Shipping Costs: Simple Setup and Customization

Setting up shipping in Optimizely Configured Commerce can be simple once you understand the building blocks. Whether you're offering basic flat rates or integrating real-time carrier services, everything starts with proper configuration in the Admin Console.

🔧 Where to Begin

You can manage shipping settings in: Admin Console > Shipping & Fulfillment

Here’s what you’ll typically set up:

📦 Carriers

In Configured Commerce, a Carrier represents a delivery service — such as UPS, FedEx, or a local courier. Carriers act as the bridge between your shipping methods and shipping providers, helping organize and display delivery options during checkout.

Setting up carriers is well-documented here:
👉 Creating a Carrier (Optimizely Docs)

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Real-World Example: Vendor in Poland

Here’s a small setup I recently configured for one of our vendors in Poland.

Scenario:
We wanted to offer 5% shipping cost based on order value, with a minimum charge of 500 PLN for orders up to 35,000 PLN.
For orders above 35,000 PLN, shipping would be free.

💡 Note: All business logic was handled on the ERP side, so on the Configured Commerce side, only a minimal setup was needed.

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🔧 Configuration Steps

1️⃣ Created a custom Carrier named Freight PL

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2️⃣ Added a Generic Rule

This rule ensures the shipping method is only available to customers based in Poland.

✅ Note: This could also be achieved using rules based on the delivery address country (e.g., if Country == "PL").

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3️⃣ Added Two Services Under the Carrier

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4️⃣ Service #1 – For Orders ≤ 35,000 PLN

• Shipping cost: 5% of order value

• Minimum: 500 PLN

• Includes a rule limiting this to orders up to 35,000 PLN

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5️⃣ Service #2 – For Orders > 35,000 PLN

• Shipping cost: 0 PLN (free)

• Rule applies to orders greater than 35,000 PLN

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✅ Configuration Summary

This setup highlights how flexible the shipping module in Configured Commerce really is — especially when most of your shipping logic is handled in the ERP.

It’s also incredibly easy to extend with additional rules or location-based customizations.
For example, I’ve previously configured flat-rate shipping based on area and ZIP codes, using:

• Single ZIP code matches

• Lists of ZIP codes

• Partial matches on ZIP prefixes

This flexibility allows for a wide range of rule-based shipping scenarios right from the Admin Console.

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🤔 But What If You Need Full Custom Logic?

Sometimes, your shipping logic can’t be defined using Admin Console rules at all — maybe you're relying on a third-party pricing API, or need to calculate prices dynamically based on data unavailable in Configured Commerce.

No problem — one approach is to set up a "dummy" carrier in the Admin Console and handle all pricing logic in code.

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💻 Example: Custom Shipping Logic via Cart Pipeline

You can hook into the cart pricing pipeline and inject your own logic. Here’s a simplified example of a custom shipping calculator:

internal class MyCustomShippingCalculator : IPipe<GetCartPricingParameter, GetCartPricingResult>
{
    private readonly ICustomShippingServive _customShippingServive;

    public MyCustomShippingCalculator (ICustomShippingServive customShippingServive)
    {
        _customShippingServive= customShippingServive;
    }

    public GetCartPricingResult Execute(
        IUnitOfWork unitOfWork,
        GetCartPricingParameter parameter,
        GetCartPricingResult result)
    {
        //Here you can create your own logic based eiter on = parameter.Cart items in it
        // You could even get weights and sizes from products in cart and use it for calcualtion.
        decimal shippingCharges = _customShippingServive.Get()
        result.Cart.ShippingCharges = shippingCharges;

        return result;
    }

    public int Order => 450;
}

This pattern gives you full control over shipping calculations at runtime, while still fitting cleanly into Configured Commerce's extensibility model.