How to Set up Shipping Automation Rules
Plans: Pro, Enterprise Platforms: All platforms
The shipping process always consumes a lot of time, as every small detail needs to be verified properly. Overlooking this could ruin the post-purchase experience of customers and result in order returns.
With AfterShip Shipping, you can set automation rules to speed up the shipping process and prevent manual errors.
You can set a maximum of up to 10 rules at the non-Enterprise plan.
Go to Settings in your AfterShip Shipping admin.
Select Automation rules > Add rule
Now give your rule a name and choose any of the following options as per your needs:
a. Apply actions to every order that is imported
b. Apply actions to orders that meet certain criteria
In this case, you will see Action section in which you get different action options like Add additional package weight, Select carrier / service / package, Set package size, Set total package weight, and Set ship from location.
Select the action from the dropdown.
Once an action is selected, you will see different fields, depending on which action option you've chosen. Add value to those fields based on your requirement.
If you select multiple action options, the automation rule will work when all of them are met.
In this case, you have to take care of two things:
Define the conditions in the second field according to your requirements. Available conditions are:
If you select Meet all conditions option, it is an AND statement, meaning the automation rule will work when all the defined conditions are met.
If you select Meet any condition option, it is an OR statement, meaning your automation rule will be triggered as soon as at least 1 condition is met.
Set your preferred actions in the third field to ensure your automation rule produces expected results. Available actions are:
Click Save button to finish the procedure.
Go to Settings > Shipping and delivery from your Shopify admin.
In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to add carrier-calculated rates to.
Under the shipping zone where you want to add a rate, click Add rate.
Select Use carrier or app to calculate rates under Rate type.
In the drop-down menu, choose (Postmen (Rates provided by app) to add calculated rates for.
In the Services section, select the shipping methods from that shipping service (Postmen (Rates provided by app)) that you want to provide as options for your customers at checkout.
Click Done, and then click Save.
In case you haven’t set your shipping options or don’t know how to do that, refer to this help article.
Once configured, moving forward when a customer chooses your shipping method, details related to Weight, Service, Package, Length, Height, Ship from, etc. will be updated automatically according to your predefined rules.
All rules are prioritized based on their ranking (order in which they are positioned). It means if two or more rules contradict each other, the rule present at the top of your list will be applied.
Therefore, please arrange your rules based on how to want them to be prioritized and make sure that your defined conditions for them vary.
The automation rules are only executed once when the orders are first imported to AfterShip Shipping platform.
All conditions are case insensitive. We now support Rule-based API, please refer to this article for more details.
Conditions available for order import.
Actions available for order import.
In case you have any more questions, our chat support team is just a message away.
Overview
The shipping process always consumes a lot of time, as every small detail needs to be verified properly. Overlooking this could ruin the post-purchase experience of customers and result in order returns.
With AfterShip Shipping, you can set automation rules to speed up the shipping process and prevent manual errors.
How to set automation rules in AfterShip Shipping?
You can set a maximum of up to 10 rules at the non-Enterprise plan.
Go to Settings in your AfterShip Shipping admin.
Select Automation rules > Add rule
Now give your rule a name and choose any of the following options as per your needs:
a. Apply actions to every order that is imported
b. Apply actions to orders that meet certain criteria
Scenario 1: When you choose the first option
In this case, you will see Action section in which you get different action options like Add additional package weight, Select carrier / service / package, Set package size, Set total package weight, and Set ship from location.
Select the action from the dropdown.
Once an action is selected, you will see different fields, depending on which action option you've chosen. Add value to those fields based on your requirement.
If you select multiple action options, the automation rule will work when all of them are met.
Scenario 2: When you opt for the second option
In this case, you have to take care of two things:
Define the conditions in the second field according to your requirements. Available conditions are:
If you select Meet all conditions option, it is an AND statement, meaning the automation rule will work when all the defined conditions are met.
If you select Meet any condition option, it is an OR statement, meaning your automation rule will be triggered as soon as at least 1 condition is met.
Set your preferred actions in the third field to ensure your automation rule produces expected results. Available actions are:
Click Save button to finish the procedure.
How will automation rules work?
Go to Settings > Shipping and delivery from your Shopify admin.
In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to add carrier-calculated rates to.
Under the shipping zone where you want to add a rate, click Add rate.
Select Use carrier or app to calculate rates under Rate type.
