Shipping Estimator
The Shipping Estimator displays as a dropdown field in the order summary box in the cart section of your website after your customer has added items to the cart. It displays the estimated shipping cost based on the Shipping Estimator Preference selected by the website administrator.
Note that the preference setting you select may not be applicable to all customers. For example, you might select a default shipping method that is not available for a particular customer address. In this case, a system of precedence determines the method by which the estimated shipping cost is calculated. For more information, see Shipping Estimator Order of Precedence.
To estimate the shipping cost, the Shipping Estimator only requires customers to select a country and enter a postal code. Customers are required to enter a full shipping address later in the checkout process, and can choose a different shipping method prior to submitting the order.
Shipping estimates for orders shipped by FedEx from a Canadian location do not include Canadian sales tax.
This image is an example of how the Shipping Estimator looks in the Store Front.
This topic includes:
Enabling the Shipping Estimator
In SCA you have full control of the elements displayed on your website. To show the Shipping Estimator feature, you must layout your ecommerce website to display it in the shopping cart.
To enable the shipping estimator:
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Go to Commerce > Websites > Web Site List.
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Click Edit next to the website you want to modify.
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Click the Setup subtab.
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Check the Enable Shipping Estimator in Cart box.
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Click the Shopping subtab.
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Make a selection from the Shipping Estimator Preference list. For more information, see Shipping Estimator Preference Options.
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Click Save.
Shipping Estimator Preference Options
After you select a Shipping Estimator Preference, the Shipping Estimator uses your selection to calculate the estimated shipping cost for the website customer. You can select from the following options:
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Lowest Price Shipping Item – shows the lowest priced shipping method available for the shopper’s address.
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Default Website Shipping Method – shows the default shipping method selected for the website. You can select the default setting on the Website Setup page. For more information, see Setting a Preferred Shipping Method for Your Site.
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Company Default Shipping Method – shows the shipping method set as the default for the company. You can select the default setting at Setup > Accounting > Shipping.
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Customer’s Previous Shipping Method Selection – shows the shipping method that the shopper used on the previous order.
Shipping Estimator Order of Precedence
The Shipping Estimator order of precedence is based on your Shipping Estimator Preference selection. If you select a preference option that cannot be applied to a particular website order, the next option in the order of precedence is applied.
For example, you might select the Default Website Shipping Method as your Shipping Estimator Preference. If that shipping method is not available for a particular customer address, then the shipping estimator will use the shipping method that the customer used on a previous order. If this is the first time the customer is ordering from your site, then the third item in the order of precedence is used, which is the company default method, and so on.
The Shipping Estimator relies on the following order of precedence to calculate the estimated shipping cost for web orders.
