Configuring Custom Shipping Rules

Shipping Rules is an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) module from an Ultra Commerce partner, that allows you to have greater control of how you ship and prices based off certain parameters and conditions.

Create shipping rules depending on purchases history, cart or customer attributes.
Apply individual rules to specified shipping methods and shipping carriers.
Define a selection of shipping carriers, available to your customers, and manage their shipping rates.
Change the rate for the whole cart both by fixed amount and by percent.
Choose specific days or periods of the rules validity.

This works primarily to overwrite shipping costs for Flat Rate Shipping based on a set of parameters in the shopping cart.

Accessing the Shipping Rules in the Admin Portal

Shipping Rules are created by the Marketplace Owners in the Admin Portal, via Sales > Operations > Shipping Rules.

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NOTE:
Currently, this cannot be managed by any Vendors due to access limitations, so this must be set up by the Marketplace Owners on behalf of the Vendor, if it is a Vendor Shipping Rule that applies.

Here you will see a grid that contains all created custom Shipping Rules.

The left column allows you to select multiple rules, and use the Actions prompt on the top left to Delete, or Change Status (Active / Inactive) of the selected rules in one mass action.

The right Action column will allow you to Edit or Duplicate that individual rule by pressing on the Select dropdown.

Adding or Editing a Shipping Rule

In the Shipping Rules Grid, you can select Add Rule from the top right to create a new rule, or choose Select > Edit to view the details of an existing rule from the Action column from the right of the grid.

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NOTE
The scope for all fields here is controlled in the Stores & Customer Groups > Stores section.

Shipping Methods

Field Name	Notes
Rule Name	Set the name of the rule.
Rule Status	Set the rule to Active or Inactive.
Shipping Carriers and Methods	Select the Delivery Methods that will use this Shipping Rule (typically Flat Rate)
Rule Priority	Sets the priority of which to apply the rule (if multiple rules are applied to the order) based on a number value. The highest number being "0".
Discard Subsequent Rules	If active, no further Shipping rules will be applied after this rule.

Products

Field Name	Notes
Ignore Free Shipping Promo	Set this to Yes if you wish to apply this rule on all products, including items with Free Shipping applicable.

Additional fields will be available if the Calculation setting in the Rates section is set to Surcharge, Discount, or Partial Replace. These fields will not apply to the Replace Calculation type, as that scenario, the rule will apply regardless of what products are in the Shopping Cart.

Here, you can select the + button, to add the parameters for the products that the rule should apply to if in the shopping cart.

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NOTE
A common use of the Custom Shipping Rule is to have a default price for a specific vendor. In which case, the Product Attribute you can select would be Vendor ID. For example, the rule would look like this:
This would apply to products assigned to Vendor ID 17 only.

Rates

Field Name	Notes
Calculation	There are 4 Calculation options available. Replace: Select this if you want the original shipping rate for the whole cart to be controlled by this rule. Surcharge: Select this to add the calculated value to the present shipping rate. Discount: Select this to deduct the calculated value from the present shipping rate; Partial Replace (most commonly used): Select this if you want the original shipping rate to be altered for certain product conditions (mixed cart) only.If you want to apply particular shipping cost for specific products, select Partially Replace type and set the necessary product conditions according to which this calculation type will be applied. Thus, shipping cost for the specified products in a mixed cart will be calculated differently and the total sum for shipping will be recounted.
Base Rate for the Order	Set a price for the total shipment for the order (based on Calculation and specific products applied to).
Fixed Rate per Product	Set a price that would be multiplied based on the quantity of applicable products in the cart.
Rate per unit of weight	Set a price to be multiplied based on the weight of the products in the cart. For example, if you set $5 rate per unit of weight (regarding that a unit of weight equals to 1 kilogram), then the rate for the order, containing 5 kilograms of applicable products, will constitute $25.
Percentage per Product	Set a price as a percentage of the original cost of products in the cart (the costs are taken without any discounts that might have been applied).
Handling Percentage	Specify the percentage that will be automatically added or deducted from the shipping rate. The percentage will be calculated on the original shipping rates basis.
Minimal / Maximal Rate Change	Set boundary (minimal or maximal) values, for which the original rate can be changed.
Minimal / Maximal Total Rate	Set boundary (minimal or maximal) values of a shipping rate which can be set after the rule application.

Conditions

Specify the conditions according to which the rule will be applied.

Condition tree: if there are some conditions specified, the rule will be applied only when the conditions are met. If there are no conditions set, the rule will be applicable all the time.

The conditions may include Products Sub-selection, Conditions Combination, Cart Attributes, Advanced Conditions, Customer Attributes, and Shipping Areas. Thus, in this option you can allow shipping according to the product level, category level, various customer attributes, custom groups, shipping areas, etc. This works like the product selection in the above section.

NOTE: In case you want to set several independent conditions and you need any of them for the rule to be applied, change ‘ALL' value to ‘ANY’ in the dropdown menu.

Backorders: The option determines how the rule will work if there are Backorder items in the cart.

Backorders only - the rule is applied when there are only Backorder items in the cart.
Non backorders - the rule works when there are no Backorder items in the cart.
All orders - the rule works regardless of whether there are Backorder items in the cart or not.

Generally Backorders will depend on how you manage stock on the marketplace.

Stores & Customer Groups

Field Name	Notes
Admin Area	Enable or disable the rule application if placing the order through the Admin Portal.
Stores	Specify the Websites or Store Views where the rule should be applied.
Customer Groups	Specify which Customer Groups to which the rule should be applied.

Days & Time

Field Name	Notes
Days of the Week	Choose specific days of the week if you don’t want the rule to be applied the entire time.
Time From - Time To	Determine the specific validity period of the rule.

Coupons and discounts

Field Name	Notes
Apply Rules Only With
- Coupon Code	When a coupon value is provided here, the rule will be activated only when this coupon value is entered in the Shopping Cart or Checkout.
- Shopping Cart Rule (discount)	Lists existing Shopping Cart Price Rules that can be selected to apply the rule specific to the selection made here.
Do NOT Apply Rules With
- Coupon Code	When a coupon value is provided here, the rule will be deactivated only when this coupon value is entered in the Shopping Cart or Checkout.
- Shopping Cart Rule (discount)	Lists existing Shopping Cart Price Rules that can be selected to prevent the rule application specific to the selection made here.