Multi Origin Shipping Solution Needed- Double charging shipping

MeredithJ
Excursionist
23 0 19

HI ! Hoping eventually to find a solution but here is our issue.

 

We currently have 1 main store that houses our main inventory and 1 of our 2 retail stores, we also have another location across town that houses a smaller amount of our inventory as well as our second retail store. We currently only ship out of our 1 main location because we were having terrible shipping issues but ideally would like to turn shipping back on there to capitalize on their inventory. 

We originally had multi origin shipping turned on so that we could use both inventories to fulfill our online orders, however we drive to our other locations to physically pick up the merchandise and ship form 1 location so that we don't have to buy 2 shipping labels and charge our customers twice. In an ideal world we would keep doing this except half the time our customers end up abandoning their carts because shipping at times was over $20. 

Is there a way to turn multi origin shipping back on but still only charge 1 shipping rate?

We have though about sending an email to our customers letting them know if they receive a double charge for shipping that we will refund a portion of their shipping, however this was not ideal for a lot of our customers who were already tight on cash who may not have had the extra shipping money to place an order to begin with. 

Another issue with having the 1 location turned off is when someone buys something from our online store and we don't have it at our main store, it pulls out of our secondary location (which is fine) except it messes our inventory numbers up. It subtracts -1 from our secondary store and then adds it into our stock at our main location, but the problem is that its adding it to our inventory to sell not as sold item so then it looks like we have 1 more than we actually do which creates a nightmare when you have 1,000 order coming in a day and have to manually adjust the inventory for each item ordered. 

Shopify please help us! There are so many of us who are struggling with this and it needs to be fixed! 

Replies 38 (38)

Paulckp
Tourist
3 0 1

I need this function too. Shopify please update this as I can't find any app could do this.

arayard
Excursionist
23 0 26

We're in the same boat. I keep getting hit with app suggestions. Both our Shopify partners/developers and app support teams tell us that Shopify has virtually made it impossible to calculate shipping from a single address despite having multiple locations. Sounds like they are catering to drop shippers than actual businesses. 

ofri_gonen
Shopify Partner
7 0 1

i was wondering if there's any update with this issue - also looking to request a single shipping fee for multiple stock locations...

omegacanuck
Tourist
9 0 8

Wondering if Shopify would like to chime in on this one. We're encountering the same issue. We were previously online only (so only one location), but have now opened up a storefront.  If a customer tries to order items that happen to have some stock at our storefront, and some that are only at the warehouse, it charges double shipping.  We use a simple flat rate, same price, no matter how much you order, but it's hitting people with 2 charges.  Should not be a hard fix.  Make an option to have flat rate be........flat rate.   Signing up for the POS system with multiple locations has been kind of a pain.

arayard
Excursionist
23 0 26

I've reached out to multiple people at Shopify regarding this. Same answer every time. "This is desired when merchants are shipping items from multiple warehouses and do need to collect shipping costs for multiple areas." When you explain that all shipping happens from one location they acknowledge that it could be a nuisance but just say this is how it's done on Shopify. My feeling is that they are catering to drop shippers over small/medium size business with multiple locations. Almost as if we are the ones doing it wrong and that we should be shipping from each location. Our business has 5 locations and a warehouse - so you can imagine some of the shipping charges our potential customers see. 

Here were some of their suggestions, all of which led to nowhere.

  • Use a Third Party App -  Received an email from Advanced Shipping Rules app that read, 'Shopify has made it impossible to achieve this.' 
  • Use a separate warehouse location - Essentially, taking our inventory manually to one location. Impossible with items spread around between 5 locations and offering curbside pickup. 
  • Customization with Scripts - Our Shopify Partner's tested all of Shopify's suggestions and Scripts do not work in this scenario. 
  • Switch back to single-origin - This turns off any multi-store fulfillment opportunities like local delivery/pickup

After almost two months of back and forth with Shopify. This is where we ended up. We now have to dig through abandoned carts and each order to adjust shipping charges manually. 

Unfortunately there is not an immediate action or solution from the Shopify end to directly solve for this. We have shared all of the workarounds available with you. I understand your frustration and am sorry that there's no simple solution for this right away. We've already submitted your feedback on this to our development team as a frustration point and they will prioritize this request along with many other requests in the best way possible. Our team is well aware of this issue, this is something other merchants have asked about too.

