Introduction

Shipping can significantly impact customer satisfaction and conversion rates in ecommerce. Customers expect to see the right delivery option at the right price, whether they order a small accessory, a bulky item, or both at once.

With circuly, you can configure shipping methods that fit a variety of business models, product types, and regional logistics. This article walks you through how to set up dynamic shipping methods in circuly, including free shipping thresholds, product-based shipping, mixed carts, and location-based rates.

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Feature overview

With circuly's shipping configuration, you can:

• Make shipping costs dependent on cart value thresholds
• Offer free shipping when rental (subscription) products are in the cart
• Show or hide shipping methods depending on the country selected at checkout
• Make shipping methods dependent on the postal code selected at checkout
• Show or hide shipping methods depending on the products in the cart, including mixed carts that contain both bulky and standard goods

These shipping methods are reflected at checkout and ensure the right cost is shown based on a customer's cart and location. See how the Shipping options are displayed on the checkout page.

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How circuly decides which shipping method to show

Each shipping method works in two layers:

• Is the method offered? The method must be connected to the shipping country the customer selected. It must also pass its product collection restriction and, if enabled, its postal code restrictions.
• What does it cost? The Fixed shipping cost is used by default. The Free shipping for rental products and Shipping costs based on cart value settings can change that cost.

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Setup preparation

Before you start the configuration, make sure you:

• Make a plan: decide which countries you'll deliver to, which shipping methods you'll offer in each country, and what each method should cost.
• Prepare your product collections: if your shipping depends on the type of product (e.g. bulky goods), create the required product collections and map your products to them.
• Prepare translations: if your checkout is available in multiple languages, prepare the shipping method titles and descriptions for each language.
• Enable shipping methods in your checkout: go to Settings > Checkout > scroll down to Checkout Shipping and enable the switch for Shipping methods.

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Setup overview

• Step 1: Locate the shipping settings
• Step 2: Set up the shipping methods
• Step 3: Set up the shipping countries
• Step 4: Connect the shipping methods to the shipping countries

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Step-by-step setup guide

Step 1: Locate the shipping settings

In your circuly Hub, go to the Settings tab and select Shipping from the settings menu.

[Screenshot: Shipping settings]

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Step 2: Set up the shipping methods

Shipping methods define the delivery options your customers see at checkout, such as DHL, DPD, local pickup or freight delivery.

To create a shipping method:

• Under Shipping Methods, click the "+" icon.
• Fill in the input fields in the Create shipping method window. The fields are explained below.
• Click Submit.

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Title and tag

• The Title and Tag are for internal use only and are not visible to your customers.
• The title is shown when you assign a shipping method to a shipping country, so a descriptive title makes setup easier.

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Use case: You ship to Germany and the Netherlands via DHL for €4.99 and €7.99 respectively. Create two separate shipping methods titled DHL Germany and DHL Netherlands, so you can tell them apart when connecting them to shipping countries.

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When should this shipping method be offered?

This setting decides which carts a shipping method is offered for, based on the product collections of the items in the cart. You can choose between four options:

• No restriction: the shipping method is offered for every cart, whatever it contains.
• Only if the entire cart is from the selected collections: offered only when every item in the cart belongs to the selected collections. A single item from any other collection hides it.
• Only if the cart contains an item from the selected collections: offered as soon as the cart holds at least one item from the selected collections. Use this for the method that can handle those goods, e.g. bulky freight.
• Hide if the cart contains an item from the selected collections: hidden as soon as the cart holds at least one item from the selected collections. Use this for methods that cannot handle those goods, e.g. standard parcel delivery.

For every option except No restriction, select one or more collections in the Product collections dropdown.

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Shipping costs

• Fixed shipping cost: the base cost of the shipping method. This value is used if no other cost condition below is met.
• Free shipping for rental products: enable this switch to offer free shipping if the cart contains at least one rental product.
• Shipping costs based on cart value: enable this switch to make the shipping cost depend on the cart value. You can define up to 5 cart value ranges.

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Postal code restrictions

Enable the switch for Enable postal code restrictions to include or exclude specific postal codes per country. This decides whether the shipping method is offered for the postal code your customer enters at checkout.

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Languages & translations

• Click the "+" icon to add a language.
• Add a Title and an optional Description for each language. This is the text your customers see on the checkout page.

Tip: Use the description to tell customers how much more they need to add to their cart to qualify for free shipping, e.g. "Spend €10 more to get free shipping!"

Note: Add translations for every language your checkout supports. If a translation is missing, the shipping method may not display correctly or may appear in the default language.

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Common shipping scenarios

Use case 1: Free shipping for subscription products

If you offer both subscription and one-time purchase products, a common setup is to offer free shipping whenever there is at least one subscription product in the cart.

Example: Shipping is free if there are rental products in the cart. If there are only one-time purchase products in the cart, shipping costs €10.

To set this up:

• Enter 10 in the Fixed shipping cost input field.
• Enable the switch for Free shipping for rental products.

