How Rate Shopping feature works | Calcurates for Magento

Rate Shopping: compare rates from multiple carriers in real-time and display the lowest ones at the checkout

Overview

After you connect your own carrier accounts (UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL, Canada Post, Australia Post, Aramex / Fastway and more) with the Rate Shopping feature a you may compare rates from multiple carriers in real-time and display the lowest one(s) at the checkout. The feature makes a "virtual auction" to select and show the lowest Shipping Rate/s to your customers at checkout. It is worth mentioning that this communication between Carriers and Calcurates is done in mere fractions of a second.

Rate Shopping: Popular Scenarios

Check some popular scenarios perfectly solved with Rate Shopping:
  1. Compare FedEx Ground and UPS Ground rates and display the cheapest option at checkout

Rate Shopping: Configuration Steps

Step 1: connect your carrier account(s)
Step 2: add Rate Shopping Option

After you finish: check methods and rates in the Activity Feed while testing

Step 1: Connect your Carrier account

Step 2: add Rate Shopping Option

Navigate to Shipping Options > Add New Shipping Option

Click "Add New" next to the "Rate Shopping":

General Settings


  1. Name. Add a name for your Carriers Shipping Option.
    1. Shopify. This name will NOT be displayed at checkout.
    2. Magento and WooCommerce. This name will be be displayed at checkout if "Set different display name" is disabled.
  2. Set different display name. You may use "Name" as an internal name, while set a different display name for checkout with this setting.
    1. Shopify. This name will NOT be displayed at checkout.
    2. Magento and WooCommerce. This name will be be displayed at checkout instead of "Name".
  3. Website. Pick the store's Website on which you want to display this Carriers Shipping Option option.
  4. Served Origins. Select Origin(s) which are served by this Carriers Shipping Option option. Learn more about Multi-Origin shipping rates.
  5. Store Views (n/a for Shopify and WooCommerce). Pick the Store Views on which you want to display this Carriers Shipping Option option. Leave empty to display it on ALL Store Views.
  6. Image (n/a for Shopify). You may use Default Image (Carrier logo) or upload own image that will be displayed at checkout next to this shipping option.

Rate Shopping Settings

On the Step 2 click yellow "Settings" button to open the popup with Carrier settings:


  1. Rate Shopping. In this tab you will find some important settings related to Rate Shopping.
    1. Select carriers for Rate Shopping. Rate Shopping uses connected Carriers and requests multiple real-time rates. Select Carriers which you want to use for Rate Shopping.
    2. Number of cheapest carrier services to display. Specify the number of cheapest carrier services to display.
  2. Rates. In this tab you will find some important settings that affects shipping rates.
    1. Packaging. Select the way Calcurates will send packages to the Carrier to get shipping rates.
      1. Single package for the order with weight only. Rates will be requested for a single package with a total weight (or volumetric weight) of the order.
      2. Separate packages per item with weight only. Rates will be requested for multiple packages per item with a weight (or volumetric weight) of the item.
      3. Smart Packaging with weight and dimensions. Smart Packaging virtually pre-packs orders into enabled packages before requesting real-time rates. It requires product dimensions and / or Packaging Rules and enabled Custom Packages. Applied packages can be displayed in the order info. Learn more from this user guide.
    2. Get international duties & taxes. Together with Carrier's international shipping rates Calcurates can get estimated duties & taxes. Tax and duties estimates cost additional credits. Learn more about pricing here.
      1. Magento and WooCommerce. In Calcurates extension / plugin settings you may manage duties & taxes inclusion into the shipping rates.
    3. Do not include Duties & Taxes into shipping rates (for Shopify only). Enable if you don't want to include duties & taxes into the shipping rates and want to display them only for informative purposes (for this check Carrier Service's "Info Messages" tab).
    4. Round Shipping Rate to Integer. If enabled the Rate will be rounded to integer after all rules are applied.
    5. Address Type in Rate Request. Real-time rates may vary depending on the address residential status.
      1. Unknown. No address type will be used when requesting shipping rates.
      2. Residential. "Residential" address type will be used when requesting shipping rates.
      3. Commercial. "Commercial" address type will be used when requesting shipping rates.
      4. Validate Address. If "Address Validation" feature is enabled, Address type from the validation results will be used when requesting shipping rates. No address validation data will be used if "Address Validation" is disabled.
  3. Carrier Delivery Dates. By default most of the carriers return Delivery Dates together with shipping rates. You may adjust ship date using settings below. Under "Edit" of each individual carrier service, you will find settings for displaying delivery dates.
    1. Additional Days
    2. Non-Dispatch Days
    3. Non-Delivery Days
    4. Cut-off time
  4. Free Shipping Items. Items with the selected attribute and value will be excluded from shipping rates requests to the carrier. If all items in cart match selection, then shipping rate will be "0".

