Making Automatic Shipping Rules Take Effect
Table of Contents
- 1. What the Scenario Is
- 2. How It Works in the System
- 3. What Daily Operations Look Like
- 4. Boundaries and Related Features
1. What the Scenario Is
Orders from a single channel vary widely in size and destination: small parcels are cheapest via store pickup, anything over the convenience-store size limit has to go by home delivery, and some postal codes are simply not served by a given carrier. Changing the shipping type order by order works until volume picks up — then the ones you miss either get rejected by the carrier or get charged the wrong freight.
"Shipping Conversion Rules" turns this into a rule so the system swaps the shipping type for you when the order is created. Each rule has three parts:
| Part of the rule | What it means |
|---|---|
| Original Shipping | The shipping type the order carries when it is created. The rule is only evaluated when this matches exactly |
| Condition | One of "Volume", "Weight (kg)", or "Postal Code" — one condition per rule |
| Target Shipping | The shipping type to switch to when the condition holds |
Each condition type is evaluated differently:
| Condition | How it compares | What counts as a match |
|---|---|---|
| Volume | Pick "Greater or Equal" or "Less or Equal", enter a number, then pick the volume unit for that number | An order volume exactly equal to the threshold also matches |
| Weight (kg) | Same, with the number in kilograms | An order weight exactly equal to the threshold also matches |
| Postal Code | List one or more postal codes | The recipient's postal code must be exactly identical to one entry in the list. This is not a prefix match — 880 will not match 88001 |
Why this deserves its own guide: it is a set-once, affects-the-whole-chain feature. The settings live in two different places — each product's dimensions, and the rules on the channel (including the threshold number and its unit) — while the effect only shows up after an order is created. If any one link is missing, nothing errors out and the order is created normally; the rule just quietly does nothing.
2. How It Works in the System
Jump to: Pick the right volume unit | Complete the product dimensions | Write the rules on the channel | Order of multiple rules
2.1 Pick the Right Volume Unit for the Threshold
A "Volume" threshold has a unit dropdown next to the number: "CBM", "Sai", or "ft³". When comparing, the system converts the order volume into the unit selected on that rule before checking the threshold. The same order comes out roughly 37 times smaller in cubic meters than in the other two units (and Sai and ft³ differ by about 5%) — if the number and the unit don't go together, the rule either almost never matches, or matches almost every order.
- When you add a rule, the unit defaults to the account's current "Volume Unit" (set on the warehouse-side "Organization Settings" page, see Organization Settings); you can pick a different one.
- Each rule keeps its own unit. If the warehouse later changes the account's volume unit, existing rules keep their threshold and unit and are compared exactly as before — nothing needs to be re-entered.
- Volume rules created before rules had their own unit selector keep the organization's volume unit at that time, so their thresholds mean the same as before and need no changes.
- "Weight (kg)" is always in kilograms and has no unit dropdown.
How volume is calculated
For each line, the system takes "Length × Width × Height (entered in centimeters) × quantity", sums every line, and keeps 5 decimal places. The three units use different conversion bases:
| Volume unit | Conversion basis |
|---|---|
| Cubic Meters (CBM) | 1 cubic meter = 100 × 100 × 100 cm |
| Sai (材, 27,000 cm³) | 1 sai = 30 × 30 × 30 cm (27,000 cubic centimeters) |
| Cubic Feet (ft³) | 1 cubic foot ≈ 28,316.85 cubic centimeters |
Take a product measuring 30 × 25 × 5 cm (3,750 cubic centimeters per piece):
| Order contents | In Cubic Meters (CBM) | In Sai (材, 27,000 cm³) | In Cubic Feet (ft³) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 piece | 0.00375 | 0.13889 | 0.13243 |
| 8 pieces | 0.03 | 1.11111 | 1.05944 |
For that same 8-piece order, a threshold of "Greater or Equal 0.03" matches exactly when the unit is CBM. The same 0.03 with the unit set to Sai or cubic feet is a tiny threshold that almost every order clears. Running a few typical orders through this calculation before setting a threshold tells you which order of magnitude the number belongs in.
2.2 Complete the Product Dimensions
Volume and weight are derived from the product records on the order lines, not measured from the packed carton. A gap in the product record makes the calculated figure too low:
| Missing data | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Length / Width / Height left blank, with no carton dimensions + "Items Per Large Unit (Box Quantity)" to derive from | That line contributes 0 to the total volume (it is not skipped) |
| Weight (kg) left blank | That line contributes 0 to the total weight |
This misfires in both directions: a "Greater or Equal" rule never matches, while a "Less or Equal" rule matches when it should not — because 0 is always below the threshold. Filling these in on Edit Product for every product sold through the channel is a precondition for the rules to work at all.
Item dimensions take priority. When they are blank, as long as all three carton dimensions and "Items Per Large Unit (Box Quantity)" are filled in, the system derives the per-item volume from the carton volume divided by the items per carton. All three units derive it the same way; only the unit differs. For example, a 60 × 40 × 30 cm carton holding 24 items gives 3,000 cubic centimeters per item, so 10 items come to 0.03 cubic meters (1.11111 sai, 1.05944 cubic feet).
2.3 Write the Rules on the Channel
Rules live on the channel. Go to "Data Management" → "Merchant Channels", open the channel and edit it; the rules are in the "Shipping Rules Settings" block. For field and operation details, see Edit Merchant Channel. Warehouse staff can also maintain the same settings from the Operator side.
