Shipping

Shipping in Litestore covers two separate jobs. You set rates to decide what buyers pay at checkout, and you record shipments when goods leave your warehouse.

A rate lists the countries it serves, what the buyer pays, and how long delivery takes. It decides what a buyer is quoted at checkout.

A shipment records what actually went out. It lists the units you sent, the carrier and the tracking number.

Litestore stores all of this in three records:

ShippingRate
Shipment
ShipmentItem

You manage shipping at:

Orders → Shipping

That page has a Shipments tab and a Delivery Rates tab.

Where a rate applies

Each rate has a list of the country codes it serves. If the list is empty, the rate serves every country.

You can also pin a rate to the location that fulfills it. That keeps the rate tied to the warehouse that can actually send the parcel.

Litestore has no separate zone builder. The country list on the rate decides where it applies.

This is a deliberate simplification. Zones are an extra layer that you would have to keep in step with their rates. A rate that names its own countries can't fall out of step with a zone defined somewhere else.

To change where a rate applies, edit the rate.

Free shipping is a rate

Litestore has no free-shipping switch. Instead, you create a rate with a price of zero and a minimum order amount.

Checkout applies that rate once the cart reaches the minimum. Until then, the cart shows the buyer how much more they need to spend.

Because free shipping is an ordinary rate, it works like any other rate. Its country list limits where it applies, and its delivery days give buyers an arrival window.

Delivery dates instead of day counts

Each rate has a minimum and a maximum number of delivery days.

Checkout doesn't show the buyer those numbers. It turns them into real dates, taking these into account:

• your handling time
• the weekdays you ship on
• the holiday closures you have listed

A real date tells a buyer more than a "3–5 business days" label. Litestore already knows that you don't pack on Sundays and that you are closed over a holiday.

You set this up at:

Settings → Fulfillment

There you list your working days and closed dates. Litestore has no calendar view of pending shipments. The fulfillment calendar only feeds the delivery quote. It doesn't show your workload.

Shipping an order in parts

A shipment contains specific quantities of specific order lines.

This means one order can go out in several boxes. Each box has its own carrier and tracking number, and you record each one separately.

The admin won't let you put more units of a line into a shipment than the order has left. Litestore tracks the remaining amount for each line, so you can split an order safely without counting yourself.

Tracking links

When you enter a carrier and tracking number, Litestore builds the tracking URL for these carriers:

USPS
UPS
FedEx
DHL

For any other carrier, Litestore keeps the URL you enter. You can still use a regional or freight carrier, as long as you provide the link yourself.

Shipment statuses follow a fixed path

A shipment's status moves along a set path.

The status dropdown only offers the moves that are allowed from the current status, and the server rejects any other move.

Both checks matter. The dropdown keeps the interface clear, and the server check is what actually enforces the path. A stale browser tab or a repeated click can't push a shipment into a status it never passed through.

Two statuses are final:

picked up
returned

Once a shipment reaches either one, it is finished and can't move to another status.

Blocked during a chargeback

You can't fulfill an order that has an open dispute.

If you sent goods for a payment that is being reversed, you probably wouldn't see them again. Litestore blocks the order so that you don't have to remember.

Where each setting is

• Rates, with their countries and prices: Delivery Rates, under Orders → Shipping.
• Shipments, carriers and tracking: Shipments, under Orders → Shipping.
• Handling time, shipping weekdays and holiday closures: Settings → Fulfillment.

Which one to change

Change a rate when you want to change what buyers are offered or charged. That covers where you ship, what it costs, how fast you promise delivery, and when shipping becomes free.

Change Settings → Fulfillment when your working days change. The rate's delivery days stay the same, but the dates buyers see move.

Record a shipment when goods physically leave. If an order goes out in parts, record one shipment for each box rather than one for the whole order.

Keep this difference in mind:

A rate is a promise you make, and a shipment is a fact you record.

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