Understand externally priced shipping methods

Externally priced shipping methods can be created to represent each shipping method that can be returned by your shipping calculator service.

This allows you to take advantage of Oracle CX Commerce’s shipping promotion and tax calculation features.

Externally priced shipping methods are created in the administration interface and their price and availability are determined using a combination of internal rules and the shipping calculator service. During checkout, Oracle CX Commerce determines which externally priced shipping methods are available based on internal rules. The available shipping methods and costs are sent to the shipping calculator service in the request. The shipping calculator service responds with some or all of the available methods and their prices and these available shipping methods are displayed to the shopper with the returned price. Oracle CX Commerce applies shipping promotions and calculate taxes for externally priced shipping methods as it does for internally priced shipping methods. See Work with external shipping methods for more complete information on this subject.

You create an externally priced shipping method through the Shipping Methods page available from the Settings list. This is just like the existing internally priced shipping method except there is a selection in the dropdown list to indicate that it is externally priced. Since the externally priced shipping method is available in the administration interface in the same way as internally priced shipping methods, this also includes the “applies to shipping methods” picker in shipping promotions.

Externally priced shipping methods behave the same as internal shipping methods. Shipping promotions and taxes are applied to externally priced shipping methods the same way as they are to internal shipping methods. The store recognizes the shipping regions associated with externally priced shipping methods as it does internal shipping methods. The store should recognize the shipping regions associated with an externally priced shipping method that is considered unavailable based on internal rules but is returned by the shipping calculator. The service overrides the internal rules in this case and the resulting shipping method/storefront interface behaves the same as all other internal shipping methods. For more information about webhooks and the Shipping Calculator service, refer to Use Webhooks.

You can also select “fallback” shipping methods for an externally priced shipping method. Fallback shipping methods are displayed only if the shipping calculator service fails (or does not respond or responds improperly). This gives you the ability to still take orders if the shipping carrier service is having problems. Refer to Specify a fallback shipping method for more information on setting up fallback shipping methods. You can also refer to Integrate with External Shipping Calculators for more information about shipping calculators and about configuring when Commerce uses a fallback shipping method.

Note: Externally priced shipping methods are supported in the administration interface and the Admin API. These methods are not supported in the Agent Console. Merchants should not create externally priced shipping methods if they need to support the feature in Agent Console..

Create an externally priced shipping method

To create a new externally priced shipping method in the administration interface, follow these steps:

1. Click the Settings icon, then select Shipping Methods.
2. Click New Shipping Method.
3. Select Externally Priced from the drop-down list.
4. Enter the information that identifies the new externally priced shipping method. See Create a shipping method to learn about the information to enter in each field. For more information on externally priced shipping methods and how they work differently from other shipping methods, refer to Integrate with External Shipping Calculators.
5. Click Save.