Managing Shipping Rules

Create, edit and manage shipping rules to manage exceptions to the defined shipping configurations, for example, to restrict specific shipping methods to certain destination regions or to exclude individual products from being shipped to certain destination regions.

Creating Shipping Rules

To create a new shipping rule:
  1. Open the Shipping Rules manager.
    Select the channel from the context selection box, then select Orders | Shipping Configuration. Then click Shipping Rules. This displays a list of all shipping rules defined for the current channel.
  2. Click New.
    The Shipping Rule detail view is displayed.
  3. Specify the mandatory information.
    Mandatory data include name and ID. Optional information include the Active flag and a description.
  4. Click Apply.
    This creates the shipping rule. You can now proceed to editing the rule conditions (see Editing Shipping Rules).

Editing Shipping Rules

Editing shipping rules comprises enabling/disabling rules as well as adding or modifying rule conditions and actions to be executed when the conditions are met.

Enabling/Disabling Shipping Rules

To activate/deactivate a shipping rule:
  1. Open the Shipping Rules manager.
    1. Select the channel from the context selection box, then select Orders | Shipping Configuration.
    2. Click Shipping Rules.
    This displays a list of all shipping rules defined for the current channel.
  2. Click the name or ID of the rule you intend to edit.
    The Shipping Rule detail view is displayed.
  3. Select or deselect the Active checkbox as intended.
  4. Click Apply.
    The current shipping rule is set active or, respectively, inactive. With the next execution of the rule deployment task (see Publishing Shipping Rule Settings), the new shipping rule setting is published.

Creating Shipping Rule Condition

To create a shipping rule condition:
  1. Open the Shipping Rules manager.
    1. Select the channel from the context selection box, then select Orders | Shipping Configuration.
    2. Click Shipping Rules.
    This displays a list of all shipping rules defined for the current channel.
  2. Click the name or ID of the rule you intend to edit.
    The Shipping Rule detail view is displayed.
  3. In the Conditions section, click New.
    This opens a drop-down box for selecting the condition type.
  4. Select the condition type, then click Apply.
    This opens a drop-down box for selecting the condition.
  5. Select the condition, then click Apply.
    Depending on the condition, this opens a dialog to define the condition items, for example, products, destination regions, attributes of those objects, etc. For details about the shipping rule condition types and their corresponding conditions, see the table below.
    Table 1. Available shipping rule condition types and conditions
    Condition Type Available Conditions
    Bill-To Destination "Country is", "Postal Code is", "Region Attribute", "Region is", "Region is not", "State is"
    Customer Segment "Customer Segment is", "Customer Segment is not"
    Product "Catalog Category Attribute", "Category is", "Category is not", "Freight Class Attribute", "Freight Class is", "Freight Class is not", "Product Attribute", "Product is", "Product is not", "Product requires Large Package", "Shipping Window", "Volume Condition"
    Ship-To Destination "Country is", "Postal Code is", "Region Attribute", "Region is", "Region is not", "State is"
    Shipping Method "Shipping Method Attribute", "Shipping Method is", "Shipping Method is not"
  6. Edit the condition as necessary, then click OK.
    According to the selected condition, define the required condition items, i.e., products, destination regions, attributes of those objects, etc. For details, see the table above.

    To discard your changes, click Cancel.

  7. Click Apply.
    The current shipping rule condition is prepared, yet still inactive. With the next execution of the rule deployment task (see Publishing Shipping Rule Settings), the new shipping rule setting is published.

Modifying Shipping Rule Condition

To edit an existing shipping rule condition:
  1. Open the Shipping Rules manager.
    1. Select the channel from the context selection box, then select Orders | Shipping Configuration.
    2. Click Shipping Rules.
    This displays a list of all shipping rules defined for the current channel.
  2. Click the name or ID of the rule you intend to edit.
    The Shipping Rule detail view is displayed.
  3. In the Conditions section, click the condition.
    This opens a dialog to define the condition items.
    Note: You can edit the actual condition but you cannot change the condition type.
  4. Modify the condition as necessary, then click OK.
    Otherwise, click Cancel to discard your changes.
  5. Click Apply.
    The current shipping rule condition is prepared, yet still inactive. With the next execution of the rule deployment task (see Publishing Shipping Rule Settings), the new shipping rule setting is published.

Deleting Shipping Rule Condition

To delete a rule condition:
  1. Open the Shipping Rules manager.
    1. Select the channel from the context selection box, then select Orders | Shipping Configuration.
    2. Click Shipping Rules.
    This displays a list of all shipping rules defined for the current channel.
  2. Click the name or ID of the rule you intend to edit.
    The Shipping Rule detail view is displayed.
  3. In the Conditions section, select the checkbox of the shipping rule condition to be deleted.
  4. Click Delete, then OK to confirm the deletion.
    The selected shipping rule condition is deleted from the list, yet still active. To remove it from the Intershop Commerce Management system, execute the rule deployment task (see Publishing Shipping Rule Settings).