Service Settings

On the Step 2 next to the certain Carrier Service (i.e. UPS Standard) click "Edit" icon to open the popup with Carrier Service settings:


  1. General
    1. Service Type. Read-only service code value.
    2. Name. This name will be be displayed at checkout if "Set different display name" is disabled.
    3. Set different display name. You may use "Name" as an internal name, while set a different display name for checkout with this setting.
    4. Sort Order. By default Calcurates sorts shipping methods by rate value (from lower to higher). With this setting you may apply your custom sorting.
    5. Served Shipping Areas. Select Shipping Areas, for which this Carrier Service is valid.
  2. Delivery Dates. Enable if you want to display Estimated Delivery Dates for this Carrier Service.
    1. Source of Delivery Dates. Select the source of estimated delivery dates.
      1. Get from the Carrier. Delivery date is supplied by the carrier. Check additional settings in Carrier Settings > Delivery Dates.
      2. Custom Settings. Choose from available Delivery Dates profiles.
    2. Shopify. Delivery dates format can be changed in the Website's settings. 
    3. Magento and WooCommerce: Delivery dates display settings are available in the Calcurates extension config.
    4. Enable Date & Time Picker at Checkout (for Magento only).
  3. Info Messages.
    1. Show Explanatory Tooltip / Method's Description to The Customers. Add text which you'd like to display as a description to your Shipping Method. Use the following variables to display info in the shipping method's description: delivery date from - {delivery_from}, delivery date to - {delivery_to}, min transit days qty - {min_transit_days}, max transit days qty - {max_transit_days}, international taxes & duties - {tax_amount}, packaging results - {packages}. Twig-template is supported.
      1. Magento. Check additional display settings in Magento admin (Calcurates extension settings)
    2. Show Error Message when Shopping Option is unavailable (n/a for Shopify). If conditions for the shipping Method are not met, you may display some restrictive message at checkout. If disabled Method is hidden with No Message.

Custom Packages

If you are using Smart Packaging for this Carrier Shipping Option, then enable allowed Custom Packages the "Custom Packages" tab:


Carrier Packages (rarely used)

On the Step 2 you may find the "Carrier Packages" tab.
If Carrier Packages are enabled, then Calcurates will request rates for those particular Carrier Packages.

Advanced Settings

The "Advanced Settings" tab is available for Magento and WooCommerce and not available for Shopify.


Tax & Discounts

  1. Use discount inclusive price and subtotal for calculations (shipping costs and rules). If you apply Shipping Rules to the carrier's rates by subtotal or price, then with this setting you may define, whether Calcurates should consider discounts or not.
  2. Use tax inclusive price and subtotal for calculations (shipping costs and rules). If you Shipping Rules to the carrier's rates by subtotal or price, then with this setting you may define, whether Calcurates should consider taxes or not.

Sort Order

  1. Sort order. By default Calcurates sorts shipping options by rate value (from lower to higher). With this setting you may apply your custom sorting.

Additional Related Scenarios

  1. Add Shipping Areas to geo restrict Carrier Services
  2. Apply additional Rules or Restrictions to Carrier Services
  3. Apply Volumetric Weight to the Carrier Shipping Option
  4. Apply Smart Packaging to the Carrier Shipping Option
  5. Apply International Duties & Taxes to the Carrier Shipping Option
  6. Set and display Estimated Delivery Dates for Carrier Services
  7. Check Address Residential Status before getting rates

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