Shipping

introduction sparklayer allows you to set shipping rules for your b2b customers that show when they place an order via the my cart interface docid\ efevur a3ycjxuhvrr7t there are two ways to manage your b2b shipping via sparklayer using the shipping methods already set up on your store you can use your pre existing shipping methods as set up on your ecommerce store, even if you're using a third party app to manage this this is useful if you want to keep your shipping configuration within your ecommerce store and/or you have complex shipping requirements using sparklayer's shipping system you can use sparklayer to set your own b2b shipping rules that you can vary based on the b2b customer group this is useful if you're running dtc and b2b on the same store and you want a simple way to differentiate your dtc versus b2b shipping rules understanding the differences using your ecommerce store ✅ advantages uses the shipping admin of your existing ecommerce platform and will use rules and configurations you've set up (e g specific country/state level shipping rules) handling for more complex shipping rules ⛔️ disadvantages may not have support b2b only shipping methods, unless using an app using sparklayer ✅ advantages define b2b shipping rules that vary based on customer group type handling for order value and weight ⛔️ disadvantages support for only basic shipping types managed outside of your ecommerce platform's shipping admin using your ecommerce store please click a tab below to learn more out of the box, sparklayer uses the shopify shipping setup if you need help with setup, we recommend reading their guide here https //help shopify com/en/manual/shipping/setting up and managing your shipping or contacting shopify support shopify live shipping rates or apps which provide shipping rules can also be used and the information will be pulled through varying shipping for b2b / dtc customers in shopify shopify has limitations in how shipping can be customised meaning that it's not possible natively to vary shopify shipping methods and rules based on different customer types for example, you may want a special 'b2b shipping method' to show when a b2b customer starts the checkout process the solution to this is to use a recommended shopify app to achieve the desired effect within the shopify app store, there are a number of tools that include powerful functionality to enable more customer shipping on your shopify store one such is called intuitive shipping docid\ zkesmmuawx2sqq7j6as07 the app works by allowing you to set up special shipping rates and rules based on customer tags for example, when a b2b customer signs in (i e one assigned with a customer tag of b2b ), their specific b2b shipping methods can then be applied successfully please note if you're using intuitive shipping, we will need to enable a special setting to ensure the full shipping rates load within the sparklayer widget please support docid\ nnuw1g9z7eaj4m78vk7t9 to enable this for you changing shipping rates after an order is placed you may want to change the shipping charges after the order is placed if orders are left as drafts within shopify or the customer uses the 'request a quote' payment option, it's possible to adjust the shipping rate to a custom amount you can learn how this works here https //help shopify com/en/manual/orders/create orders#add shipping this means that you could technically allow customers to select your standard shopify shipping methods and then simply edit the shipping amount once they've placed an order how shipping works in the sparklayer frontend when a customer adds items to an order, the sparklayer frontend will automatically display their shipping rates as defined in your shopify shipping admin https //help shopify com/en/manual/shipping/shopify shipping , giving them an accurate overview of their order cost the user journey works as follows the customer adds products to their order when they're ready to checkout, they select their preferred shipping address on the summary screen, they'll then be given their available shipping method to select (as you've set up within your shopify shipping admin) once they select a shipping method, they'll be given their final total, including tax if you'd like more details on how shipping works on shopify, please refer to support docid\ pghgyvuteu4gwwxnlaql0 enabling an alternative to local pickup shopify allows merchants to enable a special shipping method called 'local pickup ' that allows customers to choose a store (or location) to pick their order up from if you're using this feature on your shopify store, unfortunately sparklayer doesn't yet have direct support an alternative that can work for merchants is to simply create a new shipping method within shopify called 'local pickup' that allows b2b customers to select during the checkout process on sparklayer setting this up works just the same way as you would do when creating/editing other shipping methods with shopify simply go to the shipping admin ( yourstore myshopify com/admin/settings/shipping ) and follow the steps to create a new shipping method and associated rates once added, this will then display within the sparklayer interface please note unless you're using an app to hide/show shipping methods for b2b customers, this shipping method will show for regular (dtc) customers placing orders via the standard shopify checkout process to make this show only for b2b customers , you can configure your shipping rates directly in sparklayer (see below) no configurations applicable using sparklayer sparklayer has support for a variety of different shipping rules, allowing you to offer your b2b customers customised shipping rates that will show when they place an order on your website to get started, within the sparklayer dashboard go to