We try to build our platform to meet the needs of most merchants and then we lean on our ecosystem of apps and developers to support additional needs. While we are always releasing new functionality and improvements, I don't have a specific timeline on when this shipping scenario will be added to our roadmap so I can't say for sure when to expect an update on it. If you'd like to discuss the current available workarounds on a call, just let me know.

Scott1968
Tourist
6 0 3

We did not realize customers would be double charged when setting this up additional fulfillment locations as well.  We are trying to fix as we are also losing customers who do not wish to be double charged.  Agree on one hand Shopify should give merchants the option to double charge if shipping from two location if that is their business model.  However, when you are selling items from your website if a customer happens to choose an item from one location and another item from another location (unknown to customer) it is not their fault and we should not penalize them and double charge for shipping.  I see these threads are from months ago so this is something that should be fixed now by Shopify.  There are many companies who have inventory stored in more than one location and we would like to continue to track this way and only charge one fee to customer for shipping.  We should have the option to tell our shopping cart we would like the customer to only be charged shipping once for their order based on total price of order or total weight of order, etc based on your criteria.  Please let me know if this has been fixed and if not I'm so confused as Shopify has enough techs to fix this pretty quick.

arayard
Excursionist
23 0 26

And I'm tired of hearing from @Shopify , "Any feedback you share is reviewed by the Plus Support Leadership team and is used to improve your experience."

 

It's been over a year now and I'm afraid it's falling on deaf ears. 

Scott1968
Tourist
6 0 3

I was able to fix the double charge to customer but with that causes another issue.  If you go to Settings> Shipping and Deliver> Manage Rates> Shipping From: Manage:  Designate just one "Shipping Location" so for all other locations you will click "Remove rates for [Shipping Locations]".  The "Shipping Location" you designate as the main you will need to make sure for all items in inventory that no items can be listed as "Not Stocked".  Any items listed as "Not Stocked" you need to update to a number "0" or if you have inventory certainly add that.  Now with this change your customers will be charged the correct amount for shipping (not double charged).  If you do not change inventory from "Not Stocked" to "0" for your main location then anyone who attempts to purchase one of those "Not Stocked" items will not give the customer an option for shipping.

 

So the issue I'm now having is when an order comes thru for an item from one warehouse and another item from another warehouse it will only deplete inventory from my main location listed in "Shipping and Delivery". So for example if I have "Warehouse A" with 0 items in inventory and "Warehouse B" with 50 items in inventory. If my main warehouse is "Warehouse A" which has 0 inventory and "Warehouse B" has 50 inventory and customer orders an items from "Warehouse B". The problem is Shopify is depleting from "Warehouse A" since that's my main warehouse which means it is now showing -1 and "Warehouse B" is still at 50. So you can go into each order manually and "Change Location" to correct location and the system will add back inventory from one location and deplete from correct location. If you're not receiving that many orders per day this is doable but if you have a busy store doing 100+ orders per day will be too time consuming. Plus if you receive an order with multiple items from different warehouses makes it difficult to assign to correct location.

 

We currently have three locations setup and we would like to continue to keep our inventory separate and accurate.  So should be pretty simple if someone orders an item from one warehouse the system should deplete from that warehouse and if they order an item from multiple warehouses it should deplete from each warehouse they ordered from.  This is really not that complicated.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions on another workaround or any word from Shopify when this will be fixed? Shopify is generating billions in revenue and has hundreds if not thousands of techs. This is something that should be fixed. As I've stated in a prior thread this is not the customers fault and they should not be paying double shipping. In reality Shopify is losing more business in revenue with this error multiplied by thousands of other stores. Please fix.  @Shopify 

MeredithJ
Excursionist
23 0 19

It seems like you have the best fix so far! I will have to give this a try. We have the same issue where it removes inventory from our main store instead of pulling it from the store its actually stocked at, we then have to manually adjust each inventory for hundreds of orders, which is an inventory nightmare. 

arayard
Excursionist
23 0 26

@Scott1968 Both of these solutions were suggested from Shopify and I credit both of you for manually putting things in place. With tons of brick and mortar action out of 5 locations, live inventory syncs with our POS,  and having over 16K Skus, I would be sitting in an inventory nightmare trying to reconcile every single order where this happens. 