Grouping Shipping Rule Conditions

Shipping rule conditions can be put in groups, which then can be sorted and linked with other conditions or groups on the same level. To group rule conditions:
  1. Open the Shipping Rules manager.
    1. Select the channel from the context selection box, then select Orders | Shipping Configuration.
    2. Click Shipping Rules.
    This displays a list of all shipping rules defined for the current channel.
  2. Click the name or ID of the rule you intend to edit.
    The Shipping Rule detail view is displayed.
  3. In the Conditions section, select the checkboxes of the shipping rule conditions you intend to put in a group.
  4. Click Group.
    This arranges the selected shipping rule conditions in a group.
  5. To ungroup the conditions of a group, select the intended condition group and click Ungroup.
    This breaks up the group, and the conditions previously bound together are kept as individual conditions.

Sorting and Linking Shipping Rule Conditions

Conditions and condition groups on the same level can be sorted and linked with AND or OR operators. To sort and link rule conditions:
  1. Open the Shipping Rules manager.
    1. Select the channel from the context selection box, then select Orders | Shipping Configuration.
    2. Click Shipping Rules.
    This displays a list of all shipping rules defined for the current channel.
  2. Click the name or ID of the rule you intend to edit.
    The Shipping Rule detail view is displayed.
  3. In the Conditions section, select the checkboxes of the conditions or groups you intend to move up or move down in the list.
  4. Click the Move Up or Move Down buttons as intended.
    This rearranges the condition list.
  5. Select the operator (AND, OR) intended to link adjacent conditions or groups.
  6. Click Apply.
    The new configuration for the current shipping rule is set, yet still inactive. With the next execution of the rule deployment task (see Publishing Shipping Rule Settings), the new shipping rule setting is published.

Editing Shipping Rule Actions

To define shipping rule actions:
  1. Open the Shipping Rules manager.
    1. Select the channel from the context selection box, then select Orders | Shipping Configuration.
    2. Click Shipping Rules.
    This displays a list of all shipping rules defined for the current channel.
  2. Click the name or ID of the rule you intend to edit.
    The Shipping Rule detail view is displayed.
  3. In the Action section, select the intended rule action.
    The table below lists the available actions.
    Table 2. Shipping rule actions
    Action Description
    Item: Add Surcharge Adds an additional charge to the computed shipping costs on line-item basis. Selecting this action prompts you to specify a fixed or percentage surcharge amount.
    Item: Add Import Surcharge As Add Surcharge, adds an additional charge to the computed shipping costs on line-item basis, intended to separately display and calculate import surcharges. Selecting this action prompts you to specify a fixed or percentage surcharge amount.
    Item: Exclude from Shipping Excludes the product, destination etc. from shipping according to the defined conditions.
    Item: Add Eligible Shipping Method Applies the shipping method defined here on line-item basis in addition to the shipping methods that already apply.
    Bucket: Add Bucket Surcharge Adds an additional charge to the computed shipping costs for the entire shipping bucket. Selecting this action prompts you to specify a fixed or percentage surcharge amount.
  4. For surcharges, select the surcharge combination behavior (optional).
    The following combination methods are available:

    • Add up all surcharges

    • Apply highest surcharge only

    • Apply lowest surcharge only

    If the surcharge combination is not set with the shipping rule, the channel-wide preferences apply (see Managing Shipping Settings).

  5. Click Apply.
    The current shipping rule action is prepared, yet still inactive. With the next execution of the rule deployment task (see Publishing Shipping Rule Settings), the new shipping rule setting is published.

Deleting Shipping Rules

To delete a shipping rule:
  1. Open the Shipping Rules manager.
    Select the channel from the context selection box, then select Orders | Shipping Configuration. Then click Shipping Rules. This displays a list of all shipping rules defined for the current channel.
  2. Select the checkbox for the shipping rule to be deleted.
  3. Click Delete, then OK to confirm the deletion.
    The selected shipping rule is deleted from the list, yet still active. To remove it from the Intershop Commerce Management system, execute the rule deployment task (see Publishing Shipping Rule Settings).

Publishing Shipping Rule Settings

After creating, modifying or deleting shipping rules, you must deploy the new settings to the shipping rule engine. To do so:
  1. Open the Shipping Rules manager.
    Select the channel from the context selection box, then select Orders | Shipping Configuration. Then click Shipping Rules. This displays a list of all shipping rules defined for the current channel.
  2. Make sure that the individual shipping rules are set active or inactive as intended.
    To activate/deactivate a shipping rule, open the corresponding rule's detail view, select/deselect the Active checkbox as intended and click Apply. Then return to the Shipping Rules Manager's list view.
  3. Click Verify & Deploy All Rules.
    This checks all shipping rules for validity and deploys them to the rule engine, thus publishing the new settings to the Intershop Commerce Management system.