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Advanced Flat Rate: Scaling Your Costs

Moving beyond a simple fixed fee can transform your shipping strategy. When you select the Flat Rate method in your dashboard, you are not limited to a single, static price.

Instead, you can use Advanced Flat Rate formulas to gain full control over your logistics costs. These methods allow you to charge shipping fees that scale automatically with the size or complexity of the customer’s order.

Furthermore, mastering these smart formulas helps you protect your profit margins whilst remaining competitive.

Remember that success fees apply to your product’s retail price. By using these Advanced Flat Rate formulas to charge shipping separately at checkout, you ensure that these delivery fees do not incur a success fee. Consequently, this is often the most cost-effective way to manage your overall platform overhead.

How to Access Advanced Settings

Before you can use a formula, you must be in the correct section of your dashboard. Follow these initial steps to prepare your settings:

  1. In your vendor dashboard, go to settings>shipping.
  2. Navigate to your shipping zone and select your existing Flat Rate method (or add a new one).
  3. Click the method title to open the editing pop-up window.
  4. Locate the field labeled Cost. This is where you will replace the simple fixed number with one of the smart formulas below.

Smart Shipping Formulas

You can change the numbers in the below formulas to make them work for you.

1. The Per-Item Fee

This formula charges a base rate plus an additional fee for every item added to the cart.

  • Formula: 10 + (2 * [qty])
  • Why use it: This is perfect for shops that sell a mix of small and large items. It covers the base courier cost and scales to account for the extra space or weight of additional products.
  • Checkout Example: If a customer orders one item, they are charged $12 ($10 base + $2 for the item). If they order three items, they are charged $16 ($10 base + $6 for the three items).

2. Percentage-Based Shipping

This formula calculates shipping as a percentage of the total order value.

  • Formula: [cost] * 0.1
  • Why use it: This is ideal for vendors selling high-value items where courier insurance costs increase based on the value of the goods being shipped.
  • Checkout Example: If a customer places an order worth $100, the shipping fee is $10 (10% of $100). If they place a larger order worth $500, the shipping fee automatically increases to $50.

3. Percentage with Min/Max Caps

This formula applies a percentage but sets strict boundaries on what the customer pays.

  • Formula: [fee percent="10" min_fee="5" max_fee="20"]
  • Why use it: Use this to prevent shipping fees from becoming unreasonably high for large orders or too low for small ones. It provides a safety net for both you and your customer.
  • Checkout Example: For a small $30 order, the fee is $5 because it hits your set minimum. For a large $400 order, the fee is capped at $20, even though 10% would have been $40.

Final Implementation Steps

Once you have entered your chosen formula into the Cost field:

  1. Click Save at the bottom of the pop-up window to apply your changes.
  2. Ensure you test a variety of cart sizes to confirm the math works for your specific items.
  3. Use a different browser OR log out to verify the shipping cost at checkout and ensure it appears as expected.

We suggest using these formulas to ensure your delivery income matches your actual courier costs. By charging fairly based on the items in the basket, you avoid the common mistake of under-charging on larger, multi-item orders.

Now that you understand the basic formulas, it is time to apply them to your specific product range. Because different items require different handling, you can use Shipping Classes to target your costs more precisely.

By combining the logic of your main flat rate settings with these specific size classes, you can automate your shipping prices based on the physical requirements of every order. Use the guide below to understand how to configure these fields and choose the calculation method that best protects your bottom line.

Mastering Shipping Classes

This guide helps you set up shipping fees based on parcel size. Use these tools to ensure your charges are accurate and fair.

The Golden Rule: Your Safety Net

Always enter a base rate in the main Cost field (e.g., 5.00). If you ever forget to assign a shipping class to a new product, this ensures the customer is still charged for shipping instead of receiving free delivery.

1. Regular Size Classes (Small, Medium, Large, Oversized)

Use these to account for the physical footprint of your items.

  • Size: Small
    • Strategy: Flat rate per item.
    • Formula: 2.00 * [qty]
    • Example: If a customer buys three small items, they pay $6.00 shipping.
  • Size: Medium
    • Strategy: Base fee plus item fee.
    • Formula: 8.00 + (3.00 * [qty])
    • Example: $8.00 base + $3.00 per item. A 2-item order costs $14.00.
  • Size: Large
    • Strategy: Percentage of order value.
    • Formula: [fee percent='10' min_fee='15']
    • Example: 10% of order value, with a $15.00 minimum charge.
  • Size: Oversized
    • Strategy: Premium fixed rate.
    • Formula: 30.00
    • Example: A high flat fee to cover specialized courier handling.

