International shipping

[Diya]

Hi, I recently got an internation order from Canada in my store. I make and sell jewelry. I see that a international shipping charge was put automatically by shopify, which is lower than the actual. I cannot go back to the customer to ask for more. How does one fix the international shipping rate and see it, than be taken by surprise. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

[Sharon-Reeds]

Hey @Diya,

I'm sorry to hear you undercharged for shipping!

Shopify doesn't create shipping rates for you, it's something you would have created in your shipping settings. So, you'll want to head to Settings > Shipping & Delivery > Manage Rates > head down to your Canada shipping zone. Whatever rates are configured in there is what your customer will be charged. 

In my experience, most merchants charge live rates for their international orders since the cost can be so unpredictable. I live in Ontario, Canada, and even shipping within my province the cost can go from $12 up to over $50 for remote regions. If you have configured live rates for Canada, please keep in mind that Shopify only lets you assign one package size to be sent off for live rate calculations. In this case, it sounds like your default package size may be smaller than the package you shipped the order in. This would account for the discrepancy. If you want to add multiple package sizes, you'll need a third-party app like Smart Boxing. Alternatively, you can make your default package size the size of your largest package you ship with so you account for larger orders, but keep in mind smaller orders will also get a higher shipping cost, and this can drastically increase cart abandonment. 

I hope this helps!

Warm regards,
Sharon 

[Diya]

Thank you@Sharon-Reeds

This was very helpful. Yes I noticed that. yes by default it wasusing a default box size and the payout was calsulated via usps shopify shipping. I am planning to integrate Pirateship to the shipping where I can use my own shipping and get the order fulfilled via that. I am still trying to figure out how to handle big boxes via shopify, as shipping rates are so unpredictable.