Purpose: Once you've configured Dynamic Checkout, it's time to add standard delivery methods to your configuration. In this article, we explain why and how to offer deliveries through your checkout.
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Standard deliveries through Dynamic Checkout
Dynamic Checkout allows you to create delivery zones for any country in the world, regardless of whether you have a sender address active in that country or not (currently only applicable to standard delivery through your checkout).
If you create a delivery zone for a specific country, e.g. UK, customers who enter a UK address on your checkout page will only be able to select from shipping options that you configure for that specific zone. They won't able to see delivery methods which aren't applicable to them (e.g. shipping methods which only apply to the Netherlands).
Step 1: Set up standard delivery
First, make sure you've installed the Sendcloud plugin for your integration and configured your delivery zones. Then proceed as follows:
- Go to Setting > Dynamic Checkout, next to your integration click
Edit
- Next, click on
New delivery method
next to the delivery zone where you want to offer standard delivery. You can create a delivery zone for any country in the world that Sendcloud supports, regardless of where your sender address is located.
- Select Standard delivery from the list of delivery methods. You may only be able to see Standard delivery as an option - this is because you don't have an active sender address in this country, therefore you can't configure same day or nominated day options in this zone.
Step 2: Select your sender address
Make sure that the correct sender address has been pre-selected. You can change the sender address via the dropdown menu. It's important to select the correct address, as this will affect the shipping methods that are available for configuration.
The time zone default is based on your account settings. It's important that the time zone matches the location of the sender address you will be using to fulfil these orders.
For example, if you are setting up a UK zone and using a UK warehouse, then you should set the time zone to UTC+00:00 GMT. If you are fulfilling orders using a Dutch warehouse, however, then you should set the time zone to UTC+01:00.
Step 3: Select your shipping service
This section of the configuration menu allows you to select which carrier and options you want to offer on your checkout page, so you can tailor the delivery experience for your customers.
▼Q: What is a shipping service?
A shipping service is a group of similar shipping methods offered by a carrier. The specific shipping method will be chosen automatically (when the order is imported) based on the weight of the products, the chosen delivery day and the additional options you want to offer (e.g. signature required, age check).
For example, the shipping service PostNL Standard includes several shipping methods, such as:
- PostNLStandard 0-23 kg
- PostNL Standard 23-31.5 kg
- PostNL Standard with signature 0-23kg
- PostNL evening delivery + home address only 0-23 kg
- ...etc.
Sendcloud will automatically apply the correct shipping method based on the additional options you want to offer (such as evening delivery, or signature required) and the weight of the order.
How to select your shipping service
- Click
Select
next to the shipping service you want to offer. By default, all the carriers which you've enabled in your Sendcloud account will be shown here for you to pick from*. -
You can use the
+add filter
button to filter the list based on which additional shipping options are available*. - Continue to Step 4
*Please note that service point and same day shipping methods cannot be configured for standard Dynamic Checkout deliveries, and therefore won't be shown in the list of available shipping services.
Step 4: Choose your shipping options
Once you’ve selected your shipping service, it’s time to add on the extra delivery options you want to offer.
-
Make your choices based on the available options. For example, under Signature required you can select
Yes
orNo
depending on your preference. - The options you choose will then be used to calculate which shipping methods will be applied to your incoming orders. The applicable shipping methods will be listed under Shipping methods used to process orders.
▼Q: Why can't I select a shipping functionality?
If the shipping service you select only contains one shipping method, it could be that this method does not offer any additional functionalities such as Age Check, Signature Required, etc. You will therefore not be able to select any shipping functionalities for this shipping service.
Alternatively, if the shipping method you select always includes a specific functionality (for example, UPS Express Saver always requires a signature) then this option will already be selected. You can click the dropdown menu ▼View applied functionalities to check which options are already included.
Step 5: Configure shipping rates
Before your delivery method can be displayed, you need to add pricing.
Click on Use shipping rates to add pricing for your shipping method. Here can use default weight classes or define your own custom weight classes. If you choose the default weight classes, you will be using the weight classes predefined by the shipping service that you have activated. If you choose to customize your weight classes, you can create your own by clicking +New weight class
. Select the option that suits you best.
