Basic shipping configuration steps to follow

Welcome to Calcurates

Calcurates is an all-in-one shipping solution that lets you manage shipping methods, rates, rules and estimated delivery dates at the storefront level — across Shopify, Magento / Adobe Commerce and WooCommerce. This guide walks you through the full setup, in order, from install to going live.

Tip: Setup takes only a few minutes for a basic configuration. You don't have to do it alone — see Need a hand? below for support and a free configuration call.

Calcurates gives you full control over shipping calculations and logic and helps you:

Achieve cost-effective shipping. Avoid shipping losses — display right methods and accurate shipping rates based on conditions. Reduce the gap between displayed shipping rates and real shipping costs.
Increase conversions. Fair and competitive shipping rates, informative and predictable shipping will inevitably increase your sales.
Calcurates is ready to solve your own shipping scenarios such as:
Real-time shipping rates from major carriers
Conditional free shipping
Dimensional weight shipping rates
Shipping rates based on packages and their dimensions
Shipping rates based on destination address (from country to a postcode level), quantity, weight, subtotal SKU, category, shipping type, vendor, origin and any other parameter you have in your e-commerce platform
Calculation algorithms: per order, per item, per weight, per order subtotal, per package, per pallet
Shipping restrictions based on your own conditions
Shipping surcharges and discounts based on your own conditions
Estimated delivery dates based on your own conditions
International shipping rates with estimated duties & taxes (landed cost)
Shipping and delivery dates estimates on product pages
and more...

Calcurates is equipped to handle a wide range of shipping needs, from the straightforward to the intricate. No matter the complexity of your shipping scenarios, Calcurates offers features that adapt to virtually any scenario, ensuring efficient management and seamless execution of diverse shipping calculations.

Choose your platform

The steps are the same in Calcurates regardless of platform — only the install and store-connection steps differ. Jump to your platform's install guide first, then follow the rest of this page top to bottom:

Shopify → install from the Shopify App Store and add Calcurates to your Shopify shipping profiles, then continue to Connect your store.
Magento / Adobe Commerce → install from the Adobe Commerce Marketplace or GitHub, then continue to Connect your store.
WooCommerce → install from the WordPress Plugin Catalog or GitHub, then continue to Connect your store.

After installing and signing in, you'll be taken through the initial setup, which only takes a few minutes.

Note on labels: On Shopify, the app refers to your connected site as your Store throughout the interface. On Magento and WooCommerce the same entity is called a Website. This guide uses "store" generally; where you see the menu item, follow whichever label your platform shows.

Step 1 — Install Calcurates

Shopify

Install the Calcurates app from the Shopify App Store.

Shopify's third-party carrier-calculated shipping feature is required. In Shopify, any app that returns calculated shipping rates — whether real carrier rates (FedEx, UPS, USPS, etc.) or custom rates you build in Calcurates — counts as third-party carrier-calculated shipping. You need this feature enabled either way, or Shopify will not call Calcurates and no rates will appear at checkout.

→ Third-party shipping in Shopify

Add Calcurates to your shipping profiles.

Shopify doesn't add a newly installed rate app to your shipping profiles. After you create your first Shipping Option (Step 4), add Calcurates to every shipping zone where its rates should appear. Until you do, customers see no Calcurates rates at checkout.

Magento / Adobe Commerce

Install the extension from the Adobe Commerce Marketplace or our official GitHub.

WooCommerce

Install the plugin from the WordPress Plugin Catalog or our official GitHub.

Step 2 — Connect your store

Connect your storefront to Calcurates so it can receive rate requests.

Shopify: Your Store is connected automatically as soon as you install the app from the App Store. One Shopify store can be connected to one Calcurates account.
Magento / Adobe Commerce: Connect your Website manually. Multiple Magento stores (e.g. Staging and Production) can be connected to one Calcurates account. → How to add and connect a Magento 2 website
WooCommerce: Connect your Website manually. Multiple WooCommerce stores can be connected to one Calcurates account. → How to add and connect a WooCommerce website

Step 3 — Set up your Origins

An Origin is the location you ship from. Set up at least one before creating Shipping Options.

Tip: If you offer in-store collection, enable In-Store Pickup mode on the relevant Origin — it's a prerequisite for the In-Store Pickup option to appear at checkout.

Step 4 — Create your first Shipping Option

A Shipping Option is what your customer sees and selects at checkout. Start with the basics:

Option types you can create:

Flat Rate

→ How to set a Flat Rate shipping option

Free Shipping

→ How to set a Free Shipping option

Table Rates

Carriers (live, real-time rates)

No carrier account yet? You can show live, discounted carrier rates out of the box using Wallet carriers — pre-connected accounts provided by ShipStation that don't require your own carrier account. Find them under Shipping Options → Manage Carriers → Wallet Accounts. → What are Wallet carriers and how to activate them

Calcurates also supports Rate Shopping (compare several carriers and show the cheapest/fastest) and In-Store Pickup. See Shipping Option types for the full list.

Step 5 — Refine with Areas, Segments and Rules

Once you have a working option, control where and when it shows, and adjust its rates. In the app sidebar these appear as Areas, Segments and Rules.

Areas

Define where you do (or don't) ship. Areas decide which methods appear for a given destination.

Segments

A Segment is a reusable set of conditions — built from Cart, Product, Geo, Date & Time, Promo or Custom attributes — that a Rule can target.

Rules

A Rule hides options/methods, or modifies rates (surcharge, discount, replace) when a Segment's conditions are met.

Step 6 — Explore Advanced features (optional)

Step 7 — Test before going live

Always verify your configuration before exposing it to customers.

1. Use the Test Your Rates tool. This tool (the shipping calculator in the app sidebar, labeled Test Your Rates) emulates your checkout so you can see exactly how options, methods and rates are calculated. → How to check your configuration with Test Your Rates

2. Preview options on your live store privately. To check a Shipping Option on your live storefront without showing it to customers, set the option to Test mode, then at checkout enter Calcurates as the First name. Options that are in Test mode will appear only for you, not for real shoppers.

3. Watch the Activity Feed. While testing, follow the Activity Feed to see what's happening with each rate request. If something looks off, submit a ticket and include the Request ID.

Step 8 — Go live

Follow the go-live guide for your platform:

Need a hand?

Even if setup seems complex, support is here to help:

Basic shipping configuration: steps to follow | Calcurates Help Center