In the drop-down menu, choose (Postmen (Rates provided by app) to add calculated rates for.
In the Services section, select the shipping methods from that shipping service (Postmen (Rates provided by app)) that you want to provide as options for your customers at checkout.
Click Done, and then click Save.
In case you haven’t set your shipping options or don’t know how to do that, refer to this help article.
Once configured, moving forward when a customer chooses your shipping method, details related to Weight, Service, Package, Length, Height, Ship from, etc. will be updated automatically according to your predefined rules.
What would happen in the case of multiple rules with contradicting conditions?
All rules are prioritized based on their ranking (order in which they are positioned). It means if two or more rules contradict each other, the rule present at the top of your list will be applied.
Therefore, please arrange your rules based on how to want them to be prioritized and make sure that your defined conditions for them vary.
The automation rules are only executed once when the orders are first imported to AfterShip Shipping platform.
Conditions
All conditions are case insensitive. We now support Rule-based API, please refer to this article for more details.
Conditions available for order import.
| Condition | How to fill | How to use |
|---|---|---|
| Ship to address - city | Input the city in the text box, each on a new line. You can set "is" or "is not" | Apply to the orders that shipping address city matches the value. |
| Ship to address - country/region | Select the country/region from the list. You can set "is" or "is not" | Apply to the orders that shipping address country/region matches the value. |
| Ship to address - postal code | Input the postal code in the text box, each on a new line. You can set "is" or "is not" | Apply to the orders that shipping address postal code matches the value. |
| Store | Shopify stores only. Please find the store URL from the store connection and without ".myshopify.com" | Apply to the orders imported from the specific shopify store. |
| Requested service type | Shopify stores only. Must be the same value during checkout page of Shipping method, e.g. "Standard", "Expedited". If you're using AfterShip Shipping checkout shipping options, it should be the "Shipping option title" value. | Apply to the orders that matches the checkout shipping method. |
| No. of items | Input the positive integer. | Apply to the orders that total number meets the condition. |
| Order item SKU | Input the item SKU, must be the same value of product SKU in eCommerce platform. | If the operator is "is", apply to the orders that include any item that SKU matches; if the operator is "is not", apply to the orders that all item SKU doesn't match. |
| Order total | Input the positive number. | Apply to the orders that order total amounts meet the condition. If the order currency is different from the condition currency, will always treat don't match the condition. |
| Package weight | Input the positive number. | Apply to the orders that order package weight meets the condition. If the package weight unit is different from the condition weight unit, AfterShip Shipping will do the auto conversion and check if the condition matches. |
| Shipping paid | Input the positive number. | Apply to the orders that paid shipping fee meets the condition. If the order currency is different from the condition currency, will always treat don't match the condition. |
| Custom fields | Input the "Custom field key" and "Custom field value" | Apply to the orders that custom fields key and value pairs matches. Only applicable to orders imported from Commerce API. Only applicable to enterprise plan. |
Actions
Actions available for order import.
| Action | How to fill | How to use |
|---|---|---|
| Set carrier/service | Choose type as "Set carrier account and service" | Orders will be auto updated to the selected carrier account and service. |
| Set package | Set the package type for shipping. It's recommended to always set the package type to speed up the shipping process. | Orders will be auto updated to the selected package type. |
| Set package size | Set the package size for shipping. It's recommended to setup different package size according to SKU conditions. Alternatively, you can skip this action and set the default package size for all shipments in Settings - Shipping. | Orders will be auto updated to the pre-set package size. |
| Set package weight | Set the package size for shipping. If not set, the package weight will be auto calculated as the total weight of all items. Alternatively, you can skip this action and set the default package size for all shipments in Settings - Shipping. | Orders will be auto updated to the pre-set package weight. |
| Add additional package weight | Add the additional package weight for shipping. | Orders will be auto updated to add the additional weight. Note that if you Set package weight = 1lb and Add additional package weight = 0.5lb, the package weight result will be 1.5lb; but if you Add additional package weight = 0.5lb and Set package weight = 1lb, the package weight result will be 1lb. |
| Set ship from location | Set the ship from location for shipping. If not set, will use the default shipping location. | Orders will be auto updated to the pre-set ship from location. |
| Set service option | Set the service option to be used. Allowed value is one of the following: signature, direct_signature, adult_signature | Orders will be auto used the input service option. |
In case you have any more questions, our chat support team is just a message away.
Updated on: 12/09/2024
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