Shipping Weight Calculation
In DecoNetwork, all products allow for weight specifications in their configuration. Catalog products will already have the weight specified when they are added to your website. You will need to specify weights for products that you add manually. Make sure that you specify accurate weights for your products so that your customers are charged the correct rates for shipping.
Read the Product Shipping & Production help article to learn how to add/edit weight specifications for a product.
Shipping weight for an order is calculated by multiplying the quantity ordered by the weight specified for each item.
Shipping Dimension Calculation
Shipping dimensions are required if you are sending a shipment in a custom package and a flat-rate shipping method is not being used. DecoNetwork will automatically calculate shipping dimensions that are used together with shipping weight to determine the shipping cost. The shipping dimensions of a package is calculated by first starting with a single item, then adding each extra to the shortest side of the package until all items are in the package.
Carriers have package size and weight restrictions. Some may impose a surcharge if a package exceeds a certain size and weight limit. DecoNetwork uses an algorithm to determine the best way to divide and combine the items in an order to get the most cost-effective package combination. The algorithm varies by carrier to take into consideration the different size and weight restrictions placed by each carrier.
Example Shipping Dimensions Calculation
To illustrate how DecoNetwork determines what package dimensions to use, let's say for example 120 sweaters are ordered and UPS is the chosen carrier. UPS have the following restrictions:
- Length plus Girth must be less than 165 inches, where girth is twice the width plus the height and the length must be less than 108 inches.
- Packages are limited to 150 pounds in weight, however, a surcharge will be applied for all packages exceeding 50 pounds
Say the item weight specification is 1.35 pounds per sweater and the packaging dimensions of a single sweater is defined as length 6 inches, width 4 inches, and a height of 1.2 inches.
The order weight calculation would be 120 multiplied by 1.25, giving the order weight of 150 pounds. Based on the 50-pound limitation, we break this into 3 separate packages: 150 divided by 3 allows for 50 sweaters per package.
The dimensions of each package are determined using DecoNetwork's standard package algorithm which starts with a single sweater and then keeps adding each extra item to the shortest side of the package. The package dimensions keep growing until all sweaters are in the package. In our example, the algorithm works out that a package of length - 12 inches, width - 12 inches, and height - 8.4 inches will fit 50 sweaters.
Shipping Rates Calculation
The shipping methods that you set up in DecoNetwork are made available in Business Hub and during checkout as options for your customers. The selected shipping method is used to calculate the shipping rates for orders.
If you have live shipping activated, your default package dimensions are sent to your shipping carrier, along with the weight of an order, to calculate the shipping rates for your customer. Shipping rates are calculated using a pricing technique called dimensional weight, also commonly referred to as DIM weight.
Dimensional Weight
Since space on a delivery vehicle is limited, package density is taken into account by most shipping carriers to determine shipping rates. Package density is the amount of space a package occupies in relation to its weight. This is known in shipping terms as the dimensional weight. Dimensional weight measures how much space your package will take up in transit.
To calculate dimensional weight, start by calculating the volume. Volume is calculated by multiplying the length by the width by the height. Then you divide the volume by the dimensional weight divisor. Each commercial shipping carrier has its own dimensional weight divisor. Check with the carrier you are using for their dimensional weight policies.
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.