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The regions and countries that you ship to are known as shipping zones. Each shipping zone includes shipping rates that apply to customers whose addresses are within that zone. Shipping zones are used to automatically calculate shipping rates for your customers. You can view your shipping zones by going to Settings → Reference Books → Other Items → Shipping Zones.


Prerequisites

Table of Contents


Enable using Shipping Zones

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Shipping Zones must be enabled before they can be applied to orders. Go to Settings → Reference Books → Other Items → Shipping Zones and slide the toggle to Enabled


Create a new Shipping Zone

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There are three shipping zone options: 

  • Regular Shipping Zones for specific zones limited to countries or regions or countries
  • Rest of World Zone for any region not covered by the specific zones
  • Exception Zonefor any region that needs to be excluded from the other created zones. 
    • NOTE: Exception Zone is only available as an option once a Rest of World Zone has been created. 


To create a new shipping zone:

  1. Go to Settings → Reference Books → Other Items → Shipping Zones. There are two shipping zone options: +Shipping Zone for specific zones limited to countries or regions or countries, and +Rest of World for any region not covered by the specific zones. 
    • Once a Rest of World Zone has been specified, you can also choose +Exception Zone to exclude any regions from the existing rules. If the Shipping Address matches the Exception Zone Criteria, no rate will be applied.
  2. Click +Shipping Zone and enter a Name for your zone. Select the Tax Rule that will apply to that shipping zone. Check with your bookkeeper or accountant to verify what taxes should be applied to shipping.
  3. Under the Applies to section, click the button. At least one country or region must be added to the shipping zone for it to be valid.
  4. Position your cursor over the Country colums and choose a country from the list. Repeat this step for the rest of the columns, i.e. State, PostCode From, PostCode To, PostCodes List, and Shipping Rate.
    • NOTE: Only the Country and Shipping Rate colums are required to be entered with the appropriate values. The rest of the columns are optional.
  5. To add another country to the zone, click the Add more items link at the bottom of the table, then repeat Step 4. Otherwise, click Save to go back to the Shipping Zone page. You may also add more complex Price-based and Weight-based rates to the shipping zone at this time. 


Import Shipping Zones from a CSV File

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If you have shipping zones set up somewhere else, you may import them into the system using the required comma-separated values (CSV) file format, helping you save time and effort. The file format is given in the table below.


Column Name
Description
Zone NameShipping Zone Name. Required.
CountryCountry. Required.
StateState. Not required.
PostCodeFromPostCodeFrom, not required.
PostCodeToPostCodeTo. Not required, unless there is a value for PostCodeFrom.
PostCodesListPost Codes List. Not required.
ShippingRateShipping rate. Required.
ShippingZoneTypeShipping zone type. Required. Possible values: "RestWorldZone", "ExceptionZone", "ShippingZone"
TaxRuleTax Rule. Required


To import shipping zones from a CSV file:

  1. Go to Settings → Reference Books → Other Items → Shipping Zones, then click Import Shipping Zones.
  2. On the Import Shipping Zones wizard, download the Shipping Zones template file, copy your shipping zones into the template file, then import the updated template file.


Exporting Shipping Zone Data

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Shipping zone data can also be exported to a comma-separated values (CSV) file, with the same format as the CSV file used for importing shipping zones into the system (for more information, see Importing Shipping Zones from a CSV File). 


To export shipping zone data:

  1. Go to Settings → Reference Books → Other Items → Shipping Zones, then click Export Shipping Zones.
  2. Save the CSV file to your system.


Add Price-based Rates to a Shipping Zone

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You can add default rates to your shipping zone based on the total value of the order, e.g. free or reduced shipping over a certain amount. 


To add a price-based rate to a shipping zone:

  1. Select an existing Shipping Zone or create a new one. 
  2. Select whether the priced-based rate is based on the Tax Included or Tax Excluded value of the order. 
  3. Click + under the Price-based rates section to add a new rate. 
  4. Enter a description, then a mininum total price and/or maximum total price, whichever is applicable. Enter the shipping rate. 
  5. To add more price-based rates to the zone, repeat Steps 3-4. Otherwise, click Save to apply changes.


Add Weight-based Rates to a Shipping Zone

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You can add default rates to your shipping zone based on the total weight of the order, e.g. a cut-off for free shipping. 

NOTE: DEAR Systems does not enforce certain weight units. To use weight-based criteria, check that the default weight units are correctly set. If weight units are set to another unit of measurement, it will be converted to the tenant default. To see or edit your organisation's default weight units, go to Settings → General Settings → Product & Measurements Settings. 


Weight should also be set for each product at product level, otherwise it will be considered as zero. Go to Products → Products and select individual products to change this setting. 


To add a weight-based rate to a shipping zone:

  1. Select an existing Shipping Zone or create a new one. 
  2. Click + under the Weight-based Rates section to add a new rate. Enter a description, then a minimum and/or maximum weight, whichever is applicable.
  3. By default, shipping rate is set to Free Shipping. Edit this to the correct value, if necessary. 
  4. To add more weight-based rates to the shipping zone, repeat Steps 2-3. You may add as many weight-based rates as you wish. Otherwise, click Save to apply changes.


Rest of the World Shipping Zone

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The Rest of the World Shipping Zone applies to any area that has not been assigned to a specific zone. Price and weight-based rates cannot be applied. 


To set rates for Rest of the World:

  1. Select the appropriate Tax Status.
  2. Enter the default Shipping Rate.
  3. Save your changes.


Apply Shipping Zones to a DEAR Order

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Shipping Zone Rates are applied to a DEAR order at the Quote or Order stage. For more information about the sale process, see Processing a Sale


To apply shipping zone rates to a DEAR sale:

  1. Create a new sale or open an existing sale at the Quote or Order stage.
  2. Fill in the document header. Ensure the Shipping Address is correct – this is what will be used to calculate the shipping rate. 
  3. Add items to the order.
  4. In the Additional Charges section, click Get Shipping Rates → Shipping Zones to calculate them automatically. You can edit the shipping rates manually if necessary.
  5. Continue with the sale as usual.  


Apply Shipping Zones to a B2B Order

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Shipping Zones need to be enabled in the B2B integration before they can be applied to orders through the B2B portal.


To enable shipping zones in B2B:

  1. Go to Integration → B2B → [Store name]
  2. In the Setup tab, look for the Shipping Service option - this should be changed from Manual Shipping Methods to Shipping Zones. 
  3. Save your changes. 



To apply shipping zone rates to a B2B order:

  1. Process a sale in your B2B portal as usual and go to the Checkout.
  2. In the Shipping Method section, select a Shipping Zone from the list of options.

  3. Pay and confirm order - shipping zone rates are applied automatically. 

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