Freight Concepts & Freight File Management

Owned by Oliver Fraatz
Last updated: Sept 21, 2017

A Straightsell website has the ability to calculate the freight of an order based on a number of variables. Note that the Straightsell freight system does not integrate with any online freight systems for the purpose of freight calculation but can be used to calculate freight in the same way. The freight is calculated in the checkout process based on the contents of the shopping cart and the location details (postcode/state/country) entered in the first step of the checkout.

The Straightsell freight matrix calculator supports Standard Australia Post Freight schedules.

Freight Index:

Freight Concepts

This section details the freight methods supported by the Straightsell freight calculator and provides information on freight concepts.

Freight Calculation Methods Supported

The Straightsell freight matrix calculator can calculate freight using following methods:

  • Flat rate
  • Total Weight (cubic calculation OR kg) of Products in Cart
  • Total Number of Products in Cart
  • Total Cost (total dollar value) of Cart
  • Flat rate based on weight / number of products / cost of cart
  • Incremental based on weight (cubic calculation OR kg)
Location Restrictions

Restricts freight to a particular location.

When the customer enters their order delivery details this will define which freight option(s) apply to them.

  • State
  • Postcode (can be a range of postcodes)
  • Country (can be a range of countries)
  • Worldwide (all)
Standard Cost

This is flat rate or cost of freight for the shopping cart / order.

It will only be applied if the order meets the volume break and location restrictions, where applicable.

Volume Breaks

Defines when to apply a cost for a particular freight option.

There are 3 different ways of calculating volume breaks:

  • The total cost of the shopping cart
    • e.g. between $0 and $500, $501 and $1000 etc
  • The total number of products in the shopping cart
    • e.g. between 1-5 products, 6-10 products etc
  • The total weight of the shopping cart
    • e.g. between 0 and 2kg, 2 and 5kg etc
Incremental Cost:

This is the cost that is applied per unit (e.g. 1c per gram).

  • If a product weighed 1kg (1000g) it would be charged at 1000c ($10) for a kg
  • There does not have to be an incremental cost

There are 3 different ways of calculating incremental costs.

  • The total cost of the shopping cart
    • e.g. between $0 and $500 freight cost is $20 and between $501 and $1000 freight cost $25 etc
  • The total number of products purchased in the shopping cart
    • e.g. between 1-5 products freight cost is $5 and between 6-10 products freight is $10 etc
  • The total weight of the shopping cart

    • e.g. between 0 and 2kg parcel might cost $5 and between 2 and 5kg may cost $10

Price on Application

You have the option to use the above features to display POA (Price on Application) or Free Freight.

The above restrictions can still apply:

  • Example of POA
    • e.g. between $0 and $500 freight cost is $20 and between $501 and $1000 freight cost $25, but orders over $1001 is $POA
Multiple Freight Options

Using the above concepts if more than one freight option applies to an order then these will be displayed as a choice in the checkout process for the buyer.

You could create two freight options with the same conditions and different prices an example of this would be:

  • Standard Post $5 and Express Post $10

Freight File Management

An example Freight File with the above information can be viewed here. Once open, use the highlighted icon in the image below to download and open file in Excel.

You can download a copy of your existing Freight matrix from the Control Panel under Ecommerce > Freight.

Click Create File to generate a file then click the New File Created link to download it.

  • Open your Freight File in Microsoft Excel and fill in the Freight File’s fields with relevant information

  • Fields highlighted in grey shading with bold text in the table below are mandatory fields and must contain data

Freight File Fields

Field

Description

Example Value

FreightName

Freight text value viewable to the customer during the checkout process

Standard or Express

FreightMethod

Internal Freight rule name viewable in the Control Panel

Freight-Melbourne (V1)

EffectiveType

How the freight will be restricted e.g. POSTCODE or COUNTRY

POSTCODE

EffectiveCode

Value for the EffectiveType e.g. 5000-5100;5400-5999; (POSTCODE) or ;NZ; (COUNTRY)

3000-3210;

UseFlatRate

1 (Use a flat rate) or 0 (Use a calculation) for Freight

0

UnitType

The unit used for calculation e.g. COST, FUNIT, CUNIT

COST (Price), FUNIT (Weight/Cubic) or PUNIT (Count)

UnitCost

Cost for each unit on top of BaseAmount e.g. $2.50  Cost for each item in cart

2.50

BaseAmount

Base cost for Freight before adding Unit Cost e.g. $15

15.00

BreakType

the type of freight rule e.g. COST, FUNIT, CUNIT

COST (Price), FUNIT (Weight/Cubic) or PUNIT (Count)

BreakLowerLimit

The starting or lowest value for the rule e.g. 0 kgs or grams

0 (0 kgs or grams)

BreakUpperLimit

The ending or highest value for the rule e.g. 3 kgs or 300 grams

3 (kgs) or 300 (grams)

Active

1 (sets the rule active) or 0 (if BuyerSpecific is being used)

1

TaxPercent

The tax rate for the Freight rule (should be 10 for GST)

10

BuyerSpecific

If the Freight rule will be manually assigned to buyers in Manage Buyers

0

Upload a Freight File

The Freight File upload process allows you to either refresh all freight records in Control Panel or append to existing freight records.

The process of uploading a Freight File can be utilised by both integrated and non-integrated customers.

When the file upload is complete you can view the upload process messages to check for any errors.

  • Click the Upload Files tab and select Freight File from the dropdown menu
  • Click Browse and select the file and click Open
  • Check or uncheck the Would you like to remove any old records checkbox
    • Checked: All freight records will be deleted prior to the upload
    • Unchecked: The current freight records will be appended with the records in the file
  • Click Upload