Solidus uses a flexible system to calculate shipping. It accommodates the full range of shipment pricing: from simple flat rate calculations to more complex calculations related to product weight or type, the customer's shipping address, what shipping method is being used, and so on.
If your store has complex shipping needs, you may find one of Solidus's existing
shipping extensions, like
solidus_active_shipping
or
solidus_shipstation
, useful. Check out
the list of
supported Solidus Extensions
.
This article provides a summary of shipping concepts. If you are interested in reading about example Solidus shipment setups see Shipment setup examples .
The Spree::Shipment model tracks how items should be delivered to the
customer. Developers may be interested in the following attributes:
number: The unique identifier for this shipment. It begins with the letter
H and ends in an 11-digit number. This number is visible to customers, and
it can be used to find the order (by calling Spree::Shipment.find_by(number:
H12345678910)).tracking: The identifier given for the shipping provider (such as FedEx or
UPS).shipped_at: The time when the shipment is shipped.state: The current state of the shipment. See
Shipping
states
for more information.stock_location_id: The ID of the stock location where the items for this
shipment are sourced from.adjustment_total: The sum of the promotion and tax adjustments on the
shipment.additional_tax_total: The sum of U.S.-style sales taxes on the shipment.promo_total: The sum of the promotions on the shipment.included_tax_total: The sum of the VAT-style taxes on the shipment.cost: The estimated shipping cost (for the selected shipping method).order_id: The ID for the order that the shipment belongs to.Each shipment is assigned a state attribute. Depending on its state, different
actions can be performed on shipments. There are four possible states:
pending: The shipment has backordered inventory units and/or the order is
not paid for.ready: The shipment has no backordered inventory units and the order is paid
for.shipped: The shipment has left the stock location.canceled: When an order is cancelled, all of its shipments will also be
cancelled. When this happens, all items in the shipment will be restocked. If
an order is "resumed", then the shipment will also be resumed.To leverage Solidus's shipping system, become familiar with its key concepts:
Stock locations represent physical storage locations from which stock is shipped.
Shipping methods identify the actual delivery services used to ship the product. For example:
Each shipping method is only applicable to a specific geographic zone. For example, you wouldn't be able to get a package delivered internationally using a domestic-only shipping method. You can't ship from Dallas, USA, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, using UPS Ground, which is a United States-only carrier.
You can further restrict when shipping methods are available to customers by using shipping categories. If you assign two products to two different shipping categories, you could ensure that these items are always sent as separate shipments.
For example, if your store can only ship oversized products via a specific carrier, called "USPS Oversized Parcels", then you could create a shipping category called "Oversized" for that shipping method, which can then be assigned to oversized products.
Shipping categories are created in the admin interface (Settings -> Shipping -> Shipping Categories) and then assigned to products (Products -> Edit).
Zones serve as a mechanism for grouping distinct geographic areas together.
The shipping address entered during checkout defines the zone (or zones) for the order. The zone limits the available shipping methods for the order. It also defines regional taxation rules.
For more information about zones see the Locations documentation.
A shipping calculator is the component responsible for calculating the shipping rate for each available shipping method.
Solidus ships with five default shipping calculators:
If you want to estimate shipping rates using carrier APIs, You can use an
extension like
solidus_active_shipping
. Or, if you
have other complex needs, you can create a
custom shipping
calculators
for more information.
For each shipment, a Spree::ShippingRate object is created for each of your
store's shipping methods. These objects represent the cost of the shipment as
calculated by each shipping method's calculator.
Spree::ShippingRate |
1 | 2 | 3 | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Spree::ShippingRateshipment_id |
1
1
|
2
1
|
3
1
|
Description
All of these rates are for one shipment
|
Spree::ShippingRateshipping_method_id |
1
1
|
2
2
|
3
3
|
Description
Each available shipping method
|
Spree::ShippingRateselected |
1
false
|
2
true
|
3
false
|
Description
Set to
true for the selected shipping method only |
Spree::ShippingRatecost |
1
$0.50
|
2
$1.75
|
3
$1.25
|
Description
The shipment's shipping rate
|
Once the shipping method has been chosen, the matching Spree::ShippingRate's
selected key becomes true. Only one shipping rate can be selected for each
shipment.
A Spree::InventoryUnit is created for each item in a shipment. It tracks
whether the item has shipped, what product variant the item is, and what order
and shipment the item is associated with.
The Spree::Carton model represents how an order was shipped. For stores that
use third-party logistics or complicated warehouse workflows, the shipment
described when the order is confirmed may not be how the actual shipment is
packaged when it leaves its destination.
For more information, see the Cartons article.
Solidus is an open source platform supported by the community. We encourage everyone using Solidus to contribute back to the documentation and the code.
If you’re interested in contributing to the docs, get started with the contributing guidelines. If you see something that needs fixing and can’t do it yourself, please send us an email.