How do I make sure that my Square Online store will calculate correct shipping rates?

[yalimillan]

[Note: The title of this post has been edited by a moderator for clarity.]

I am about to launch the website, and I have set up pick up options and shipping and allowing Square to calculate. However, I want to make sure the shipping is correct and when I send it thru the carrier I dont have to pay more than I have to. 

How do you make sure your items have a correct weight and info? Do you buy a scale from amazon and weight them? I want to ship all over the USA. 

I would love to hear your thoughts. 

[isabelle · Accepted solution]

Hey @yalimillan-

Thanks for posting in the Seller Community.

I believe you're already aware of this, but just in case, you can set weights by going to STORE > Items > Item Library, and editing each item to add a weight.

NOTE: If the weight of all items in an order is 0, the weight will automatically default to . 1 (either kilograms or pounds, depending on your store configuration).

As far as how other sellers are calculating or determining the weight of their items, perhaps @Spice-Topia, @Jantiques, @basic5jewelry, @Uncle-Eddie, @sasharecycles have some insight to share. 

[Spice-Topia]

We have our own custom weights and pricing in for USPS shipping, so for that we round up by the weight of our typical shipping envelope or box. For example if a product weighs 5oz and the cost for shipping just 5oz is $4.20, we've set up our own pricing for 5oz that accounts for a 2oz shipping envelope (so whatever the price would be for a 7oz package.) Or if it is heavier, we assume we'll be using a box rather than an envelope, so we'll round up even more once we get to heavier tiers. 

Or if you have the automatic pricing set up, just round up the weights of your items accordingly. Check the average weight of your shipments, round up a bit and divide that by the number of products in the average shipment to find a good weight to round up your products by. 

[Ashokan-Center]

When I follow this (store>items>item library>edit) I see no option to edit the weight.  

[Valentina]

Hi there @Ashokan-Center ✨

Let's walk through this together - you'll start by heading to your Square Online overview page.

Select Items > Site Items:
 

Select an item, then scroll to the Fulfillment section:

Let us know if any questions come up about this, and welcome to the Seller Community 👋

[HolidayFarm]

I don't have the weight option. I only have an option for pickup. And apparently I don't have permission to upload an image to show the screen. I am in Site Items-my item-Fulfillment-  and I have shipping pickup checked off.  There is an option for Pickup and Delivery prep time, and then Sales Tax.  No Weight option.  

[frances_a]

Hello @HolidayFarm

You can create a Shipping Profile that calculates shipping based on the weight of the items being sent under Shipping. 

You can find detailed instructions in this article. 

Let me know if you have further questions, thank you!

[66toCali]

We have a new online store so I'm interested in answers as well. We have real-time shipping calculations set up but it's unclear how this accounts for weight of packing materials. Is that meant to be included in item weight? We ship both domestically and internationally, with a variety of package shapes and sizes. I have set up the package sizes for each item but a comprehensive FAQ on setting up shipping would be really helpful considering the $60/month we pay for our Weebly site. The web builder tool is great but there's vast room for improvement where setup of actual logistics is concerned. 

[AshleyK]

Hi @66toCali I hear you and I really appreciate the feedback! We do have a help article to help you sort out and set up your shipping rates, but I do understand how having a more in depth article could be really useful. 

For now, you are correct, the item weight, assigned under Items in the Online Store Dashbaord, is what affects the shipping rate if you have it set up to adjust according to weight. 🙂

[Joel-OShotz]

So yes, you can setup shipping weight but when you go to shipping cost there are no options to adjust the price of shipping per the weight. Just options for per item or per order? Why wouldn't you give the option to make it to where the shipping cost would adjust according to the weight of the order instead of just cost per item or order?

Then it's setup to just add more shipping as more items are bought...which would make sense if it was based off of weight...

I have multiple items at different weights but if one person purchases 1 item that's light...I don't want to have to have them pay $9.95 for shipping, when they could just get it for $3.95. On the other hand, I don't want to have someone buy 1 heavier item and then only pay $3.95 when it might cost $9.95. 

I need it to adjust as soon as something gets over a pound. And so on..but right now I have to setup flat rates that sometimes are right and sometimes way off...So I'm in this constant guessing game of whether or not my customers have been overcharged for shipping or whether they didn't pay enough...

I mean maybe I'm missing something here but the only options I have are those two and it makes it really difficult to actually have the shipping costs right!

What are my options?

And maybe I just don't understand how to set it up correctly...but that's obviously why I'm here.

Also, please don't tell me to purchase the $800+ a year real time package...I can't afford that right now and square should have it to where it's at least easier to setup shipping by weight...cause right now it's super confusing.

[BernadetteA]

Welcome to the Seller Community, @Joel-OShotz 👋

You can setup your manual shipping rules to calculate by weight. Most sellers setup a tiered system, and the rate will be assigned depending on the total weight of all items in the cart. 

It sounds like you may have a custom shipping profile setup, or more than one rate assigned to the default shipping profile. 🤔

Can you post a link to your website so I can take a look are your shipping settings? You can also reference this guide for setting up manual shipping rates. 

[Joel-OShotz]

Thank you for the response.

My website is https://joeloshotz.com

I'd be interested to figure out how to get that working correctly because right now it's a crap shoot with shipping.

[Joel-OShotz]

Ok, for some reason I never got that option till I setup a new profile now. I'm not sure why but I never had the weight option for the setup but found it with the link you provided.

I noticed that they just did an update to a lot of things so not sure why I didn't have that as an option before...or maybe I just went the wrong way to get to it.

Found it and thank you for that!

[BernadetteA]

I'm so glad to hear! The weight rate has always been an option to create, but it may have defaulted to the flat rate when the new shipping profile was introduced. 🤔

Let me know if you run into any questions when setting up your new shipping rule! 😊