2. Advanced Classes

  • “Item Based”: Best for items that are tricky to ship but don’t fit into size categories.
    • Formula: 5.00 * [qty]
  • “Weight Based”: Use this if your courier charges strictly by weight.
    • Formula: 1.50 * [qty]
  • “true”: This is a system default tag. Keep your base rate here for consistency.
  • No Shipping Class Cost: This applies to products that have no class assigned. Use your baseline fee here (e.g., 5.00).

3. Calculation Types: How Fees Add Up

At the bottom of your settings, choose how the system handles multiple classes:

  • Per Class: The system adds the costs of all classes together.
    • Best for: When you want to charge for every item or size separately.
    • Example: 1 Small item ($2) + 1 Large item ($15) = $17.00 total.
  • Per Order: The system identifies the most expensive shipping class and charges only that.
    • Best for: Protecting your margins on mixed-size orders.
    • Example: 1 Small item + 1 Oversized item ($30). The system ignores the Small item and charges $30.00 total.

DON’T FORGET: for these shipping class fees to apply at checkout, you have to assign each of your products to a shipping class. if they are not assigned to a class, then only your default charge will apply or no shipping will be charged at all, depending on your settings.

Assign a shipping class to a product:

  1. go to your vendor dashboard and open a listing/create a new listing
  2. scroll down to the ‘shipping class’ section
  3. pick the shipping class the item needs to be to charge the correct shipping.
  4. See image below

Quick Tips for Success

  1. Keep it clean: If you don’t use a specific class, set it to 0.00 or leave it blank.
  2. Test your work: Always perform a “dummy” checkout (without ordering) at checkout to see the final price.
  3. Stay consistent: Use similar formula styles across different size classes to avoid confusing your customers.

Shipping Strategy: How to Maximise Sales

A shipping strategy is far more than just a logistical necessity; it is one of the most powerful tools you have to drive conversions and build customer loyalty.

How you structure your delivery fees directly impacts whether a buyer completes their purchase or abandons their cart. By adopting a smart shipping strategy, you can protect your profit margins whilst offering an attractive experience for your customers.

The Mandatory Setup: You must configure your shipping rates specifically for New Zealand. If your shipping settings for New Zealand are incomplete, your products cannot go live and will not be visible to customers.

Key Strategies for Success

Clear and transparent delivery information is the foundation of a successful shop. Customers dislike surprises during the checkout process, and if they are faced with unexpected costs at the final step, they are very likely to abandon their cart entirely. This is why completing your shipping configuration is the most important task you will undertake as a new vendor; when your shipping is visible and predictable from the start, you build immediate trust and significantly reduce the likelihood of lost sales.

You should also consider your overall pricing structure in relation to your courier costs. If you find that your courier fees are high, it can be a smart business move to incorporate a small portion of those delivery costs directly into the retail price of your items. By doing this, you can offer lower, more attractive shipping rates at the checkout without sacrificing your profit margins. Do keep in mind, however, that because success fees apply to the total product price, you will pay a small fee on the portion of the shipping cost you have built into your item price. Conversely, you do not pay success fees on shipping costs charged separately at checkout, so you may want to balance these two approaches to find the best fit for your shop’s profitability.

Finally, always be realistic when setting your handling and processing times. It is much better to under-promise and over-deliver than to risk a negative experience. Providing an accurate estimation of how long it will take to dispatch an order helps manage customer expectations from the moment they buy. Setting these expectations correctly prevents anxious follow-up messages and creates a professional reputation that encourages repeat business.

The Success Fee Note: If you choose to incorporate a portion of your shipping costs into the product’s retail price, please note that our success fee applies to the total product price. As shipping fees themselves do not incur a success fee, you may wish to weigh this trade-off when deciding your pricing structure.

Consider offering a free shipping threshold (e.g., “Free delivery on orders over $75”). Buyers are far more likely to add an extra item to their basket to reach a free delivery threshold than they are to pay a standard shipping fee. This simple strategy significantly increases your average order value.

The Shipping Trap: Underestimating delivery costs is the single most common mistake new sellers make. Failing to account for packaging materials, courier fuel surcharges, or the extra weight of outer boxes can quickly turn a profitable order into a loss. Always calculate your total fulfillment cost before setting your prices.

Visibility: Completing your shipping configuration is vital. If this step is missed, shipping information will not appear on your product listings, which often stops customers from buying.