The shipping component can be used to setup the shipping rates for your website using a variety of different rate calculation methods. You can setup almost any shipping calculation methods you need, whether it's a very simple rate system, or a mix of more complex systems for different weights or destinations.
Your first step is to determine how to go about setting up your desired shipping rate system in the Mintox Shipping component, and there are two key parts of the process you need to know about.
Regions
Your regions are the first thing you need to setup when using Shipping for the first time. A region is simply a range of postcodes, and you label these postcode ranges so they can be easily recognised and assigned the appropriate shipping rates.
For example, you could create a region for postcodes 6000 to 6199 and label it Perth Metro and another region for postcodes 6200 to 6999 and label it Perth Regional. In fact, you can create absolutely any regions you like, such as 1 region 6000-6999 for all of WA, or 1 region 0-9999 for all of Australia. You are free to setup these regions however you like to implement your desired shipping rate calculations.
Here is a list of the three most common region setups:
- A single region covering all Australian postcodes
- One region per Australian state
- A detailed breakdown of post code regions based on information from your shipping provider
You should consider the above three points and think about which one applies to your desired shipping rate calculation method, however it is important to remember that you are not limited to these setups.
Calculation Method
After you have setup your regions, you can move onto setting up a shipping method for each region which is where you enter the rate calculation for shipping to that group of destinations. As with regions there are many ways for you to setup how the shipping costs are calculated but we'll just cover the 2 most common methods here, flat rate shipping and weight based shipping.
Flat rate shipping is a great way to get started with the Mintox Shipping component because it's quick and easy to setup and will get you comfortable with the system, even if you have no intention of using flat rate shipping in the long run, it's a great starting point. Take a look at one of these articles to get started:
Weight based shipping allows you to specify a different shipping cost based on the weight of the customers order. You may enter a list of weight ranges, such as 0-500, 501-1000, 1001-1500 grams etc., and for each of these weight ranges you also enter a price. The price shown to customers will depend on which weight range their order falls into. You can review the following articles for setup instructions:
While the specific examples in the above links may not match the setup you need exactly, they do cover the core features involved in almost all shipping setups. If the exact shipping method you need isn't listed above, or perhaps you need to implement a mixture of these methods, it's a good idea to practise setting up the methods that closely match your desired setup and from there you can modify it as required.