If you sell physical products, you can charge for shipping right on your order form. In this lesson, you'll create shipping methods, add them to an order form, and use conditions to charge the right rate depending on where your customer is.
First, a bit of general advice. Many sellers list a product at its regular price and add shipping as a separate charge at checkout, instead of building it into the price. That keeps your listed price lower, and customers who live farther away, or want their order faster, cover that cost themselves.
To create a shipping method, go to Sales, then Settings, then Shipping methods, and click New shipping type. Each one has just a name and a price. Your customers see the name on your order form, so make it clear, like USPS Priority or Overnight. Click Save, and repeat for each method you want. You create them once and reuse them on any order form.
How many methods you offer is up to you. Your shipping costs depend mostly on where a package is going and how fast it needs to get there, so check your carrier's real rates first. For example, you might charge five dollars for standard shipping in the US, twelve dollars for Alaska, and twenty dollars for international orders. You could also add a faster option, like US Express for fifteen dollars. Just make sure each rate covers what you actually pay.
Next, open your order form's payment settings. On an Ontraport Page, hover over the order form block, click the gear icon, then choose Payment Settings. On an Ontraform, click Order form, then Payment settings.
For each physical product, turn on Add to shipping/packing slip, so every order gets a packing slip. The next lesson covers packing slips in detail.
Then add your shipping types. Pick one from the dropdown, and repeat for each rate you want on this form. If you need a new one, click New shipping type at the top of the dropdown and create it right there.
When you sell physical products, make sure your form asks for a shipping address. On an Ontraport Page, add the Shipping Address element. It adds all the shipping address fields at once, plus a checkbox for customers whose shipping address is different from their billing address. In its settings, you can edit and reorder the dropdown values to put the options your customers pick most at the top.
To charge different rates by location, add conditions. After you add a shipping type, click Add under Conditions, then Add new condition. Choose a field, a condition and a value. For example, Shipping State equal to Alaska for your Alaska rate. Click Add new condition again to narrow it down, like by shipping zip code, then click Save.
Remember, conditions can only use fields that are on your order form. That's why the shipping address fields matter. Without them, a condition on Shipping State has nothing to check.
To save time, hover over a shipping rule and click the copy button, then adjust the copy. When you're done, save and publish your page.
If you also collect tax on the form, you'll find an option in the Taxes section to tax your shipping costs. Turn it on if the rules where you sell require it. The Taxes + shipping lesson covers tax setup.
Once orders come in, go to Sales, then Reports, and open Shipping Collected. It shows your shipping income, so you can check that your rates cover your real costs. You can also spot refunds and orders that shipped for free.
So: create your shipping methods under Sales, then Settings, add them to your order form along with the shipping address fields, and use conditions to charge the right rate for each location. Next up: packing slips and shipping fulfillment runs, where you'll see how Ontraport batches those orders for shipping.