How does Shopify choose which location to ship from?

[NorthSupplyCo]

Hi,

I have two locations I ship from, both can ship to this one same location (Australia).

One location has specific rates for NZ and AU and Worldwide - which is my main location i ship from.

Second location only has rates for AU - Specifically for customers in AU.

How does Shopify choose which location to ship from?

I want orders from AU customers to first use up the stock allocations at the Second Location AU, which has a cheaper shipping rate, before then going to the first location that ships everywhere

Thanks

[Lana]

Hello @NorthSupplyCo!

The location from which items are shipped can be set by you. It is possible to separate what Locations ship to which Shipping zones in your Shipping and Delivery settings. 
First, you need to make sure that under Settings > Locations you have added both of your locations separately:

Next, you will need to go to Shipping and delivery > Manage rates, where at the very bottom of the page you will find your locations:

From here, you can click on the Add rates button for the individual locations, and you can then set the separate rates for Australia and New Zealand. If you're looking for some more info on how the shipping settings work, you can check out our help doc on the topic here.

Since you're in the process of setting up your shipping, are you just getting started with Shopify? I would love to hear a little bit more about your business and your experience on the platform so far to see if I can be of help with anything else! 

[NorthSupplyCo]

Hi Lana,

Thank you for your reply. It confirms what I have set up already.

Yes, I have set up my locations - One in NZ, one in AU.

Under NZ location I have set up my rates to, NZ, AU and worldwide.

Under AU location I have set up my rates to only AU (Cheaper Rate than NZ location to AU)

Currently when I add a product to my cart with an AU address, that has quantities for both locations, it always chooses the NZ location and Rate first.

How do I get a customer who has entered a AU shipping address at the checkout, to first use up allocated products from the AU location first (with the cheaper rate with AU) before it changes over to the NZ location with the higher rate to AU?

I have launched my store, but are getting ready to release a product that will be shipping from NZ and AU locations, and obviously want to make sure that those ordering in AU can get a cheaper shipping rate first from the AU allocation while the product lasts, before having to choose shipping from NZ location.

Hope that identifies my issue more.

[Lana]

Thank you for clarifying this.

The order in which they appear depends on how you have it set up in the backend, just as in your screenshot you have NZ first and AU after. At the moment, this does not take into account where the customer is ordering from.

I can understand how this feature would be useful for you, and while it cannot be set up to work at the moment, I will be able to forward your feedback onto our developers so that we can hopefully say shipping rates appear based on conditions (i.e. if ordering from Australia, prioritise the Australia rates).

Before I send this on, I wanted to clarify something you mentioned here: 

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obviously want to make sure that those ordering in AU can get a cheaper shipping rate first from the AU allocation while the product lasts, before having to choose shipping from NZ location.

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Do you mean that you want the products in the first location to reach 0 stock, or in general just limit how many times that rate can be used? Let me know and I will forward this! 

[NorthSupplyCo]

Hi Lana,

Yes, I would love it if it took into account of where the customer was ordering from.

But if i was to have AU Location first in order, over NZ location you are saying it would choose that first? 

And if stock was to run out at AU location, it would then move to NZ location stock and shipping?

Your question, clarifying my statement.

I would want a customer in AU ordering within AU to use the AU Location stock first even if NZ location was first in the list with stock. Like you say, if ordering from Australia, prioritise the Australia rates

[NorthSupplyCo]

Would this page be a solution?

How do I prevent overselling of Location A?

Set locations for order fulfillment priority

When orders are placed through any online sales channel, they're assigned to a location where they should be fulfilled from based on the priority list and available inventory. If any location can fulfill the entire order, then the inventory is taken from that location. If no location can fulfill the entire order, then the location with the highest priority oversells the product. Overselling happens when you sell more of a product than the quantity that you have in stock for that product at that location.

For example, suppose you have two locations: Location A in top priority and Location B as second priority. Location A has 1 shirt and Location B has 2 shirts. If you receive an order for 2 shirts, then Location B fulfills it. If you receive an order for 3 shirts, then Location A oversells the shirt and finishes with an inventory of -2"

[Lana]

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

Since you mentioned that you want to prioritize the other rates for Australia when stock reaches 0 in the first location, it may be possible to have it set up the way that you want if you re-create your rates in the order that you want them to appear.

Are you finding that at the moment they are in the same order on the checkout as they are in your settings?