An explanation on how Eniture Technology's shipping quote products compile shipping rates when more than one ship-from address is involved.
Eniture Technology's products that provide shipping quotes during the e-commerce checkout process allow merchants to identify multiple ship-from addresses. The shipping quote products refer to these as Warehouses or Drop Ship Locations. As a result, a Cart can contain products that will be quoted as shipping from different origins. Eniture Technology refers to these cases as "multi-shipment orders."
All Products Quoted From The Same Origin
When all products in the Cart ship from the same origin, then the full list of services enabled in the settings will be displayed on the checkout page. The illustration below shows how parcel rates or LTL freight rates might appear if all the products in the Cart were quoted as shipping from the same location for that mode of transport. (What appears will depend on the enabled settings.)
Quotes For Different Origins - Parcel Service Only
The Cart may contain products that will be quoted as shipping from different origins, and the shipping method for each origin is provided by a parcel provider (e.g., FedEx or UPS). In this case, the cheapest shipping quote for each ship-from address will be identified and summed together. The result will be presented in the checkout process as "Shipping".
Quotes For Different Origins - LTL Freight Only
The Cart may contain products sourced from different origins, and the shipping method for each origin will be provided by an LTL freight provider. In this case, the cheapest rate for each enabled service combination (e.g., w/ liftgate delivery) for each ship-from address will be summed together. The result will be presented in the checkout process with their service description identifiers.
If multiple LTL freight providers are enabled, then the cheapest available rate for each enabled service combination will be selected for each shipping origin, regardless of the LTL freight provider.
Quotes For Different Origins - LTL Freight and Parcel
When the Cart contains products sourced from different locations, some locations may receive shipping quotes for LTL freight, while others may receive shipping quotes for parcel services. In this case, the cheapest rate for each enabled LTL freight service combination (e.g., w/ liftgate delivery) for each shipping origin that will receive an LTL freight quote will be summed together. The cheapest parcel rate for each shipping origin that will receive parcel quotes will be added to the sum of each LTL freight service combination. The results will be displayed using the LTL freight shipping options, but the quoted rate will include the cheapest parcel rates for the parcel shipping locations. The provider name (generically identified as "LTL Freight" in the previous examples) will be replaced with "Freight".
The shipping quotes for a ship-from location may include both parcel and LTL freight rates. This can happen if all of the following are true:
- One (or more) of Eniture Technology's parcel quoting products is installed.
- One (or more) of Eniture's LTL freight quoting products is installed.
- The items in the Cart sourced from the location would receive parcel quotes if they appeared in the Cart alone, with a quantity of one.
- The total weight of the items sourced from the location exceeds the weight threshold for LTL freight.
In these cases, the cheapest shipping quote is identified, and then the results from that shipping mode (LTL freight or parcel) are honored as if they were the only ones available for that location.
Related document:
When are parcel vs. LTL freight rates displayed?
How Third-party Shipping Providers (3PLs) Factor In
Some Eniture Technology products facilitate LTL freight account relationships with 3PLs. These products have settings that change what is rendered during the checkout process. The results for multi-origin shipments when a 3PL is enabled are managed the same way, and will depend on your settings. If the Rating Method setting is...
- Cheapest - There will be one set of LTL freight rates to consider. Processing for multi-origin quotes will be consistent with the description provided earlier in this document.
- Cheapest Options - There will be rate quote options from multiple LTL freight carriers. The programming will select the most cost-effective option for each service option or combination of options, regardless of LTL freight provider, and use it when compiling the rate(s) for checkouts that will have shipments originating from multiple locations.
- Average - There will be one set of LTL freight rates to consider. Processing for multi-origin quotes will be consistent with the description provided earlier in this document.
The Impact of Shopify Shipping
This section is relevant only to merchants who use Shopify for their e-commerce platform. You can ignore this section if Shopify isn't used for your website.
The descriptions in this document of how shipping quotes are compiled when a Cart contains items that are to be sourced from different locations presume that...
- All products in the Cart are contained in the same Shopify shipping profile.
- The Shopify merchant is utilizing the app's native Warehouse & Drop Ship Locations functionality to identify shipping origins, rather than Shopify Locations.
If either of these presumptions is false, then the shipping quote presented to the site visitor will be compiled by Shopify (not Eniture Technology) and labeled simply as "Shipping".
Releated document:
The Pitfalls Of Shopify Shipping