Installing the ShipperHQ Plus App

Overview

Our ShipperHQ Plus app for BigCommerce adds support for several new pieces of functionality that are not currently supported on our standard ShipperHQ BigCommerce app.

Access to ShipperHQ Plus requires a ShipperHQ Account Plan of Advanced or Enterprise. Please contact CustomerSuccess@shipperHQ.com for details on upgrading your plan. 

Supported Functionality

In addition to the functionality available with our Standard BigCommerce app, the ShipperHQ Plus app adds support for a number of new capabilities including:

Before You Begin

ShipperHQ Plus app uses Product Metadata in BigCommerce to assign values like the origin or shipping group to your products. BigCommerce does not allow you to see and edit Product Metadata out of the box. You can use a third party tool to view and manage your metadata inside BigCommerce. 

We recommend you install one of the following tools to manage your product metadata for ShipperHQ

  1. Hypa’s Metafields Manager – paid app, free trial available
  2. Metafields Editor by Groove Commerce – free app

You may want to use the export feature on these apps to take a backup of your product metafields before you begin.

Install ShipperHQ Plus

Installing the App

  1. ShipperHQ Plus is not currently listed in the BigCommerce Marketplace. Contact ShipperHQ to access the ShipperHQ Plus App for BigCommerce
  2. Once you receive the link to the ShipperHQ Plus app, click the link and ensure you’re logged into the correct BigCommerce Account and Store
  3. Click the “Install” button on the ShipperHQ Plus app
  4. Check the box confirming PCI-DSS compliance and click the “Confirm” button
  5. The ShipperHQ Plus app will be installed and you’ll be taken to your existing ShipperHQ configuration

Migrating from Standard ShipperHQ App

If you already have the Standard ShipperHQ App installed on BigCommerce, you’ll need to install the new ShipperHQ Plus app then migrate your ShipperHQ-related product properties (Shipping Groups, Origin Locations, and Dimensional Rules) from the existing ShipperHQ product properties to the new ShipperHQ Plus metafields.

ShipperHQ Plus can be installed alongside the Standard ShipperHQ App. The Standard App will continue to work and return rates after ShipperHQ Plus is enabled until you manually switch over to rating with the ShipperHQ Plus app. Both apps will use the same ShipperHQ account and ShipperHQ configuration.

Migrate Product Metadata

  1. [Optional] Install a free trial of Hypa’s Metafields Manager – or another app like Metafields Editor by Groove Commerce – this will let you spot-check your metafields
  2. [Optional] You may want to use Metafields Manager’s export feature to take a backup of your product metafields
  3. Open the ShipperHQ Plus app
  4. From the Account menu click on Migrate Product Metadata
  5. This may take some time to complete, when it finishes spot check a few products.
    1. The ‘Shipping Groups’ advanced shipping field should have been copied to the shipping_carrier_286 – shipperhq_shipping_group metafield
    2. The ‘Origin Locations’ advanced shipping field should have been copied to the shipping_carrier_286 – shipperhq_warehouse metafield
    3. The ‘Dimensional Rules’ advanced shipping field should have been copied to the shipping_carrier_286 – shipperhq_dim_group metafield

New Installation

If you are not already using the Standard ShipperHQ App, you can install ShipperHQ Plus without needing to migrate Product Metadata.

Before proceeding to switch on ShipperHQ Plus, you’ll want to configure your Shipping requirements in your ShipperHQ account and test them using the Test Your Rates tool within the ShipperHQ Dashboard.

Use the Metafields management app you have installed to configure any metafield values you require on your products.

namespace: shipping_carrier_286

  1. Shipping Groups:
    key: shipperhq_shipping_group
  2. Origin Locations: 
    key: shipperhq_warehouse
  3. Dimensional Rules
    key: shipperhq_dim_group

 

Switch On ShipperHQ Plus Rating

Once the app is installed, product metadata is migrated (if required), and you’re happy with the configuration we can now turn on rating from ShipperHQ Plus.

  1. Go to your BigCommerce store’s Settings -> Shipping
  2. Under Default Shipping Rules configure any zones, we recommend at least US and Rest Of World zones, and ensure ShipperHQ Plus is an enabled carrier for each zone
  3. While setting up the ShipperHQ Plus carrier you may wish to use the Quote tab to test connectivity and ensure shipping rates return
  4. When your shipping zones are configured it’s time to switch over to the new service
  5. If you were previously using the Standard ShipperHQ App
    1. From the shipping settings page toggle from Advanced shipping rules to Default shipping rule
    2. Though we don’t anticipate problems, if you feel like there are any issues with the new app you can switch this toggle back to Advanced to revert to using the previous version of the app
  6. If you were not previously using the Standard ShipperHQ App
    1. Disable any previous Carriers or Rates under your BigCommerce Shipping Zones
    2. Test to ensure ShipperHQ rates are returning and that the results are as expected
    3. If you feel there are any issues, you can simply disable ShipperHQ in your BigCommerce Shipping Zones and re-enable your old Carriers or Rates

At this point, the ShipperHQ Plus app is installed and activated. You can now use the ShipperHQ Plus app to access your SHQ dashboard for any additional configuration.

If you were using the Standard ShipperHQ app, you can leave the previous ShipperHQ app installed. 

Troubleshooting

No Rates are Returning at Checkout

Solution: Ensure that the Checkout Shipping options in BigCommerce are set to Default, and ShipperHQ Plus is added to all of your Shipping Zones. Also ensure your configuration in the ShipperHQ Plus app is set up properly, and any necessary metadata has been migrated.

Ensure that the Checkout Shipping options in BigCommerce are set to Default, and ShipperHQ Plus is added to all of your Shipping Zones.

I don’t see ShipperHQ Plus as an option to add to my shipping zones under real-time shipping quotes.

Solution: Uninstall and reinstall the ShipperHQ Plus App.

Solution: Uninstall and reinstall the ShipperHQ Plus App.

Quoting for Out of Stock Products Using B2B Ninja

For BigCommerce merchants using the B2B Ninja, there is a limitation for quoting shipping when some or all of the products are out of stock.

Out of stock items added to a quote result in the product weight being listed as 0 Lbs.

Because ShipperHQ requires a weight higher than 0.001 LBs, orders being quoted for out of stock items will need to have a weight added manually when creating the quote.

To work around this, it is recommended to either replace the out of stock product with a custom product within the quote editor or to generate a custom shipping quote.

For more details, please see this article from BigCommerce.

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