For merchants in the US, Canada, Australia. and New Zealand, ShipStation can select the lowest-cost shipping service for your shipments with our Rate Shopper feature. With Rate Shopper, you pre-define which services you'd like ShipStation to compare, as well as define any delivery time or service requirements. When you select that Rate Shopper rule for a shipment (or group of shipments), ShipStation automatically applies the service with the lowest rate that fits your requirements.
You can use Rate Shopper manually on an order-by-order basis, or you can set up automation rules where every time an order imports, Rate Shopper will find you the best rate.
Some examples of different service rules you could create with Rate Shopper include:
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Compare different carrier services that estimate delivery within 2 days
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Compare different overnight or 1-day services
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Compare different economy services
Once you've defined which services belong in each strategy, you either select the Rate Shopper rule when you configure a shipment manually or create an Automation Rule to do it for you. Once Rate Shopper is applied to a shipment, ShipStation compares the rates of each service defined in the rule, then assigns to the selected shipments the service with the lowest cost that meets your requirements.
To start using Rate Shopper, you'll first create a Rate Shopper rule (or multiple rules) in your ShipStation Shipping settings. You can then select the rule from the Service menu when configuring a shipment or create an Automation Rule to do it for you. Review the sections below to learn how to create and use Rate Shopper.
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🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇦🇺 🇳🇿
A US, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand-based account. Rate Shopper is not yet available for accounts in other countries.
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Your account plan must be on a High Volume or higher, or you can get Rate Shopper as an Add-on.
Follow these steps to create a lowest-cost-service rule for Rate Shopper:
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Go to Shipping and select Rate Shopper.
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Click the Create New button.
This action will open the Rate Shopper popup.
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Name the Rule.
This name will be what appears in the Services menu when you configure a shipment.
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Click Services to Compare to add a service(s) to your Rule.
Beside the configuration menu there is a story view to help you visualize your new Rate Shopper rule as you build it.
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Edit the selection of services from the Services to Compare dropdown menu or by checking or unchecking the individual services you wish to add or remove.
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🇦🇺 🇳🇿 For Australia and New Zealand-based accounts: Select your package type.
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🇦🇺 🇳🇿 For Australia and New Zealand-based accounts: Select a confirmation type, if applicable to your selected service.
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🇦🇺 🇳🇿 For Australia and New Zealand-based accounts: Click Add another service to include more services in the comparison.
The services you define here are the set of services ShipStation compares when you select this rule for a shipment.
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Optional: Set a Delivery Time.
This step is not required. We only consider services that respond with an estimated delivery date. Some international services do not offer this estimate.
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Optional: Set your Preferences.
Use the toggle to open the Preference section, then click the Use this Service to set your Service Preference.
Within Rate Shopper, you can set up a Service Preference that will override the otherwise selected rate IF your preferred service is more expensive by only a certain amount.
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Click Publish to complete setting up your Rate Shopper rule.
Create as many different rules as you need. Be sure to give them descriptive names so you and your shipping staff can easily identify which rule is best for a shipment.
Edit a Rate Shopper Rule
Once you have published your rate shopper rule, you can click Edit to change the services and other details of the rule.
Once you have created a Rate Shopper rule, it will appear at the top of the Services menu drop-down. When you select a rule, ShipStation will compare the services you defined for that rule and apply the lowest rate to the shipment. The "winning" service will appear in the rate section of the shipment widget.
You can manually apply a rule to any shipment either individually or in bulk on the Orders grid. You can also automate this selection with an Automation Rule.
You apply a Rate Shopper rule the same way you apply a service. Select an order and click the Service drop-down menu. The rules appear at the top, and the rest of the available services below. Choose your desired rule.
To apply the same Rate Shopper rule to multiple shipments, select the desired orders and choose a rule from the Configure Shipment Widget or the Bulk Actions menu.
ShipStation will apply the chosen rule to all selected orders.
For locations outside of the US and for carrier accounts where package dimensions are necessary to generate a rate, we recommend creating a series of Automation Rules, one to automatically apply dimensions to a package and then another to apply a Rate Shopper rule.
