Shipping labels single order with multiple boxes

[damienjc]

I'm rather new to Shopify and have spent much of the day dealing with the fact that you can't set up shipping costs per item.  In my testing I have this situation. If I order one box of a product the calculated shipping is $12.97.  If I change it to two boxes of the same product the shipping increases to $15.11.  I guess the $15.11 is for one box weighing what the two boxes weigh in total.  So, presuming the true shipping cost is 2*12.97= $25.94, how do I print two labels and pay the appropriate amount for shipping.  This is not obvious to me from looking at the Fulfillment area of the admin. I'd appreciate any help. I just may not get something clearly as yet.

[Lizzy · Accepted solution]

Hey, Damienjc.

My name is Lizzy and I’m from the support team at Shopify.

To answer your question, it is possible to print multiple shipping labels on an order with more than one box required. To do this, set the quantity of the items you want to fulfill first to a number greater than 0 and the ones you'll fulfill next to 0. This will adjust the shipping label to include only the items with a quantity above 0. You can complete the purchase of the label and the order will now display as "Partially Fulfilled." You can repeat this process until all of your items are fulfilled with shipping labels purchased. 

There are also a couple of ways to set up shipping costs for your customers that would account for multiple boxes being shipped. The first would be to use manual shipping rates and change your shipping rules based on the total order weight amount. This works best if you have products with similar shipping costs, or a small inventory. You can create your weight based rules to jump from $12.97 to $25.94 when more than one box worth of product is purchased. This sometimes requires setting up product weights that are inaccurate so you would need to manually input the weights when purchasing a label.

Another option is using an app along with our third party calculated shipping feature. Third party calculated shipping is included in the Advanced plan, available as a $20/month add on to other plans or as a free option on an annual subscription. This gives applications access to your admin's shipping features so you can set up product based rules. The apps I've listed below have this as an option.

Better Shipping 
Advanced Shipping Rules
Bespoke Shipping

I hope this helps to get your shipping options set up. Let me know if you have any questions about what I've said.

Thank you,
Lizzy

[damienjc]

Thanks for that.  I did a test and had worked out the shipping label thing.  Of course the shipping cost indicated in the system is not the real cost.  In fact for multiple boxes it is meaningless.

I have a small number of products whose shipping cost is similar enough to where I worked out price range based "flat" rates that are good enough for my purposes.  People have said this for 10 years but not having shipping rates implemented at the product level by default is a complete pain, but doubtless is a good business strategy for selling apps.  I seriously looked at the competition today but my situation is simple enough that I can work around it.  In time I might consider an app.

Thanks

[Print_2002]

This is such a ridiculous refusal to implement a basic necessity. We will have customers order 100 packages from time to time. That is amazing to know that when we go live, I will have to go into the order and follow the steps for the recommended solution 100 times.

[Print_2002]

"There are also a couple of ways to set up shipping costs for your customers that would account for multiple boxes being shipped. The first would be to use manual shipping rates and change your shipping rules based on the total order weight amount. This works best if you have products with similar shipping costs, or a small inventory. You can create your weight based rules to jump from $12.97 to $25.94 when more than one box worth of product is purchased. This sometimes requires setting up product weights that are inaccurate so you would need to manually input the weights when purchasing a label.

Another option is using an app along with our third party calculated shipping feature. Third party calculated shipping is included in the Advanced plan, available as a $20/month add on to other plans or as a free option on an annual subscription. This gives applications access to your admin's shipping features so you can set up product based rules. The apps I've listed below have this as an option.

Better Shipping 
Advanced Shipping Rules
Bespoke Shipping

I hope this helps to get your shipping options set up. Let me know if you have any questions about what I've said.

Thank you,
Lizzy"

So in short, there is absolutely no accurate solution.

Manual rates are not a solution. I can not charge one customer who is 1 state away the same price as a customer 6 states away for shipping.

3rd party apps are not a solution because Shopify will still see a 1,000,000 item order as (1) carton.

I'm using a 3rd party app (one of which is listed); while they allow you to set rules for a multiple package order which will allow for an accurate shipping cost (thankfully, since Shopify knowing failed miserably on this front and refuses to correct it), but when you go to your Shipping  shipping Admin to fulfill the order, Shopify STILL sees that multiple package order as (1) package so you must still go through manually one by one for each item in that order in order to produce multiple labels for that order.

Absolutely ridiculous.

[waf]

This is not really a solution, but only a set of work arounds.  

[Therbalfoodinc]

So I am having trouble finding where to edit the fulfillment number. I have order that are multiple purchases of the same products needing more than one box . It is only showing me the ability to purchase one label and no ability to alter the fulfillment number of the items so that I can do it in a multi step process

[TexasGirl]

I'm having the same issue, It gives me no option to change the quantity. Can anyone help?

Edited: I found how. You actually have to purchase the label, and that is where you can edit what you are fulfilling. 

[Poull_Brien]

I use one size box for all of my shipping on Shopify. This box holds 6 items. When a customer orders 7+ items I ship with an additional box(es). I am trying to find an accurate way to automatically show customers the Shopify discounted shipping rates no matter how many items they order. I looked at Bespoke, Advances Shipping Rules and Better Shipping and none seems to deliver exactly what I'm looking for. I do not want to manually enter shipping rates each time this happens. Is there a better app for this or another way to solve the problem? 

[cleanspace]

This system is garbage. Does anyone know of an app that can handle this simple task?

[cleanspace]

Shippo can handle it, sort of

https://support.goshippo.com/hc/en-us/articles/204483565-Split-Orders-for-Multiple-Packages

[Muttbags]

@ TexasGirl, Could you elaborate on that a little more?

[Muttbags]

@ Lizzy

I need to be able to change the denominator in the equation. Right now you can change the numerator from 3 to 1.  As 1 of 3 . But I need to ship 6 boxes from that order and need 6 labels. How can I change it to get  6 of 6?

Thanks

[Muttbags]

Apparently, no one home?

[iboc]

And how do I do this workaround if I have an order with several of the same items totaling in a few boxes?

[Muttbags]

I moved on to ShipStation. I use them for one of my other stores. They have the flexibility I need to move the number of labels up or down depending on the needs of the item ordered. Pricing is similar though I believe Shopify holds an edge here. Bottom line I just got tired of performing work arounds on a problem that Shopify refuses to address.

[EVO1]

I have further questions on this.  I received 1 order that will take 4 boxes to fulfill.  The customer paid 1 price for shipping.  I am trying to do what you suggested with counting 1 box at a time as partially fulfilled and printing the shipping label.  When I go back to fulfill the next box, it is saying to create shipping label and then buy shipping label.  So, at this point, will the shipping costs even out over 4 different labels to match what the customer paid for the order, or am I going to be out more money on each label just to ship these to her??  Shopify needs to fix this issue and make it easier to navigate.  If a larger order comes through, Shopify needs to know to offer create multiple shipping labels to fulfill this order.  Shopify also needs Chat representatives to help us quickly with our questions so we can get back to taking care of our customers quickly.

[georgiaguy]

FYI... this does not work when you have only ONE product. 

Try This...

Solution Found....

1- Create a PRODUCT and call it "extra label".  no cost - no weight 

2- Pull up the order and EDIT the order adding the "extra label" product. 

This will allow you to print an additional label for that order. 

[RockPaperRobot]

This isn't a solution to the problem that the customer has already paid for shipping that the system assumed to cost one thing but in reality costs more.

[RockPaperRobot]

Yeah but you pay more than the customer paid, right?