |
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You can use the app’s Import CSV utility to enter or update the product shipping parameters. This method can be more time efficient than navigating in and out of the app’s user interface, particularly if you have a lot of products.
Navigate to the Import CSV tab in the app preferences.
You can’t use the Import CSV utility to create products in Shopify. The products must exist in Shopify prior to downloading the CSV template if they are to be updated.
Use the link below to access instructions on how to…
- Download the CSV template.
- Use the filters to isolate the product/variant records you want to update.
- Populate the CSV file with your shipping parameters.
- Save the CSV file in the proper format.
- Import the CSV file to the app.
Shipping with FreightDesk Online |
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- How capture the cost of shipping on orders placed online.
- How to ship the order, including how to create the shipping label (or Bill Of Lading in the case of LTL freight), schedule the carrier to pick up the shipment, and update the customer with the tracking number.
Quoting apps, like this one, provide a solution for the first challenge. What are your options for the second challenge?
Option 1 – The carrier’s website: You can log into the carrier’s website and manually enter all of the relevant information. Carrier websites are free to use since the carrier makes money when you use them to deliver an order. However, if you have more than a handful of orders each day this approach is time consuming and ripe for data entry errors which can be costly to correct.
Option 2 – Shopify Shipping: Shopify Shipping offers pretty competitive rates for postal companies like the US postal service, and parcel companies like UPS, and DHL. But if you ship with another provider or have more than a low-to-moderate number of daily orders, you’ll find Shopify Shipping clunky and woefully inefficient.
Option 3 – Cloud-based Shipping Platforms: The next step up in capability are cloud-based shipping systems that will connect to your online store and retrieve the details of your orders, thereby eliminating the need for much of the manual data entry. Many of these shipping systems have arrangements with postal and parcel carriers that are on par if not better than the options available through Shopify Shipping. Where these systems excel is in the efficiency of the fulfillment process. That translates in to a much higher volume of shipments per unit of time. These systems are relatively inexpensive and the reduction in the amount of labor and time it takes to ship your orders will pay dividends.
Option 4 – FreightDesk Online: FreightDesk Online (freightdesk.online) is also a cloud-based shipping system. It enjoys all of the benefits of other cloud-based offerings but expands the solution in two ways:
- It makes use of the detailed information collected by Eniture Technology’s quoting apps (like this one) such as the packaging solution and the additional services included in the shipping option chosen when the order was placed.
- It provideds merchants access to more than two dozen LTL freight providers in addition to the typical postal and parcel integrations offered by other cloud-based solutions.
These expanded capabilities deliver you closer to true “click-and-ship” shipping than any other alternative, whether you’re shipping with a postal carrier, a parcel carrier, or an LTL freight provider.
How to connect your Shopify store to FreightDesk Online |
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First, if you don’t already have one, register for a FreightDesk Online account (https://freightdesk.online/register). You can connect multiple online stores to FreightDesk Online, so you don’t have to create separate accounts for each one.
The pricing for FreightDesk Online is á la carte. You’ll be able to pick a separate plan for parcel (and postal) shipments, and for LTL freight shipments based on the anticipated volume for each type of shipping. Your monthly subscription rate will be comprised of these two selections. You can begin a 30-day trial of both types of shipping by selecting Trial in the corresponding dropdown fields on the registration form.
After you complete the registration process, log into FreightDesk Online. Click on your avatar located in the top right-hand corner of the browser window. Copy your FreightDesk Online ID which will be located below your company name.
Return to the app preferences and click on the FreightDesk Online tab. Enter your FreightDesk Online ID and click the Connect button.
Complete the connection by granting the permissions that Shopify prompts you for.
Now that you’ve connected FreightDesk Online, unfulfilled orders will automatically appear in FreightDesk Online. To view them, log into FreightDesk Online and click on Orders in the navigation menu. You’ll need to connect your shipping providers before you can start shipping. You can find a quick start guide in FreightDesk Online by navigating to Help > Getting Started.