There are a number of ways the shipping charges can be configured. this article is intended to provide an overview and put the different setups in context. Each feature or setup is explain in more detail in separate articles.
Own Transport
This is if your company has your own fleet of vehicles.
In the Carrier setup, select - Own Carrier
Area, is only applicable for own transport.
3rd party Carrier - using retrieving Shipping Charges via Carriers rate API ( e.g. UPS, FEDEX)
You require an account with the carrier you like to use the API. ODS will configure the API credentials as part of the implementation project. Or, raise a support ticket if you are changing carrier or for some reason changing account.
Some setup is still required:
Carrier, Services, Post Code Groups, Carrier Assignment Rules
3rd party Carrier(s) - using fixed charges, defined on ODSNet
The API credentials are not required but the following setup is required:
Carrier(s), Services, Delivery Charges, Post Code Groups, Carrier Assignment Rules
Collections
A service can be defined as Collection, enter Collection in the Service ID field when defining the Service.
A site can have a mixture of of all of the above. Using the carrier assignment rules it can be controlled which services are avilable to which customers.
Shipping Setup - Setup order
1) Areas: only required if you have own transport, if so, set up the Areas first.
2) Postcode Groups ( zipcodes): This is always required. If all services are available to all postcodes, a default postcode group is still required.
3) Carrier: Create your Carriers. At least one Carrier must be defined.
4) Services: Define the list of Delivery services to be available.
5) Delivery Charges: Not required if you use Carrier API's to retrieve delivery charges.
6) Carrier Assignment Rules: Now you can link Services to Countries and Post Code Groups
See also: Areas , Post Code Groups , Carrier , Services , Delivery Charges , Carrier Assignment Rules , Delivery Holidays