Freight Charge Method Examples

When you define a method on the Freight Charge Methods form, specify a method name that makes the charge type immediately obvious.

For example, if you select a Charge type of Charge Per Item, and you only have one method that uses that charge type, you could specify Charge Per Item as the method name. If you have multiple methods using the charge type, then add information to the name to distinguish them, for example, Charge Per Item - Min 25 and Charge Per Item - Min 50.

Charge Types

There are three charge types available:

Charge Per Item: Select this option and specify a default shipping charge per item. The default value can be overridden for specific items if you specify a Freight value on the Items or Multi-Site Items form.
For example, an order for 3 items uses the Charge Per Item method. The default shipping charge defined on the Freight Charge Methods form is $5. The first item has a specific freight charge amount defined on the Items form of $15. The second and third items do not have an item-specific freight charge amount specified on the Items form, so the freight for these items is calculated using the default $5 freight charge amount specified on the Freight Charge Methods form. Thus, the calculated freight charge for all three items is $25 (15 + 5 + 5).
Charge per Weight Unit: Select this option and then specify the shipping charge per weight unit amount to use when shipping charges are calculated for each line item on the order. For example, in your system, the weight of each item is calculated in kilograms, and your domestic currency is the dollar. The order has 2 items, one that weighs 10 kilograms and the other 20 kilograms. So if you specify a Charge Per Weight Unit of 1.00, the shipping charge is calculated as $10 for the first item and $20 for the second item, for a total of $30.
The calculation algorithm does not take into account the Total Weight entered on the Customer Orders form, because during order placement, that value is unknown.
Percentage of Order Price: Select this option and then specify the percentage to use when shipping charges are calculated. For example, if you specify 5 here, the freight charge is set to 5 percent of the total order price.

Handling Charges and Minimum/Maximum Charges

For each method, you can also specify handling charges. Handling charges could include your company's cost to pick and pack the order, or extra international charges.

If a minimum or maximum order charge applies to this method, specify it here. For example, you set up a freight charge method where 10% of the order price is used as the calculation; however, the maximum freight charge allowed is $100 for shipping an individual order. For an order where the total order price (not including the shipping charges) is $12,000, the shipping charge is $100 instead of the calculated percentage of $120.

If you do not want a minimum or maximum order charge to apply to this Freight Charge Method, leave these fields blank. If you specify 0 in either of these fields, then no shipping charges are applied.

The charge field values on the Freight Charge Methods form are specified in the domestic currency. After freight charges are calculated, the Customer Orders form or the Customer Portal converts the calculated freight charge total of the entire order to the customer currency.