Offer a Flat Rate Option for a Specific Zone

Overview

This guide goes through how to offer delivery to a certain area for a flat rate. For example, you may offer local delivery to an area around your fulfillment center/warehouse. This is easy to do in ShipperHQ using a Flat Rate carrier and a Shipping Zone or a live-rate carrier like UPS, a Shipping Rule, and a Shipping Zone.

Scenario 1: Flat Rate Carrier

This will allow you to show a flat rate option in addition to your live-rate carriers. For example, you may want your customers to be able to choose between your Flat Rate option and UPS Ground.

Steps for Scenario 1

1. Set up your Flat Rate carrier by Configuring a Custom Carrier.
2. On your new Flat Rate carrier, set the Carrier Title (in the Basic panel) and Shipping Method Name (in the Rates panel) to what you want to show customers on checkout as the Carrier and Shipping Method, respectively.
3. Also in the Rates panel, set the Base Shipping Price to the amount you want to charge.
4. Still editing your new carrier, in the Optional panel, in the Restrict to Zones dropdown, either select a Shipping Zone you’ve already defined or select “Add New” to define the Shipping Zone (or Zones) in which you want to offer this carrier
5. Save the Carrier

Your customers will now see this option on checkout at the price you set if their shipping address is within the Shipping Zone you defined.

Scenario 2: Flat Rate on UPS Ground

This will allow you to override the live rate returned for UPS Ground to be a flat rate for customers within the Shipping Zone you’ve defined.

Steps for Scenario 2

1. You’ll need to first set up your UPS carrier in ShipperHQ and enable UPS Ground (or the method you want to override).
2. Now, Add a New Shipping Rule by clicking the Shipping Rules option in the left-hand navbar and clicking the +New button
3. In the Basic tab, enter a descriptive name for this rule (E.g. “Flat Rate for US 48”),
4. Under the Shipping Method section, Add UPS Ground under the Live Shipping Methods Assigned section.
5. In Action tab under the “Actions to Perform” section, set I want to… to “Modify the Price of my selected Shipping Methods” and set In Order to..  to “Override Rates” and “By a Flat Rate”.
6. Enter the flat rate you want to you want to override UPS Ground with and set And Apply This Rate to Per Cart, Per Shipping Group, or To Each Item within Shipping Group
7. Under the Conditions tab, choose your Shipping Zone under Zones Include or add a new Shipping Zone
8. Save your Shipping Rule

Your customers will now see your Flat Rate price as the rate for UPS Ground on checkout at the price you set if their shipping address is within the Shipping Zone you defined.