Provides 4 example automation rules: Assign a service by order weight, by residential address, or by order tag, and one using multiple criteria and actions.
Automation rules can seem a bit abstract until you actually create a few.
Here are several common automation rules you can use to help you get started.
One of the most popular uses for automation rules is to apply a specific service based on the weight of the order.
IF the Total Weight is less than 450 g THEN set Shipping Service / Package to FedEx Economy / Package.
Here is a step-by-step example of how to create this rule:
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Enter a descriptive name for the Rule.
For example: Economy 450g.
Select Only apply these actions to orders that match specific criteria. Click +Add Criteria.
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Select Total Weight , Is Less Than..., then enter the weight in ounces into the empty field.
This criteria will limit the rule to only orders with total weights under 450 g.
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Click Add an Action.
Select Set Carrier/Services/Package.. from the drop-down menu. Drop-down menus for Service and Package will then display.
For this example, select FedEx Economy from the Service drop-down menu. Select Package from the Package drop-down. The rule set up should look similar to the example image above.
Click Save Rule.
Some shipping carriers, like FedEx, offer different rates and services based on whether an address is residential or commercial, so you may find it helpful to automatically switch to a service based on address classification.
For example, any FedEx orders shipping to a residential address should use FedEx Home Delivery for the service.
IFthe address is verified as Residential ANDthe Carrier is FedEx THEN set Shipping Service / Package to FedEx Home Delivery® / Package
Here is a step by step example of this type of rule:
Enter a name for the rule. For example: Fedex Residential
Select Only apply these actions to orders that match specific criteria. Click +Add Criteria.
Select Residential/Commercial, Equals and Residential from the first set of drop-down menus.
Click +Add Criteria add Criteria. From the drop-down menus, select Carrier, Equals..., FedEx.
Set the action to Set Carrier/Service/Package.
Select the appropriate service and package type from the drop-down menus. In this example we used FedEx Home Delivery® and Package.
Click Save Rule.
If you added tags to products or customers, ShipStation adds the tags to orders automatically before automation rules run, which means you can use tags as rule criteria.
For example, you are selling clothing and want to upgrade shipping to USPS Priority Mail for any order of a shirt or pants where the buyer also purchased a hat, but not if they ordered shoes since orders with shoes are heavy and must be shipped via a different service.
The logic of the rule is IF the Order Tags INCLUDE pants OR shirt AND the Order Tags INCLUDE hat AND the Order Tags DO NOT INCLUDE shoes THEN set Shipping Service / Package to USPS Priority Mail / Package.
Assuming you tagged the products already (based on the type of product - shirt, pants, hat, shoes) here is how to make this type of rule:
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Enter a descriptive name for the rule.
For this example, we called the rule: Hat Shipping Upgrade.
Select Only apply these actions to orders that match specific criteria. Then, click +Add Criteria.
Select Order Tags, Include..., then select the appropriate order tags. In this case, pants and shirt.
Click +Add Criteria to add the next condition. For the next set of drop-down menus, select Order Tags, Includes..., and select the appropriate tag. The tag hat is appropriate in this example.
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Click +Add Criteria again to add the final condition. This set of drop-downs should be Order Tags, Do Not Include..., and the appropriate order tag. In this example, shoes is the appropriate tag.
All of these criteria means that the rule will only apply to orders with shirts or pants that include a hat but do not include shoes.
Set an action from the drop-down menu. Select Set Carrier/Services/Package.. In our example we select USPS Priority Mail and Package.
Click Save Rule.
In this example, the merchant is located in Pflugerville, TX and wants to send a special gift to nearby customers who buy from their Magento or Shopify stores and have spent over $50 on the order.
To identify those orders, the merchant has decided to apply a tag to the orders so they're easy to locate in ShipStation, and then print a special packing slip so their staff knows to include the gift in the package.
The logic of the rule is IF the Order Total IS GREATER THAN 50 AND the Marketplace EQUALS Magento OR Shopify AND the State EQUALS Texas (TX) AND the City EQUALS Austin OR Pflugerville OR Round Rock THEN add the GIFT tag AND use the Gift Packing Slip template.
Here's how to set up a rule to apply a tag and specified packing slip to very specific orders:
Enter a descriptive name for the Rule. For example: Local Gift Orders
Select Only apply these actions to orders that match specific criteria. Click +Add Criteria. This rule will have a total of four criteria.
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Select Order Total, Is Greater Than..., 50 on the first set of criteria drop-downs.
The first set of criteria will look for orders over 50 USD.
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Click +Add Criteria to add the next set of criteria. This criteria will look for orders from Magento or Shopify.
Select Marketplace, Equals..., Magento and Shopify. Click +Add Criteria again.
Select State, Equals..., Texas. This criteria will limit the rule to orders shipping to the state of Texas.
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Click +Add Criteria to add the final criteria. Select City, Equals..., Pflugerville, Austin and Round Rock.
This will apply the rule to order that include one of these cities in the shipping address.
Add two actions. For the first action select Add a Tag... then select the appropriate tag to apply. In this case, the tag is GIFT. For the second action, select Use a specific Packing Slip... then select the name of the packing slip template from the drop-down. In this example, it is called Gift Packing Slip.
Click Save Rule.
Tip
For this example, if the additional gift means you must use a different package type or shipping service, just add that as another action in this rule. Alternately, a subsequent rule could use the GIFT tag as the criteria to set the new service and package type.