How to handle international shipping for large products on Shopify?

[UmutUzunoglu]

Hello, we are a commercial kitchen equipment manufacturer from Turkey. We would like to start our e-commerce journey with Shopify, but have some questions about shipping. Most of our products are bulky products and requires freight or Truck shipment (For example: Upright Freezer size 140cmX240cmX80cm and weight: 140kg) It is not possible for us to pre-determine shipping prices, because there are plenty of products with different sizes and need to contact with shipment provider in order to get a quotation. We are thinking; customer will place an order + shipping and then we will get quotation from provider then we will send an e-mail this shipment will cost xxx EUR do you approve this cost? or some screen on website that indicates "waiting for shipment quotation" and after we get prices from carrier there might be two buttons on customer end if they click approve they will charged with the cost of product and shipment. Or is there a better way to overcome with this situation, because it is mostly not possible to give instant quotation.  

[UmutUzunoglu]

That is exactly what we are looking for we don't want our customers to be charged without knowing the shipment price, but also don't want to lose them as a customer. Thank you!

[PageFly-Theodor]

Hi @UmutUzunoglu 
This is Theodore from PageFly - Shopify Page Builder App.
For solving the problem about the Shipping Large Products Internationally, let’s try this solution:

Since it's not possible to pre-determine shipping costs for your commercial kitchen equipment that requires freight quotes based on size and destination, you can use a Shopify app like Bold Commerce or Easyship to automatically get real-time carrier rates at checkout, or have customers complete checkout first to place the order, then obtain a shipping quote manually after the fact and reach back out to the customer via email for approval before charging for the quoted shipping - another option is to build a custom frontend workflow where after adding large items to the cart, customers enter their delivery details and see an in-context notification that shipping is being calculated and will be sent for approval before payment, allowing you to get accurate quotes without slowing the checkout process for normal items. Overall, leveraging automatic rate quoting through an app or a 2-step process of ordering first then getting approved quotes is likely the best approach for variable shipping.

I’ll be so happy if my suggestion can help to solve your problem. If you have any further questions, please feel free to tell me.
Best regards,
Theodore | PageFly

[Shay · Accepted solution]

Hi there @UmutUzunoglu 

I understand your dilemma and that you want to ensure you are providing your customers all the information they need about receiving their order before finalizing payment with them. There are a few ways you can do this and I wanted to suggest setting up authorization for customer payments. 

All payment gateways allow for the option to pre-authorize a payment before finalizing the order. The window of time that the authorization is valid can vary depending on the gateway, but is usually 7-10 days. How it works, customer goes through checkout as normal and "pays" for their order. The payment is captured and verified but not processed. You would then have a set period of time to authorize the order and receive the payment.

With this option enabled you would have time to calculate the additional freight costs and communicate that with the customer. You can then send them a draft invoice to capture the cost of the additional shipping. 

You can learn more about this in our Help Center: Shopify Help Center | Payment authorization and capture