 

Right now we have flows in place where if a shipping charge passes a certain dollar amount we get notified and reach out to the customer to apologize and capture the correct shipping charge. We're also lucky that some of our regulars also call in when experiencing the double charge. We had someone across the country that was shipping express and got a $192 quote for 3 items...

 

Unfortunately, going through our abandoned carts and identifying orders where a double charge took place shows a massive loss in potential sales. It seems we all have our little solutions in place to band-aid the damage but they are time consuming and ineffective, making it even more frustrating when that Shopify bill comes every month. Perhaps, if we keep this thread hot someone from @Shopify development could help us out here. 

Scott1968
Tourist
6 0 3

@arayard Yes agree this probably has a big loss of revenue for all of us based on abandoned carts.  Speaking of Abandoned carts I do not believe this is functioning the same way it was a year ago.  In the past when i would start an order but not complete it would generally show up in abandoned cart area.  This past week I probably did 50 test orders (between three stores) but did not click submit so see if they would show up in our abandoned cart area and there were zero abandoned carts with my info from the test.  We do receive abandoned carts but obviously not all.  So this is very concerning as I'm not able to tell how many actual abandoned carts we are receiving as customer see crazy high shipping and they simply exit the cart and not hit submit.  Curious if you have any input with abandoned carts if they are all showing for you or are you using an app for abandoned carts?  @Shopify 

arayard
Excursionist
23 0 26

Interesting, that's frustrating. I do see abandoned carts on my end but I haven't tested out abandoning my own carts to confirm. The issue I'm dealing with at the moment is customer gift notes/order notes not pulling through into the order admin. Perfect timing for the holidays @Shopify 

Scott1968
Tourist
6 0 3

@arayard If you figure anything out with abandoned carts let me know but I do not believe there are any other settings which will allow us to see more abandoned carts?  Possibly there is an app which I will look but this obviously would make a big difference if the Abandoned cart section was working correctly we could send automated emails based on double shipping charges.  This is a pretty big error on @Shopify side as we should be able to see all legit abandoned carts.  Considering I did approx 50 test orders and not one came thru the abandoned cart and the majority of the ones I did I took to the very end so all of my info was in the system including card, etc and I simply did not hit submit.

 

I also spoke with a developer who said he has a fix in Shopify Plus for double charge shipping/inventory system.  We have a few stores but only using "Shopify Advanced".  If you are using Shopify Plus let me know and I can forward his info to you.

Miriamm
Visitor
2 0 2

Can I ask you for the shopify plus fix please @Scott1968 

EvenGreenerNat
Excursionist
11 0 3

Hi @Scott1968 - Do you still have the Shopify Plus fix or know of anything new to solve this double charging madness?!

arayard
Excursionist
23 0 26

@EvenGreenerNat @Scott1968 @Miriamm 

 

https://apps.shopify.com/shipping-rates

They figured it out. I've been running with them since 12/2021 and for the most part they have this issue nailed down.

 

I'm now running a 'Weight Based' scenario with the following conditions. 

Cart quantity is greater than or equals 1 items.

Then I added a shipping method for that scenario with shipping calculated based on cart weight with range values corresponding to their shipping costs. The rates are not combining for multilocation orders. Based on my use case, I recommend doing some math to get to a safe spot so you don't lose out on shipping and building out pricing for weight ranges. 

 

Their support is top notch, we did run into some minor issues when I first launched and their support was quick to act to make sure things were running smooth. 

 

Their fees are reasonable if you have high volume of orders. To my surprise, I was also able to use the app for free shipping to specific regions instead of relying on Shopify's native free shipping rules. 

 

Though I understand the app ecosystem is there for the ability to do a little extra, I'm still in awe that @Shopify doesn't consider combined shipping rates as an issue on the native platform. Proper shipping calculation shouldn't be an app solution. Luckily we found Shipeasy to help us out for now. I'm still expecting Shopify to address this issue in their roadmap as it is just common sense. 

 

Feel free to reach out if anyone has any questions. 

EvenGreenerNat
Excursionist
11 0 3

Thanks so much for your speedy reply.  It's staggering that this isn't a standard thing in Shopify, especially given that so many sellers are crying out for it!

I'll take a look at this app and hopefully it'll be suitable for our needs. 

