Shipping

WebSphere Commerce enables you to add a variety of shipping charges to your orders. For example, using WebSphere Commerce you can create shipping charges based on the weight of the order or the number of items in the order as well as charges independent of weight or quantity (fixed-rate charges). You can apply any combination of the three types of charges to an order.

Shipping charges are based on the following factors:

  • The jurisdiction to which you are shipping the order. Jurisdictions are geographical regions or zones representing a country or region, province or territory, or ZIP code range, to which you sell.
  • The shipping mode you are using to ship the order. A shipping mode is the combination of the shipping carrier (the company that provides shipping services from a fulfillment center to a customer) and the shipping service offered by that carrier. For example, XYZ Courier, Overnight service is a shipping mode.
  • The shipping code used to calculate the shipping charge. A shipping code indicates which shipping charges are applied to which products in the order. Shipping codes are assigned to products or categories. When a customer purchases a product the codes assigned to it determine the shipping charges that are added to the order.
  • The type of shipping charge. Shipping charges can be applied based on the weight of the order, the number of items in the order, or on a fixed rate for the order. You can apply more than one shipping charge to a product or order. For B2B orders, you can also adjust the shipping charge for any order, based on the contract, by a percentage (such as 10% off the original shipping charge) or by a specified fixed amount (such as charging $10 for shipping).
  • The fulfillment options that handle the order. Fulfillment options are a combination of the fulfillment center that will fill the order, the jurisdiction that the fulfillment option serves, the shipping mode that will ship the order, and the precedence that the fulfillment option will take.

Create your shipping charges, and all of the associated information, using the Shipping notebook in the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator.