Merged Shipping Options: display aggregated rates for multi-origin carts
Overview
When a cart contains products stocked in different Origins, each Origin returns its own shipping rates. Merged Shipping Options let you combine those rates into a single shipping method with a common name, so the customer sees one line and one total at the checkout instead of a rate per Origin.
There are two ways to build a Merged Shipping Option:
| Selection type | How rates are picked |
|---|---|
| Select Methods manually | You pick the Shipping Options yourself. The system sums their rates from each Origin exactly as selected. |
Merge Cheapest Methods | The system automatically takes the cheapest rate from each Origin and sums them. |
You can use both at the same time: a set of manual combinations for the method names you want to guarantee, plus one automatic cheapest option as a fallback.
This feature is part of Multi-Origin Shipping. Before setting it up:
- Enable Multi-Origin Shipping mode
- Map and sync your Origins
- Assign Origins to your Shipping Options.
See How Multi-Origin Shipping feature works, Steps 1 to 4.
When to use it
- Your Origins share the same carrier services and you want one clean "Standard Delivery" line covering the whole cart. Use Select Methods manually.
- Your Origins offer different methods, or you have more than two Origins, and building a manual combination for every possible pairing is not practical. Use Merge Cheapest Methods.
How to configure it
Go to the "Shipping Options" section > "Merged Options" tab and press "Add Merged Option".
In the "Shipping Options" block of the form, choose the Selection type.
Selection type: Select Methods manually
Manually pick one or more Shipping Options. The rates returned for these options from each Origin are summed up into one rate, displayed under the name you gave the Merged Shipping Option.
The Merged Shipping Option is displayed at full match of the selected shipping options, methods and services returned for the Origins. If a selected method or service is not returned for one of the Origins involved in the cart, the Merged Shipping Option is not displayed.
Set up multiple Merged Shipping Options to provide different merging variations.
Selection type: Merge Cheapest Methods
Instead of naming the methods to merge, you let the system resolve them at the moment of the rate request. It automatically picks the cheapest rate per Origin and sums them, so you do not have to anticipate every combination of methods your Origins can return.
How the rate is calculated:
- Each Origin involved in the cart returns its own set of rates.
- The system takes the cheapest available rate from each Origin.
- These cheapest rates are summed up, one rate per Origin.
- The sum becomes the rate of the Cheapest Merged Shipping Option, displayed at the checkout under the name you gave it.
The option is summed only if every Origin has a visible rate. If at least one Origin in the cart returns no rate, or its rates are hidden by a Shipping Rule, the Cheapest Merged Shipping Option is hidden.
Display specifics in the grid
The Cheapest Merged Shipping Option is built dynamically at the checkout, so it behaves slightly differently from the other rows in the Merged Options grid:
- Only one Cheapest Merged Shipping Option can exist. Once it is created, the "Merge Cheapest Methods" value becomes unavailable in the Selection type list.
- It is always pinned to the top of the grid and highlighted in grey, so it is easy to tell apart from the manually created options.
- Sorting, filtering and pagination do not apply to it.
- The "Shipping Options" column shows the "Cheapest" label instead of a list of options, because the options are resolved only at the moment of the rate request.
- It is activated and deactivated with the Status toggle, the same way as any other Merged Shipping Option.
Limitations
- Shopify Locations mapping. If you map Origins with Shopify Locations, Shopify selects the best Location to ship from and merges shipping methods and rates per Location on its end. Merged Shipping Options are not applicable in this case.
- Split Checkout. Merged Shipping Options of both types are not returned when Split Checkout is enabled. Split Checkout displays individual Shipping Options per Origin instead. See How Multi-Origin Shipping feature works, Step 6.
Troubleshooting: the Merged Shipping Option is not displayed
Check the following, then re-test and open the Activity Feed to see which Origins were applied and which rates each of them returned:
- Status. The Merged Shipping Option is enabled in the Merged Options grid.
- One Origin returned nothing. Both types require a rate from every Origin in the cart. For the manual type, the selected method must be returned by every Origin. For the cheapest type, every Origin must have at least one visible rate.
- A Shipping Rule hid the underlying rate. A rate hidden by a rule counts as not returned, so the merged option is hidden as well.
- Origins are not assigned to the Shipping Options you selected, or products are not mapped to the expected Origins.
- Split Checkout is enabled, or Origins are mapped with Shopify Locations. See Limitations above.
If the rates still do not add up as expected, take the Request ID from the Activity Feed and send it to support@calcurates.com.
Related articles
Related Articles
Multi-Origin Shipping: set up methods and rates for multiple origins or vendors
Video: How to Set Up Multi-Origin Shipping in Calcurates? Overview With the "Multi-Origin" feature you may set up individual shipping methods and rates for your multiple Origins (warehouses, vendors, suppliers, 3PLs), display Merged Shipping Option ...Duties & Taxes: get estimated international duties & taxes
Overview With this feature you may get estimated international duties & taxes together with carrier’s real-time shipping rates and use them in your shipping methods (Carrier Services or Table Rates methods). Enabling Duties & Taxes feature will cause ...How to set up the Estimated Shipping App for Shopify
Step 1: complete widget settings Complete widget settings in order to specify shipping rates, estimated delivery dates and countdown timer displayed on product pages. Main settings Shipping method(s) displayed in widget Select which rates you'd like ...Delivery Dates: set and display own delivery dates calculations
Overview With this feature you may display estimated delivery dates or days in transit next to the shipping method at checkout in order to give your customers an idea when they are going to get their order delivered. There are 2 sources of estimated ...Delivery Dates: get and display estimated delivery dates from Carriers
Overview With this feature you may display estimated delivery dates or days in transit next to the shipping method at checkout in order to give your customers an idea when they are going to get their order delivered. There are 2 sources of estimated ...