Thanks again.

arayard
Excursionist
23 0 26

I used to call @Shopify every three months to raise the issue and they were less than helpful. Very kind people but every single suggestion they had went nowhere. App developers they recommended even admitted that Shopify built their shipping features where it's impossible to fix. 

 

Not sure how this app did it. I recommend reaching out with your requirements and having them set up a trial run. 

EvenGreenerNat
Excursionist
11 0 3

Looks like this is going to work for our 2 sites so thanks for pointing us in the right direction.  We're in the process of setting it up now but looking good so far!  

Thanks again.

Scott1968
Tourist
6 0 3
Are you using a third-party app to fix the issue or did Shopify finally fix this issue in their last update?
EvenGreenerNat
Excursionist
11 0 3

Third party app - Shipeasy

Scott1968
Tourist
6 0 3
When you are completed and it’s working if you are able to do a post would be greatly appreciated.

Our main objective is just to keep track of inventory where we will have at least two locations set up but only shipping from one location so we do not want customers to be charged twice for shipping. Obviously we want the inventory system to deplete from the correct location. So if there is inventory at a location it would deplete and if there’s no inventory it would not make inventory go negative.
arayard
Excursionist
23 0 26

@Scott1968 I had tagged you in the reply with the third party we're using. I'd reach out to them to go over your use case. They are very responsive. 

HockeyStickMan
Tourist
4 0 2

This continues to be an issue for us on a weekly basis.  Like many others here, we store inventory offsite and are able to combine items before shipping, but it is important for us to actually know where everything is.  We charge a flat rate of $19.99 shipping on most items, but if someone orders products from two locations, they are charged $39.98 instead.

 

Based on what others have said, ShipEasy used to provide a workaround to this, but when I reached out to them it seems like it no longer works because of a Shopify API update in June that changes how they can see orders in the cart (it doesn't distinguish one order from two locations from two unique orders), so any apps can only generate rates based on them being independent orders.  I also reached out to Advanced Shipping Rules & Intuitive Shipping, which were recommended as possible solutions, but they are facing the same issues (and in some cases have stopped looking for workarounds).

 

So basically we are at the point where there are no possible workarounds, other than removing our inventory locations and pretending that everything is under one roof (not feasible for us).  Shopify's stance on the double charge is that it is "expected behaviour for orders with multiple fulfillment locations to be split up, even if the items are in the same profile but have multiple locations", which is fair enough for it to be the default, but to not be able to do the alternative is very frustrating.

 

Has anyone found a solution that works since the June API update?

MeredithJ
Excursionist
23 0 19
I heard about the app calculator, i think they have an option for merging
split orders, I have not reached out to them yet to see if they would be a
solution or not, and they aren't free which is irritating. Why do we need
to come out of pocket for something shopify should be able to do? Ive sat
on chat for hours with Shopify for them to tell me it not an issue, yet
they fix things daily that don't need to be fixed.
MeredithJ
Excursionist
23 0 19

Calcurates* app

Decimal-io
Shopify Partner
4 0 1

Hi HockeyStickMan, 


We have a custom app that might fix your mult-warehouse situation until Shopify comes up with its permanent suolution. It works by circumventing the issues caused by multiple locations while maintaining the needed separation of inventory.

However, please be aware that your primary warehouse must be in US.  Drop us a line and we will demo.

Decimal
Shipping Apps and Shipping Solutions
Least-Cost Shipping Options with Delivery Dates at Checkout
EvenGreenerNat
Excursionist
11 0 3

We're still using ShipEasy and for the most part, it's still working.  I'm not sure if this is because we had it installed before the update or if ShipEasy are being cautious in letting you know it no longer works following the change. Occasionally an order will come through with a double charge but they have only been a handful in thousands of orders across 2 sites so we'll take that while there's no other option. 

We've got multiple stock locations and some quite intricate postcode restrictions which they've helped us set up without issue.  I can't recommend them enough so it might be worth getting in touch with them again to do a trial if you don't find anything else.

HockeyStickMan
Tourist
4 0 2

Thanks.  Will reach out to them again and give a trial a shot to see how it goes.

