Shipping cost from various suppliers for dropshipping Australia

[Kristina_Sarma]

Hi There!

What are solutions available for my case stated below? Are there any certain apps? Please advise!

I'm setting up a high ticket dropshipping online store with heavy bulky products from different suppliers. The freight cost varies per supplier (they ship themselves), item and address/postcodes (only shipping across Australia).

The only option I can see in settings is to create zones which are only state based with price and weight of the item for each supplier. 

Is there a way to drill down zones and use postcodes for shipping costs instead of just states?

Is there a way to filter some areas/states which will be quote based once person types their postcode/address and how to set this up in setting so it's clear for a customer?

I can see some websites have drop down menus to display shipping or shipping calculators on products/checkout pages. Is this possible to implement without linking to a specific carrier?

Thanks!

[UjjawalS]

hi @Kristina_Sarma I am unsure if there is any way to do this without linking to a carrier. However, I do have a workaround for this. You will require your supplier's carrier accounts and the Multi-Carrier Shipping Label app to link all those carrier accounts. Once done, you will be able to let customers add products to the cart and display shipping rates as charged by the suppliers on the Shopify checkout page.

Since your suppliers are shipping from Australia, I would guess they may be using carriers like Aus Post MyPost Business, FedEx, DHL, TNT, etc. The good part is the app supports the majority of these carriers and works together to display accurate rates all the time.

[Kristina_Sarma]

Thanks for the solution but I'm at the early stage with no trust gained from suppliers yet so in no position of asking for their accounts. Also, they use pretty much all the different ones and rare have one - two as they check shipping prices for many and then go with the cheapest one. And if I use any carriers apps myself in this case I will have to organise those carriers to pick up from suppliers so this will be an extra job for me which I'm trying to avoid.

[Keerthi_Sree]

Hello @Kristina_Sarma ,

Shopify does not offer built-in postcode configuration for zones. However, you can optimize your shipping strategy with the following approaches:

1. Product-Based Shipping via Shopify Shipping Profiles:
   Utilize Shopify Shipping Profiles to create a separate shipping profile for dropshipping products. This allows you to configure rates specific to the products within the profiles based on Shopify's state-based zone configuration. However, this may require creating multiple profiles for each dropshipper's products.
    
2. Approximate Rate Shipping:
   Instead of creating multiple profiles, consolidate all items into a single profile and use Shopify zones with weight and price-based configurations. While this may not provide exact costs, it offers a reasonable approximation for shipping rates.
    
3. Incorporate Shipping Costs into Product Prices:
   Consider adding the shipping cost to the product price and offering free shipping at checkout. This approach simplifies the process and can improve the customer experience.
    
4. Utilize Real-Time Carrier Rates:
   Implement real-time shipping rates from carriers such as Australia Post, where the rates are calculated automatically based on the destination postcode. Additionally, you can use the Price Adjustment feature to refine the final cost. You may explore apps like the Australia Rates & Labels app  for service-specific price adjustments or the PH Multi-Carrier Shipping Label app for adjustments based on custom conditions such as Post code based Zones, Total Weight, Total Order Value and Item Quantity.

I hope this helps!

[Kristina_Sarma]

Thank you for your suggestions! 

I was thinking that might be my only solution will be to create states profiles for each supplier and product which will be a huge project but at least something. 

Is the a way to set certain regions as a quote based? So whenever someone inputs an address from the area that requires extra fees this automatically shows message or triggers request for a quote?

All suppliers insist that I send them address and they will provide quote but I don't know how this can be set up on Shopify for when customers places an order only product price is shown at checkout and shipping sent for a quote and then adjusted invoice shared with the customer. Also, this will be not a good user experience as customers are expecting to know total cost from the start and not wait for a quote to come through.

For the real-time carrier rates. Is it always resulted in shipping label which is printed and used for shipping (in this case I will have to organise carrier to pick up from my suppliers)? Can this be used for estimates shown to customers? Can this estimate be charger without a label?

 Thanks for mentioning Price Adjustment feature I will need to google it maybe something for me in there.

[DavidNZSSI]

If you go down the app route, take a look at Starshipit (listed in the Shopify app store). It's got a pretty robust automation rules engine which lets you configure based on post code. You can read more here: Rules overview – Starshipit

[kolevich]

Hi @Kristina_Sarma,
It sounds like configuring shipping rates with our app's Table Rates feature would perfectly solve your scenario. You may combine multiple conditions (weight, supplier, AU postcode) in order to apply the correct shipping rate to an order. We have solved quite a few similar cases for Australia. The app is called Calcurates. Also, there is an Estimated Shipping app that displays shipping rates on product page.