Creating an Automation Rule to apply dimensions removes the task of having to manually update dimensions for each order. After you have created a rule to apply dimensions to packages, you can then create a Rate Shopper rule that will apply to your orders.
The sequence of these rules is crucial as Automation Rules run according to their sequence in the rules list. The dimensions rule must come first to ensure that all orders generate the appropriate rate. Then, the Rate Shopper rule can be applied.
The following is an example Automation rule that applies dimensions, followed by the Rate rule:
Package dimensions are necessary to generate a rate for some countries outside of the US. Use this rule to set the package dimensions for orders as long as the quantity is under a certain threshold. For example, if you only sell shirts and know that any order of 10 shirts or less will be shipped in a 30cm x 30cm x 15cm box, this rule would automatically set the box dimensions on those orders.
This example rule will apply to orders when the total quantity of all items is 10 or less, and it will set the package dimensions to 30cm x 30cm x 15cm.
Select Only apply these actions to orders that match specific criteria. Set the criteria to Total Quantity is Less Than or Equal to 10.
Add the action to Set Package Dimensions, then enter the dimensions of your box.
Now you can create a Rate Shopper rule.
Click Create a Rule, then select Set Shipping Strategy from the Action Type drop-down menu. Select the strategy you want the rule to apply and click Save Rule.
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Use Rate Shopper with Automation Rules
Rate Shopper rules can also be applied via Automation Rules. When you create an automation rule, select Set Rate Shopper from the Action Type drop-down menu, then select the Rate Shopper rule you want the Automation Rule to apply.
The Delivery Time restricts eligible services to those that have a carrier delivery estimate within the specified time.
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If the carrier gives us a range of delivery dates, ShipStation uses the later date to be conservative and give your package the best chance of getting to your customer on time.
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If the carrier does not provide an estimate for delivery dates, then we do not include them as an eligible service for the shipment
Rate Shopper shipments use this formula to calculate the time for delivery to your end customer:
Delivery Time = Time in transit from the business day after the ship date.
The delivery time starts counting on the business day after the ship date.
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By default, the ship date is set to be today. This means tomorrow will be day 1 when Rate Shopper runs on any order unless you have adjusted this ship date.
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The delivery calculation includes business days only. Weekends are not included.
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For example, if you have a 2-business-day delivery window, and your ship date is on a Monday, we will choose the lowest-cost service that can estimate delivery before the end of the day on Wednesday.
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If you have included a service that can deliver on a Saturday in your shipping strategy, and have also enabled a delivery time, the Saturday service will simply be included with the services that can deliver by Monday because the delivery time is based on business days.
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For example, if you have a 2-day delivery time, and your ship date is on a Thursday, we will choose the lowest cost service that can estimate delivery between Friday-Monday.
ShipStation's Rate Shopper defaults are conveniently full of the most-used Shipping services from the ShipStation Carrier Services.
You cannot edit these ShipStation defaults. Also, these defaults cannot be deleted. However, you are not required to use them.
Instead, you can duplicate a default as a starting point and then include other services.
You can hide a Rate Shopper Default from the service dropdown menus across ShipStation by the Available toggle found on the top corner of each Rate Shopper rule on the Rate Shopper settings page.
Within Rate Shopper, you can set up a Service Preference that will override the otherwise selected rate IF your preferred service is only a certain amount more expensive.
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Service Preference is a "less-than" calculation. It does not include the exact price set. It will only include prices that are at least 1 penny cheaper.
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For example, if you have set your service preference to choose UPS Ground if the rate is within 1 dollar of the cheapest, it would select UPS Ground® if it were up to $0.99 more expensive than the cheapest rate.
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The Rate Shopper UI will show the configuration as well as a story explanation of the Service Preference.
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Rate Shopper is currently only available to US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand-based account plans on a High Volume (or higher) or as an add-on.
Merchants in other countries will be able to use this feature soon!
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Rate Shopper is not available in the ShipStation Legacy layout.
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Rate Shopper only compares services. It does not compare different package types.
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You can view the Rate Shopper strategy, carrier, and service selected for a shipment in the Orders grid. Make sure you have enabled those columns in your Orders grid view.
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Bulk updates to package type and confirmation type will not apply to orders with Rate Shopper.