Updated: March 4, 2024
When you buy something through one of the links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission
Shipping plays a vital role in ecommerce. Without it, customers would be forced to only deal with their local businesses. Jeff Bezos has even credited delivery services and the internet as being the foundation on which Amazon was built.
With shipping, you not only deliver the products to your customers, you also fulfill a promise. You let your customers know that you are ready and prepared to give them what they pay for. The better you handle it, the easier it is to get your customers to come back.
Wix provides your online store with a shipping set up. You let your customers know what shipping options are available and they choose the methods that suit them best. There are several factors you can use to set the shipping rates: flat rate, weight, price, products or a calculated price from a carrier. You also have the option to set different terms based on the destination of the product. Let’s have a look at how to do all these.
Step 0: Login to your account
You need to access your Wix online store for you to set up shipping.
To login your account on Wix, start by navigating to the homepage
The image and theme may change but the layout won’t change much. At the top right of the homepage, you will have the option to Log In, or Get started. You can use Google to Sign In if that is your preference. It is faster than writing your email and password down; it is safer too.
If you choose to Sign in with Google, follow the process to completion. Google will ask for verification and that is pretty much all you’ll need to do.
If you click on ‘Log In’, you’ll get multiple options to log in. Note how you can use this to Sign up too.
Choose between Google, Facebook or Apple, and follow the instructions from there. The other alternative is to type in your email and password.
Go to Dashboard
After successful log in or sign up, Wix will redirect you to your account home. It looks something like this.
It has a list of your websites. Pick the one with your online store and click on it.
Go to Shipping & Delivery
There are two ways to get to your shipping and delivery page. If you are still building your online store, you’ll get a link to the page on your homepage.
If you don’t have this option, head over to settings and click on ‘Shipping & fulfillment’.
Watch the start guide
Following the steps above will land you in the Shipping and Delivery page.
To start off, take the start guide. It is a video that Wix uses to give you a rundown of how to set up shipping. It was pretty thoughtful and the best part is that it’s interactive. The video pauses where you need to carry out a task and by the end, you have a regional shipping plan.
Add region
Shipping is divided into regions. The default regions are domestic and international. Domestic being where you are currently located and international is everywhere else. Click on Edit on a region to set its shipping rules.
If you want more regions, you can create them and then set their shipping rules. Let’s create shipping rules for the USA. Start by clicking on Add Region.
This takes you to a blank page where you begin setting up the details.
You can change the name of the region from the basic ‘Region 3’ to anything else. Type in several destinations that you would like under these shipping rules.
Set shipping rates
Next, we set the shipping rates. As mentioned earlier, you have several ways of setting your shipping rates.
Free shipping
With free shipping, you only set a shipping name that customers will see at the checkout. There is the optional input to add the estimated delivery time.
Flat rate
A flat rate is a simple option for all parties involved. Customers are charged whatever amount you set regardless of the type of product. This is ideal if your shipping expenses are stable. You can pass the stability to your customers.
You’ll input the shipping name, estimated time and the amount. Bear in mind that the flat rate you set is charged for the customer’s entire order, not per product.
Rate by weight
Shipping by weight of product is a popular option. You can set weight classes and the subsequent rates for each. For this to work, you need to upload the weight of each product when you are uploading a product to your store.
Rate by price
You could use Wix to determine shipping rate based on the price of the product at checkout. It is similar to rating by weight in that you create a range of prices and set a rate for it.
Rate by group
Rating by group allows you to group your products however you want and set a rate for that group. One reason why you would set a rate by group is because the items in a group are stored together making it ideal to set a similar shipping charge for that group.
USPS calculated rate
The last available option for setting your shipping rate is through the use of the USPS calculated shipping rate. The method gives you an idea of what it would cost your users were they to use this or other carriers. Final prices may differ slightly and it is subject to terms.
Local delivery
After setting the shipping rates, you will then consider offering terms specific to a smaller region through local delivery.
You set where the local delivery service is available through setting a radius on a map or inputting postal codes.
After setting the price and the regions where local delivery is available, you close off by setting the delivery time.
Pickup
The pickup option makes it easier for customers who live near your store. They can batch their errands and pick up their order from you when it is convenient and at no additional cost to them.
To make this option work, you will provide the store address and pick up instructions. You convey information such as when the ideal day and time would be for someone to pick up their product. This option saves your customers time and money.
Save shipping method
Once you are satisfied by all these details, hit Save. There is one button at the top and another at the bottom.
You’ll see the region you added in the list of regions.
Fulfillment services
The last step will be setting up fulfillment services for your business. Fulfillment is how you pick your product off the shelf, pack it and ship it. Wix enables you to do this yourself or work with third-party providers.
You can check the Wix app market for other options if you don’t like what is available. Wix also provides great articles on order fulfillment.
Finish line
We have set up shipping on your online store. Customers can order through your website and pay the fees necessary to get their product delivered to them.
This post is part of our series on creating an online store through Wix. Our goal in the series is to make it possible to create your online store over a weekend. We already set up payments and uploaded our products, the next stage in the process is to design the website.
See you on the next one!