configuration and click shipping and you'll see the shipping section how shipping rates work within your ecommerce platform, it's likely that you already have a variety of shipping rates set up the shipping section within sparklayer is designed to replicate this set up ensuring that shipping rates synchronise correctly between systems for example, your backend system may have a shipping rate set up whereby customers from the united kingdom get free shipping when spending over £100 within sparklayer, this exact rule can be replicated allowing the customer to have a seamless experience when using the sparklayer frontend docid\ ogkfvqx13dhw2582d57kj and using the checkout shipping method & shipping bands broadly speaking, when configuring your shipping it's important to understand the following terminologies type details shipping method this is the shipping method the customer will see in their order summary and during the checkout process, e g standard shipping shipping methods are assigned at a country level shipping band these are the specific rules you have within each shipping method e g for orders under £100, shipping costs £20 for orders over £100, shipping is free shipping methods to create your first shipping method, click the create new method button and you'll then see the following screen item details method name this is the name the customer will see during checkout process so should be clear and easy to understand (e g standard shipping, next day shipping, etc) shipping sku this can be anything as long as it's unique across your shipping methods for example, if the shipping method is called "express shipping", you could use express shipping note if you're using our api, this id must match the corresponding shipping sku in your backend system (e g erp) priority order if you are using multiple shipping methods, you can set which order they show in e g enter "1" to make it show as the first, "2" as the second, etc you will need to apply this to all shipping methods available countries which countries will trigger this shipping method during the checkout process customer groups which b2b customer group(s) the shipping method applies to once you've completed this information, you can then then begin adding shipping bands shipping bands shipping bands let you define rules for the shipping method you've just created, allowing you to create different charges based on criteria being met currently, sparklayer has support for shipping bands based on order total (net) shipping bands based on order weight (in grams) please note configuring shipping bands based on order weight will always be in grams, regardless of the unit of weight that you've set on products in shopify admin if you are using any other unit of weight (e g oz or lb), then you will need to convert this into grams to use in our shipping tool click add new band to get started and you'll then see the following screen item details shipping band name this is an internal name you can give the shipping band, e g orders under £99 shipping sku if your backend system has support for shipping band skus, you can enter it here shipping cost type you can choose from free fixed price percentage of the net total custom message (see below) applicable conditions here you can set how the shipping band gets applied, e g based on a net total or a total order weight for example, if you're looking to set up a shipping band that charges £20 for orders under £99, this would look like the following custom shipping message using the "custom message" shipping cost type (see above), it's possible to show custom text for a specific b2b shipping method for example, you may want your b2b customers to select a shipping method but you can't confirm the cost at this point the messaging works by taking the shipping band name (e g "standard shipping) and then displaying a special language string as the cost when the order is placed, the shipping cost is simply set to 0 00, allowing you to then make edits accordingly to customise the shipping cost message, you can add a special language string to your website to amend as you require once you set up a shipping band with a custom message, you'll see a language string field at the bottom (e g "standard shipping") this can then be added as shown below to your website updating language and text you can update the default text by adding code to your frontend integration guide docid\ qwxsym9x5 pviogutekcp languages & international docid\ klrs7wtxn3wncdy8z5zvu about how to update text on sparklayer / add the below code into the sparklayer core script / / \[shipping band name] should be replaced with the name of your shipping band set in lowercase and uses dashes between words / translations { en { "shipping custom message standard shipping" "to be confirmed", } }, / end of code setting custom shipping rates with sales agents if you're using the sales agent ordering docid\ uw8mdbmefwwkqzrvb5cqx tool, sales agents with "administrator" priveleges can set custom shipping rates during the checkout that overright any default shipping rules you may have set up to learn more about how this works, see sales agent ordering docid\ uw8mdbmefwwkqzrvb5cqx testing your shipping rates whether you're using the shopify shipping methods or custom methods via sparklayer, once you've created your shipping methods and assigned shipping bands, you will then see these reflected in the quick order interface docid\ lx4 omchj6req4hiw fqn and checkout process we recommend trialling a few scenarios during your testing to make sure the shipping methods display as required ⚠️ having technical issues? if you're having issues with setting this up or are experiencing error messages, please refer to our troubleshooting docid\ blcekkx3i30nkucglsfw7 guide or contact our support docid\ nnuw1g9z7eaj4m78vk7t9