Positive shipping buffers
You may add a positive buffer if you want to collect extra funds to cover costs associated with:
- International shipping risks, e.g. Lost or stolen packages or HS code adjusted by a customs official
- Warehousing costs, e.g. handling and packaging
- Foreign exchange
For reasons like those above, you may add a positive percentage or flat rate buffer such as the ones shown in the following examples:
- $5 carrier or service level buffer that adds $5 to the carrier-calculated shipping cost in order to account for handling and packaging fees - This means that you will charge your customer $5 over what your carrier will charge you to ship the package.
- 5% carrier or service level buffer that adds 5% to the carrier-calculated shipping cost in order to account for theft and lost packages over time - This means that you will charge your customer 5% over what your carrier will charge you to ship the package.
Negative shipping buffers
You may add a negative buffer if you want to absorb some of the shipping costs yourself, lowering the cost to your customers. Here is an example:
- Subsidizing your negotiated shipping rates to be more competitive
For this [or another] reason, you may add a negative percentage or flat rate buffer such as the following:
- 50% carrier or service level buffer that subtracts 50% from the carrier-calculated shipping costs - This reduces the cost of shipping offered to your customers at checkout.
There are 4 types of buffers that you can add to your account:
Account buffer - Adds a buffer to all service levels, for all carriers.
Carrier buffer - Adds a buffer to all service levels, for a specific carrier.
Service level buffer - Adds a buffer to a specific service level.
Duty/tax buffer - Adds a buffer to the duty and tax amount.
Add shipping buffers
You can add positive and negative buffers to your shipping rates by adding them at the carrier level or on specific service levels/shipping options (shipping costs), which alter the shipping amount displayed and charged at checkout.