Overview
If you would like to offer a flat rate shipping option for specific products whenever they are in the cart alone, the details below will outline how to set this up by creating two hide rules.
Since this method has a very specific application that requires the creation of a new carrier & two shipping rules, we recommend reviewing our instructions for Overriding Carrier Rates with Custom Rates prior to implementing the rules outlined in this document.
Overriding carrier rates with custom flat rates in many cases is a better option for presenting flat rate shipping for designated products.
Steps
Create a Flat Rate carrier
- In order to provide a simple flat rate for certain products, a new carrier can be setup in your ShipperHQ account.
- Please see this guide for adding a flat rate carrier in ShipperHQ.
Once your flat rate carrier is set up, you can use one of the following two options listed below to restrict the shipping quotes to your flat rate shipping for the designated products.
Using Shipping Rules to Restrict Methods for a Shipping Group
You can follow steps above to create your Small shipping group and skip the “Restrict to Shipping Methods” section.
Simply save the new shipping group group after giving it a name and description.
If you overlook this step, it’s ok. There is also an option to create a new shipping group during the shipping rule creation steps.
Create the 1st New Shipping Rule
1. To begin, navigate to the “Shipping Rules” option in the left-hand navigation menu.
2. Click “Add New” to create a new shipping rule.
3. Select “Hide Methods” for the action you would like the rule to perform.
4. Select all methods, except for the option(s) you want to use.
For example, selecting all methods except Flat Rate shipping means only the fixed rate will be displayed.
5. Select Shipping Groups as the condition.
6. Choose the shipping group(s) to be used in this rule.
If you have not created the shipping group yet, you can do so by clicking the link titled “I Want to Create a new Shipping Group.”
7. Once the shipping group has been selected, a summary of the shipping rule will be displayed.
Be sure to add a title for the new rule so that it can be easily identified in the shipping rules list and when testing.
8. Click “Finish” to save the new rule. This will apply the rule immediately & live rates will now be hidden anytime one of the Small items are in the cart alone.
9. You’ll now want to return to the shipping rules list and click to edit the new rule.
Create the 2nd New Shipping Rule:
A second shipping rule will need to be created to hide the flat rate carrier when there is more than one product in the cart that do not qualify for the flat rate.
1. From the 1st new shipping rule, scroll down to the bottom and select “Save & Duplicate.”
2. A new rule will now be created. You’ll want to update the new rule’s title while in the edit screen.
3. Under the Conditions section where the shipping group Small is listed, click edit to remove this group and assign all of the remaining shipping groups.
Be sure to set this to “Any Selected Shipping Groups Are in the Cart.”
4. Click Continue, then Save this second rule.
This will result in the Flat Rate option being presented only when items in the associated shipping group (Small) are in the cart without any other products.
When there are products in this shipping group along with products not assigned to the group, the flat rate option will be hidden and only live rates will be displayed.
Once these two shipping rules have been completed, we recommend using the “Test your Rates” feature to confirm the new rule is working as intended.
Assign Products to Shipping Group
Once you’ve set up a Shipping Group in ShipperHQ, you’ll need to assign it to the necessary products in your eCommerce platform.
Verify that your carriers and rules are working and see how they will display in your checkout right from the ShipperHQ dashboard.