Shipping

Shipping configuration controls how customers receive their orders and what they pay for delivery. The system uses three components that work together: fulfilment tags, shipping methods, and pricing rules.

Why use a three-part shipping system?

Most e-commerce platforms force you to set up shipping in one place, which becomes messy as your store grows. Hanut.io splits shipping into three flexible parts:

• Fulfillment tags categorize your products
• Shipping methods define your delivery options
• Pricing rules connect them and set costs

This separation gives you powerful flexibility. For example, you can offer the same shipping method (like "Royal Mail") at different prices for different product types (heavy items vs. light items) without creating duplicate shipping options.

How shipping works

When a customer checks out:

1. The system looks at which fulfillment tags are on the products in their cart
2. It finds all shipping methods that have pricing rules matching those tags
3. It shows the customer those options with the correct prices from your pricing rules
4. The customer selects their preferred option and completes checkout

Simple example

Let's say you sell books and furniture:

Setup:

• Books have the "Standard" fulfillment tag
• Furniture has the "Heavy Item" fulfillment tag
• You offer "Royal Mail" and "Courier Delivery" as shipping methods
• Pricing rules:
  • Standard + Royal Mail = £3.50
  • Heavy Item + Courier Delivery = £25.00

At checkout:

• Cart with only books → Customer sees "Royal Mail - £3.50"
• Cart with only furniture → Customer sees "Courier Delivery - £25.00"
• Cart with both → Customer sees both options, priced based on the specific rules you've set up

Configuration steps

Set up shipping in this order:

1. Fulfilment Tags - Define your fulfilment options (e.g., "Standard", "Express", "Collection")
2. Shipping Methods - Set up delivery services or collection points
3. Pricing Rules - Define costs for each combination of tag and method
4. Assign tags to products - Tell the system which products use which fulfilment options

Fulfilment tags

Fulfilment tags categorize how products can be fulfilled. Think of them as labels that describe a product's shipping characteristics.

What they do:

• Categorize products into shipping groups (e.g., "Standard Items" vs. "Heavy Items")
• Enable different shipping options for different product types
• Allow flexible pricing based on product characteristics

Key settings:

• Is Collection Option - Mark tags for pickup/collection instead of delivery
• Requires Weight - Enforce weight entry for weight-based pricing calculations

Why they matter: Without fulfilment tags, every product would have the same shipping options and prices. Tags give you the flexibility to offer appropriate shipping for different product types.

See the fulfilment tags guide for detailed setup instructions and common scenarios.

Shipping methods

Shipping methods define your delivery services and collection points. Delivery methods ship to customers; collection methods let customers pick up orders from specified locations.

Pricing rules

Pricing rules set the cost for each combination of fulfilment tag and shipping method. You can create free shipping, flat rates, or weight-based pricing with tiers.

In this section

• Fulfilment tags - Define fulfilment options for your products
• Shipping methods and pricing - Configure delivery services and costs