How can I customize shipping rates based on product and location?

[Joyce_Reid]

I'm trying to set up shipping for my store.  Some products are made in my studio and can be shipped nationwide in US  or hand delivered only in my local city.  Other products are dropshipped from various dropship companies and can only be shipped.  How do I set up so that if someone is located in my city but orders product that can only be shipped from dropshipper does not see local delivery rate?  Or if someone located in another city but orders product that I make will only see shipped rates?  Thank you.

[June · Accepted solution]

Hi @Joyce_Reid,

I'm happy to help you get your shipping settings just right. It sounds like your biggest concern is making sure that customers only see the option to select shipping (without the choice of delivery) if they (1) order dropshipped products, or (2) live outside your city. If so, this is definitely achievable, and may already be the expected behaviour of your shipping settings. 

(1) When your customer orders a dropshipped product...

• While entering a shipping address within the designated delivery radius/zip code is one of the eligibility requirements for local delivery, it is not the only one. Since the option to select local delivery also requires that all products have available inventory at a location that has been enabled for delivery, as soon as a customer adds a dropshipped product to their cart, the option to have their order delivered disappears. 
• You can visit Products > Inventory in your admin to review your products' availability by location. We should see here that your handmade products are available at the location(s) you've created under Settings > Locations (and made available for delivery at Settings > Shipping and delivery > Local delivery), meanwhile your dropshipped products are only available at your dropshipping "locations" (which are not available to be enabled for delivery).  

(2) When your customer lives outside your city...

• In this case, the option to have their order delivered will be removed as soon as they enter a shipping address that falls outside of your designated Delivery area. 
• Let me know if you run into any challenges defining your delivery area and we can definitely take a look at that together. 

If you're curious, we have more details available here on the customer checkout experience, including the requirements any cart will need to meet in order to be eligible for delivery. 

I also recommend playing around with your own checkout to observe how your delivery options change depending on the products you choose and/or the shipping address you enter. For example:

1. Visit your online store, add a handmade product to your cart, and proceed to checkout. 
2. Enter a shipping address within your Delivery area.
3. Select "Continue to shipping" and notice that you have the choice of delivery or shipping for your order.
4. Without removing your item from your cart or editing your address, head back to your homepage (you can typically do so by clicking your logo in the top left corner of your checkout).
5. Find a dropshipped product and add it to your cart.
6. Return to your checkout, and notice how your delivery options have changed. You should now only see the option to have your order shipped. 

From this we can see how different factors impact your customer's delivery options. It's worth keeping in mind that currently it's not possible to combine delivery methods within one order - that is to say, your customer will not be able to have some items shipped and others delivered (at least as far as your checkout and admin are concerned).  

I hope I've managed to clarify some of your concerns here - that said, take the time to experiment with your checkout and please don't hesitate to let me know what questions come up for you along the way! 

[amosmos]

In addition to the great answer by June, you can also use this app: https://apps.shopify.com/shipping-by-map for the local delivery option.

You set a special shipping profile for the items that you dropship (so that orders with these products don't see the local pickup option), and then in the default profile you activate the app option so that customers inside the area you set will see the local pickup option.

Hope this helps,
Amos