Find out more about shipping rates and how to enable free shipping and discount coupons in this article.
Step 6: Order placement days & cut-off times
In the section Additional properties, you can optionally choose when this shipping method should be available to customers, and up until which time of the day. This is particularly useful for when you want to set up next day shipping options in Dynamic Checkout, because you can control when customers are able to place next day delivery orders based on when you process your parcels.
-
Order placement days
Select the days in which customers can place orders. This is primarily used for next day shipping methods. For example, if you don't process orders on a Wednesday, you want to make sure that this is not selected as an order placement day. That way, customers won't be able to place orders with next day shipping on days when you can't process their order in time. If you want customers to be able to place orders every day of the week, tick ☑ Every day.
- Cut-off time
Enter the time from which this shipping method will no longer be available in your checkout for your customers to select. For example, if you don't plan to process, pack and handover parcels from 15:00 onwards, this would be your cut-off time. From 15:00 onwards, this method won't appear in your checkout. Don't forget to include the time it takes to process orders and hand them over to the carrier when calculating your cut-off time for next day deliveries.
Step 7. Add further details about the delivery method
Under the section Method details, give your shipping method an external and internal title, as well as a public description that will appear under the public title in your checkout.
Step 8: Save and publish
- Click the
Save delivery method
button at the bottom of the page to save.
- To publish your delivery method to your webshop, click the
Publish
button in the Dynamic Checkout configuration
Step 9: Process your standard deliveries in time
Orders will be imported into Shipping > Orders > incoming order overview in the Sendcloud panel as normal, however you will now be able to see an additional column in your overview called Parcel Handover Date. This column tells you when to process your orders, so they reach your customer on time.
Standard delivery orders will be shown as Anytime in the Parcel Handover Date column, since there is no expected or chosen delivery date for these orders.
- Orders which must be processed and handed over to the carrier today will appear with this icon:
- Orders which are overdue will appear with this icon:
Filter by parcel handover date
-
Filtering for standard orders
You can filter your orders using the+add filter
button. For example, you can filter for standard orders by selecting Parcel handover date: Anytime.
-
Filtering for next day orders
If you've set up any next day delivery methods, you can use any of the following filter combinations:-
Parcel Handover Date: Anytime, Country: NL (Delivery zone you created)
-
Parcel Handover Date: Anytime, Carrier: UPS (Carrier you chose during configuration)
-
Parcel Handover Date: Anytime, Country: NL (Delivery zone you created)
Q: I don’t want to see the Parcel handover date because I’m not using Dynamic Checkout. What do I do?
A: You can filter your column view by clicking the column selector button≡
, located next to the search bar in the incoming order overview. For more information about filtering your orders, see the following article: How to use the +add filter function.Q: Can I change the shipping method for a Dynamic Checkout order using shipping rules?
The new Dynamic Checkout feature is currently available for a few integrations and will expand in the future. If you have configured the checkout, yes, shipping rules can also be applied to Dynamic Checkout orders, with a few important notes for rule actions.
You have configured the correct sender address, shipping service, and shipping method that should be automatically used for these orders in the Dynamic Checkout panel.
You can still manually change the shipping method and sender address for a checkout order from the Edit Order View.
If you want to override the automatically assigned shipping methods for Dynamic Checkout orders you can use the new rule condition Is Dynamic Checkout order.
Example: You set up a nominated day delivery method with PostNL Standard. You have some items which you prefer to ship with the Mailbox method.
- Shipping with letterbox: To country is NL and If item SKU contains LTR and Dynamic checkout method is nominated day > Ship with PostNL Letterbox
- Shipping with letterbox: Checkout delivery method is XX and Item quantity less than 2 and Dynamic Checkout method is nominated day > Ship with PostNL Letterbox
Example: You set up a nominated day delivery method with method A which has a transit time of 12 hours. You change the shipping method used to one with 48 hour transit time. Your customer will get the package a day or two later depending on the day of the week.
What other things can I do with Dynamic Checkout delivery methods?
Set up international shipping methods
Set up next day delivery methods
Offer next day delivery for international orders
Ship dangerous goods via a specific shipping method
Offer evening delivery to your customers
Use shipping methods which include standard insurance
How to ship products which require an age check
How to ship B2B products