Shipping Carriers

The Kibo Composable Commerce Platform supports several shipping carriers that can be integrated for fulfillment. If an administrator has an associated account with a particular carrier, then they can enter those credentials to be applied to selected locations and location groups and thus enable the location to support fulfilling shipments through that carrier. Multiple carrier accounts can be set up in one implementation and then be tied to specific locations or location groups.

In this section, you define your fulfillment options, shipping methods, the rates for each carrier you use, and the list of eligible shipping address locations.

Carrier accounts can be linked to a particular location to identify which account credentials should be used when that location is fulfilling a shipment with that carrier. See Location Management for instructions on how to associate carriers to locations after they have been configured in the shipping settings here, and Location Groups for more information about configuring their service types and selecting defaults for location.

Supported Shipping Carriers

The Kibo Composable Commerce Platform supports several shipping carriers out-of-the-box: UPS, USPS, FedEx, Canada Post, and Purolator. All of these carriers can be enabled for returns and used for creating return labels. 

For information about creating custom carrier integrations instead, see the Shipping Extensibility guide.

USPS, UPS, and FedEx

USPS is integrated through Easy Post, which you must have an account for. In addition to your USPS account credentials, you will have to provide an Easy Post API key when configuring the carrier.

All three carriers support numerous shipping service types (such as express, standard ground, etc.), the full lists of which can be viewed in the drop-down menu when creating a new shipping method configuration. You can also set which fields to send to the carrier as Customer Reference numbers in your theme settings: Shipment ID, Order ID, and/or External Order ID. Please check what each carrier supports when selecting which fields to send.

Additional UPS Features

UPS supports "declared values" for insurance purposes. If the package value is less than a certain maximum insured value, then the package value will be submitted to the carrier as the declared value. But if the package value is more than the maximum insured value, then the maximum insured value will be sent as the declared value. This value is evaluated for each package and a declared value is sent for each package that the label request is made for. When a declared value is sent to UPS, UPS returns the service charges if applicable.

UPS also supports the ability to require an adult signature for packages with a value greater than a certain amount (calculated as the sum of all line items in the package). When enabled, this requirement will be communicated to UPS while generating the shipping label. These signatures are not supported for return labels.

Both declared values and adult signatures can be found in the location group settings. However, you must first request Kibo Support to enable the adult signature setting or to set the maximum insured value for declared values. If you are already using adult signatures via the CARS interface, Kibo will have to enable it for you in the location group settings and turn it off in CARS. 

Canada Post and Purolator

Canada Post and Purolator are carriers supported specifically for Canadian fulfillment locations. Canada Post generally requires shipping manifests, which can be generated in the Kibo Composable Commerce Platform Fulfiller Interface alongside shipping labels for the individual packages. See the Fulfiller UI documentation for a detailed walkthrough of this process.

Purolator supports the service types of Purolator Express, Purolator Ground, and Purolator Quick Ship. Canada Post supports the service types of Expedited Parcel and Express Post (with Express Post being the standard delivery option).

Create Carrier Accounts

In general, the first step to start configuring shipping options is to set up the carrier accounts.

1. Go to System > Settings > Shipping.
2. Click Carrier Accounts to view a table listing all accounts that have already been set up.
3. Click Create New Carrier Account to add an account.

Note that you can also edit any existing carrier account via the drop-down menu on the righthand side of the listing. Multiple accounts can exist for the same type of carrier (e.g. FedEx) with different credentials as needed.

A set of fields will be displayed to configure the carrier account information.

1. Select the carrier from the drop-down menu.

   

2. Enter a nickname and any additional information such as API user name and authentication credentials. Use your developer credentials at this point - the carrier credentials will be set via the Carrier Service API in Step #5.
3. Select a pickup type to determine how the carrier is expected to receive the shipments from the fulfillment location, such as Regular Pickup, Courier, or Drop Box.
4. Click Save in the top right. 
5. Now use the Carrier Service API to set the credentials for the carrier you just made.

Specify the Fulfillment Options for a Site

Under System > Shipping > Carriers, you can specify some default fulfillment options for each site as well as pair carriers with carrier accounts, enable them for checkout and returns, apply special shipping rates, and identifying eligible addresses. 

Default Fulfillment Options

1. Select the default Shipping From fulfillment location.
2. Specify whether the location supports Direct Ship, In Store Pickup (BOPIS), or both.
3. If applicable, specify any location types that should also support pickup.

Enable Carriers and Set Shipping Rates

Once the location has been selected, scroll down to Shipping Methods and Rates or click the heading in the navigation bar to jump to that section.

1. Select a carrier from the drop-down menu, such as USPS, and select the account and shipping method details that should be applied to that carrier for this location.
2. If available for the carrier, check Enable for Checkout and/or Enable for Returns. There can only be one carrier shipping method enabled for returns; enabling returns on any carrier will disable the setting on any other shipping method.

   Enable for Checkout is essentially an on/off switch for the carrier that will make it an active option for your orders. If you are ready to display the carrier as a shipping option on your site, then enable the checkbox. If you want to deactivate the carrier on your site for a period of time, you can disable this checkbox without losing the shipping method configuration details.

Create a Custom Rate

In the same section, custom rates can be configured. These may be used to define specific shipping rate calculations such as charging shipping as a percentage of the order total or setting a custom flat rate per item or order.

If you enable the Retain Flat Rate Per Order site setting and then create a custom flat rate per order here in the carrier settings, then the customer will always be charged the entire flat rate fee. Keep the following behavior in mind:

• If one shipment is cancelled, then the fee will be redistributed to one of the remaining Active shipments. The system selects which shipment in order of priority by status (Ready, Future, Backorder, Customer Care, and then Fulfilled).
• If a reprice occurs on one shipment such as due to an item cancellation, the flat rate shipping will not be affected. For example, if a shipment consists of three items and a $15 flat rate shipping fee but then one item is cancelled, the shipping will remain $15. 
• The customer will only be credited the shipping fee if the entire order and all of its shipments are cancelled.

To create a custom shipping rate:

1. Go to System > Settings > Shipping > Carriers > Shipping Methods and Rates.
2. Select the site you want to specify options for from the top bar.
3. Click Create New Custom Rate.
4. Enter a Name.
5. (If applicable) Select a Custom Rate Type.
6. Enter an Amount.
7. (If applicable) Enter a Custom Code.
8. Click Save.

Set the Default Carrier for Returns

You can specify a default carrier for returns if you want all return labels to default to a chosen carrier.

To specify a default carrier for returns:

1. Go to System > Settings > Shipping > Carriers > Shipping Methods and Rates.
2. Select the site you want to specify options for from the top bar.
3. Click on a carrier, such as FedEx.
4. Enable Enable for Returns.

Specify the List of Eligible Shipping Addresses

Go to System > Settings > Shipping > Carriers > Eligible Shipping Address Locations to select which U.S. states should display on your storefront as eligible shipping addresses. These settings are only used for instances of KCCP that include eCommerce and have no effect on order management-only implementations.