Three things trip people up most often:
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| After pressing "Add Shipping Rule", the new rule defaults to "Volume / Less or Equal / 0" | Leaving the number at 0 means the rule only applies to orders whose volume comes out as 0 — that is, orders whose products have no dimensions. Always change the number to your intended threshold |
| The shipping type you want is not in the dropdown | The dropdown only lists shipping types already linked to this merchant and still enabled. Ask the warehouse to enable it under Merchant Shipping Types |
| Shipping types that came in with an e-commerce platform order | These are not part of the merchant's shipping-type list, so they can be used neither as the original nor as the target shipping type |
On save, the system rejects a rule set that references a shipping type not linked to this merchant, and nothing is stored. Deleting every rule and pressing "Save" clears the channel's rules.
2.4 Order of Multiple Rules
A channel can hold several rules. They are evaluated like this:
- First, only the rules whose "Original Shipping" matches the order's current shipping type are considered; the rest are ignored.
- Those rules are evaluated top to bottom as shown on screen, and evaluation stops at the first match. Later rules are not checked.
- An order is switched at most once. The target shipping type is not fed back in for another round — there is no A-to-B-then-B-to-C chaining. To go from A to C, write a single A-to-C rule.
💡 Tip: Keep the conditions of the rules under one original shipping type non-overlapping (for example one "Less or Equal 0.03" and another "Greater or Equal 0.0301"). Then the evaluation order does not change the outcome and you do not have to remember how the rules are arranged.
3. What Daily Operations Look Like
Jump to: When rules are evaluated | Confirming a rule fired | When nothing happens
3.1 When Rules Are Evaluated
Rules are evaluated exactly once, at the moment the order is created. Orders created manually, by order import, by e-commerce platform sync, and through external system integrations all go through the same rules.
| What you change afterwards | Effect on existing orders |
|---|---|
| Product dimensions or weight | No recalculation; existing orders keep their shipping type |
| Adding, editing, or deleting rules | No recalculation; only orders created afterwards are affected |
| The warehouse changes the account's volume unit | No recalculation; existing rules also keep their own unit, so orders created afterwards are compared as before |
| Changing the shipping type by hand on the order edit page | Your manual choice stands; the rules are not applied again |
| Duplicating an order | The duplicate keeps the source order's shipping type; rules are not re-applied |
Two more situations have no rule to evaluate in the first place: the order was created without a shipping type, or the order has no sales channel (a manually created order does not have to have one).
3.2 Confirming a Rule Fired
When a switch succeeds, the history at the bottom of the order detail page gains an entry labeled "Auto-switched shipping type", naming the method it switched from and the one it switched to. See Order Details.
No such entry means this order was never switched by a rule. This is the only self-service signal available — when a rule does not match, the system shows no error or warning, the order is created normally, and "Shipping Type" stays as it was.
After a switch, the order's shipping type is the new one: the shipment created next, the waybill and label produced later, and the carrier the parcel is finally handed to all follow the switched shipping type.
3.3 When Nothing Happens
When a rule is configured but has no effect, work through this list in order. The first three account for the vast majority of cases:
| Possible cause | How to confirm |
|---|---|
| The volume threshold number doesn't match the selected unit | Open the channel edit page to see which unit the rule uses, then run a few typical orders through the calculation in 2.1 in that unit to see where the threshold falls |
| Products have no dimensions or item weight | Check them one by one on the product edit page. Blank lines contribute 0 to the total instead of being skipped |
| The order's original shipping type differs from the rule's "Original Shipping" | Open the order and check "Shipping Type". The rule is only evaluated on an exact match |
| Only the first three digits of the postal code were listed, but orders carry five | Postal codes must be exactly identical. If orders carry five digits, list five digits |
| The target shipping type was disabled, or is not linked to this merchant | Go back to the channel edit page and check whether that row's target is still in the dropdown; if not, ask the warehouse to enable it again |
| The rule was saved after the order was created | Compare the rule's save time with the order's creation time. Earlier orders are never recalculated |
| Another rule under the same original shipping type matched first | Read the rule list top to bottom and find the first rule whose condition holds — that is the one applied |
| The order was created by duplication | The order history shows which order it was duplicated from. A duplicate keeps the source's shipping type |
| The order has no sales channel | Rules belong to a channel; an order without one is never evaluated |
| You expected an exact match on the threshold not to switch, but it did | Both operators include equality. To exclude the exact value, move the threshold one step (for example to "Greater or Equal 0.0301") |
4. Boundaries and Related Features
Jump to: What is not supported | Related features
4.1 What Is Not Supported
- One rule holds one condition. You cannot ask for "volume above X and postal code in this list" within a single rule.
- Numeric conditions offer only "Greater or Equal" and "Less or Equal", so a single rule cannot set both an upper and a lower bound; "between two numbers" has to be worked around with several rules and their ordering.
- Postal codes are matched exactly — no prefix matching and no ranges.
- An order is switched at most once and never chains into a second rule.
- Rules never reprocess existing orders, and there is no "re-apply" action.
- Volume and weight always come from the product records, not from the weight and dimensions measured after packing.
- Threshold numbers cannot be negative.
4.2 Related Features
| Feature | Its role here | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Organization Settings | Determines which unit volume thresholds use (Operator-side page) | Go |
| Edit Product | Holds the item dimensions and weight the calculations depend on | Go |
| Edit Merchant Channel | Add, edit, and delete rules | Go |
| Merchant Shipping Types | Links shipping types to the merchant so the rule dropdowns can list them (Operator-side page) | Go |
| Order Details | Shows the switched shipping type and the order history | Go |
| Order Processing | The full path this order takes from creation to shipment completion | Go |