The circuly system will then calculate shipping as follows:

Cart contains Shipping costOnly rental products€0Rental + purchase products€0Only purchase products€10 (fixed shipping cost)

Use case 2: Shipping cost based on cart value

Another common setup is to make the shipping cost depend on the total cart value.

Example: Free shipping for carts over €50, and €5.99 for carts below €50.

To set this up:

• Enable the switch for Shipping costs based on cart value.
• Enter 0 in Cart value start range, 49.99 in Cart value end range, and 5.99 in Shipping price for cart value range. Click the "+" icon.
• Enter 50 in Cart value start range, a high number (e.g. 1000000) in Cart value end range, and 0 in Shipping price for cart value range. Click the "+" icon.

If none of the ranges apply, the system uses the value in Fixed shipping cost.

Note: You can define up to 5 cart value ranges.

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Use case 3: Shipping based on the products in the cart (incl. mixed carts)

Not every product ships the same way. Some products need a specific shipping method, for example because they're bulky, fragile, temperature-sensitive or only available for pickup. Others can go out with your standard delivery.

The tricky part is a mixed cart, where a customer orders products with different shipping requirements together. In that case only the shipping methods that can handle every product in the cart should be offered.

To set this up, group the products with special shipping requirements into a product collection. Then use the setting When should this shipping method be offered? to control which methods appear:

• Give the method that can handle those products the rule Only if the cart contains an item from the selected collections.
• Give the methods that can't handle them the rule Hide if the cart contains an item from the selected collections.
• Point both rules at the same collection.

Example: bulky goods

You charge €4.90 for standard parcel delivery and €89 for freight delivery of bulky goods such as bikes or furniture.

Prerequisite: Create a product collection for your bulky goods (e.g. Bulky) and map the relevant products to it. Learn how to create a product collection.

Step 1: Set up the freight shipping method

• Create a shipping method, e.g. Freight, and enter 89 in the Fixed shipping cost input field.
• Under When should this shipping method be offered?, select Only if the cart contains an item from the selected collections.
• Select the Bulky collection from the Product collections dropdown.

Step 2: Set up the standard shipping method

• Create or edit your standard method, e.g. DHL, and enter 4.90 in the Fixed shipping cost input field.
• Under When should this shipping method be offered?, select Hide if the cart contains an item from the selected collections.
• Select the same Bulky collection.

Both methods point at the same collection with opposite rules, so every cart matches exactly one of them.

The same setup works for any other product group. For example, use a Fragile collection with a specialised carrier, or a Pickup only collection with a local pickup method.

Important:

• Every other shipping method connected to the same country must also be restricted. A method left on No restriction will still appear on carts it can't handle, and your customer could select it.
• The collection restriction decides whether a method is offered. The cost settings in that method still decide how much it costs. For example, if Free shipping for rental products is enabled on your freight method, rental products in that cart will ship for free.

When to use "Only if the entire cart is from the selected collections"

Use this option for a method that only makes sense when the whole order fits it. One example is a low-cost letter or small-parcel option that should only be offered when the cart contains nothing but items from your Small items collection.

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Use case 4: Shipping costs based on postal codes

You can also charge different shipping costs for specific postal codes.

Example: Higher shipping costs for hard-to-reach locations such as islands.

• Step 1: Create a shipping method for the hard-to-reach locations, e.g. Island delivery.
• Step 2: Enable the switch for Enable postal code restrictions. Select the country from the Country dropdown, enter the postal code in the Postal code input field, and click Include.
• Step 3: In your other shipping method(s), exclude the same postal code, so that only the island method is offered for that postal code.

Tip: You can combine postal code restrictions with product collection restrictions. For example, if you ship bulky goods to islands, create separate freight methods for the mainland and the islands. Each one uses Only if the cart contains an item from the selected collections, plus the matching postal code include or exclude.

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Step 3: Set up the shipping countries

Connect your shipping methods to countries to make them available when a customer selects that country at checkout.

• In the Shipping settings, expand Shipping countries and click the "+" icon.
• In the Create shipping country window, give the country a Name and select it from the Country dropdown.
• Click Submit.

The country is greyed out until you connect a shipping method to it.

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Step 4: Connect the shipping methods to the shipping countries

• Click on the shipping country.
• Select a shipping method from the dropdown and click the "+" icon to add it.
• Repeat for each shipping method you want to offer in that country. You can add one shipping method at a time.
• Optional: click Default to set a default shipping method for the country.

[Screenshot: Shipping country with connected shipping methods]

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Note: Shipping countries only appear at checkout if they are enabled in your delivery settings. Go to Settings > Checkout > scroll down to Delivery, enable the switch for Limit delivery countries, and select the countries you want to offer from the Delivery countries dropdown.

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What happens next

Once your shipping methods and countries are configured:

• Customers see the shipping options that match their cart, country and postal code.
• Shipping costs adapt automatically to the cart contents and cart value.
• All shipping logic is managed directly in circuly, without external plugins or code.