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How are shipping costs calculated?

What calculations are used for determining shipping cost

Currently, CartGenie uses the Shipping Methods setup in the Settings > Shipping page. These shipping methods allow shops to calculate shipping using product attributes such as weight or price or quantity.

Read more about how to create shipping zones & methods in the article below:

Creating Shipping Zones

How to set up shipping methods & determine how much customers pay for shipping

In the future, CartGenie will support live shipping rate calculations based on package and carrier rates.

The Math Behind Shipping Methods

Shipping methods use the subtotal price of all shippable items minus discounts for determining shipping costs. Non-shippable products & taxes are not included in this calculation.

Here are a few examples to illustrate this:

Example #1 - Percentage-Based Shipping Method

Shipping cost set at 10% rate

Subtotal: $100.00
Discount(25% off): -$25.00
Shipping (10% rate): $7.50 

The shipping cost was calculated by taking the subtotal of $100 - $25 = $75 ร— 10% = $7.50

Example #2 - Price-Based Shipping Method Range

Shipping cost ranges set to:
Orders from $0-$50 = $10
Orders from $50.01 or more = $0

Subtotal: $60.00
Discount($20 off): -$20.00
Shipping: $10.00

The shipping cost range was determined by taking the subtotal of $60 - $20 = $40, which means it is now in the $10 range.

Example #3 - Percentage-Based Shipping Method (with non-shippable items)

Shipping cost set at 10% rate

Item 1 (shippable): $10.00 x 1 qty
Item 2 (non-shippable): $20.00 x 5 qty
Subtotal: $110.00
Shipping (10% rate): $1.00

The shipping cost was calculated by taking the shippable item subtotal of $10 ร— 10% = $1.00

Example #4 - Fixed-Price Discount + Percentage-Based Shipping (with non-shippable items)

Fixed priced discounts (such as $10 off) present a unique challenge in this scenario because reducing the full $10 from a shippable item vs a non-shippable item will create a drastic difference in shipping cost. To make this fair, we reduce the discount off each item based on their share of the order subtotal.

Shipping cost set at 10% rate

Item 1 (shippable): $10.00 x 1 qty
Item 2 (non-shippable): $20.00 x 5 qty
Subtotal: $110.00
Discount ($10 off): -$10.00
Shipping (10% rate): $0.91

The shipping cost was calculated by taking the shippable item subtotal of $10 - [($10 / $110)*$10] = $9.09 ร— 10% = $0.91

The shippable item made up 9.09% of the order subtotal ($10 รท $110), so we applied 9.09% of the $10 discount to it. We then used the discounted amount to calculate shipping at a 10% rate.

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