HockeyStickMan
Tourist
4 0 2

Reached out to ShipEasy again, and they confirmed that their app no longer works for this, and that they are disabling the relevant feature.  It seems like it may still be working for grandfathered accounts in some cases, but as soon as individual stores face this issue, they just turn the feature off for them and aren't looking for fixes.

MeredithJ
Excursionist
23 0 19

I reached out to Calcurates app and here is response: 

 
 
 
Hello Meredith,
 
Thanks for your query.
 
Unfortunately, Calcurates app is not able to solve this and we do not know any other app that is able to do so. Duplicating shipping rates can only be solved with shipping from a single Shopify location, but we realize that this affects your accurate control of inventory. This is "by design" Shopify behaviour that our app cannot bypass.
 
SO THIS IS A SHOPIFY NOT HELPING ISSUE...I plan to reach out to Shopify everyday until they find a solution. 
Decimal-io
Shopify Partner
4 0 1

Hi Meredith,

Please see my reply above to @HockeyStickMan. We have a solution for this issue that we'd be happy to demo.

 

 

Decimal
Shipping Apps and Shipping Solutions
Least-Cost Shipping Options with Delivery Dates at Checkout
HockeyStickMan
Tourist
4 0 2

We seem to have found our solution!  As you said, Apps can't help right now (maybe @Decimal-io can for you, but we are based in Canada.)

 

We were able to get some help from a Shopify dev to code a solution through Shopify Scripts.  Because we use flat rate shipping (ending $x.99), we are able to recognize when a rate has been doubled (it will end $x.98).  Using this script, we can then automatically apply a 50% discount on the affected shipping rates, bringing the cost back down to the orginally intended rate.

 

SETTINGS = {
  discount_percentage: 50,
  decimals: 98,
  discount_message: "Discounted Rate",
}

percentage = SETTINGS[:discount_percentage] / 100

Input.shipping_rates.each do |shipping_rate|
  decimals = shipping_rate.price.to_s.split(".")[1].to_f
  price_discount = shipping_rate.price * percentage

  if decimals == SETTINGS[:decimals]
    shipping_rate.apply_discount(price_discount, message: SETTINGS[:discount_message])
  end
end

Output.shipping_rates = Input.shipping_rates

Hopefully this will be helpful for others.   This seems like it will work well for us with our flat rates, but I think it could potentially work for calculated rates as well, as long as your rates are set to round to the nearest $x.99 before being blended together.

sniper2804
Shopify Partner
384 25 65

Hi,
I have seemed to have found a workaround for this. Hoping someone find this helpful. But it involves a bit of manual work.

SolutionHave only one location checked as "Fulfil online orders from this location". And for your products, enable the option "Continue selling when out of stock".

When this happens, your visitors can continue buying from your store and they will only see price from one location.

 

I am sure this solution will not work for all, but it did work for one of my clients. So I am hoping it helps someone here too.

sniper2804_0-1689075123461.png

 

 

 

Automate & bulk assign products to shipping profile: Auto Shipping Profiles: Shipr
Calculate accurate shipping rates: Shipping Calculator: ShipMagic
Hide, rename, reorder payment methods at checkout: Payment Customization: PayMix
jaredkbyrd
Not applicable
1 0 0

The problem with this solution is that items that are truly out of stock can still be sold, right?

sniper2804
Shopify Partner
384 25 65

Yes. You are right.

Automate & bulk assign products to shipping profile: Auto Shipping Profiles: Shipr
Calculate accurate shipping rates: Shipping Calculator: ShipMagic
Hide, rename, reorder payment methods at checkout: Payment Customization: PayMix

ronald_g
Explorer
58 2 4

Have you tried contacting Shopify support to disable multi-origin shipping. That should solve the problem.

sniper2804
Shopify Partner
384 25 65

Hello everyone,

 

We seem to have found a solution to this problem for those who have flat rate shipping. You should be able to avoid double charging when items in cart are from different location using our app ShipMagic.


Moreover, this solution works on Shopify's Basic Plan too. However, it will only work with flat rate shipping as of now, due to limitations of the Shopify API. If someone is interested, please install the app and reach out to the live chat support for more information on this.

Automate & bulk assign products to shipping profile: Auto Shipping Profiles: Shipr
Calculate accurate shipping rates: Shipping Calculator: ShipMagic
Hide, rename, reorder payment methods at checkout: Payment Customization: PayMix