Managing Shipping Methods

In contrast with other pledge manager systems in the industry, in Hive we support both "per Weight" and "per Item" shipping methods.

99% of the fulfillment hubs in the industry will give you shipping cost quotes using some kind of "per Weight" formula. We urge you to also use the "per Weight" option for your project and let the system work for you. Using the "per Item" option forces you to make assumptions on the shipping costs that can easily result in big losses in shipping costs.

If this is your first project, it would be good to read the article below to get more information on how to calculate your shipping costs:

https://www.hiveinteractive.net/index.php?p=docs&id=23

To create a new shipping method, click the "Shipping Methods" option from the menu on your left. Please note that in our platform, the shipping methods are actually "per company" and not "per project". You create them and configure them once, and then you can assign them to multiple projects. This saves you a lot in administration time, and is less error prone when you manage multiple projects.

By clicking the button "Add New Method", a new shipping method record is created:

You can start by defining a "Name" and a "Description" for your shipping method. Treat the "Name" as the title/caption of your shipping method, and the description as the explanation. For example look at the image below to see how two shipping methods are shown to the backer, with their names and descriptions:

Then you can define 3 properties for your shipping method that control the way it works:

• Published. This property needs to be checked for the shipping method to be visible to your backers. Even if you have assigned it to a project, the method will not be available until you publish
• Per Item? Check this only if you want this method to use the "per Item" functionality. By default this field is unchecked and the method will work as "per Weight".
• Hide Weight? This property works only for "per Weight" shipping methods, and when checked the system will hide the total weight of a backer's pledge from their pledge overview. This is useful only if you are not using actual weights but you are using custom formulas for your shipping calculations.

When you are done defining the basic properties of your method, click the "Shipping Costs" button to access the user interface that corresponds to the type of your method (per item or per weight):

Depending on the method's type you will be able to define different shipping calculation rules, so that the system can calculate and apply the proper shipping costs to your backer's pledge.

This is the most commonly used type of shipping method. Given the fact that all shipping hubs will give you quotes that are based on weight, it makes sense to use this shipping method to charge shipping costs.

IMPORTANT: When calculating shipping costs, the system will always use the weight defined in the "Pledge" or "Addon" and NOT the weight defined in the assigned "SKU". Also, it is important to keep in mind the "Dimensional Weight" of your items when setting the weight for each Pledge or Addon. Please read this article fore more information.

• Zone: Choose the Zone to which this rule applies. Leave it blank to skip this filter.
• Country: Choose the Country this rule applies. Leave it blank to skip this filter.
• State/Province: This filter is only visible if you choose as a country United States or Canada. By choosing a state or province, you define that this rule applies only to those backers from that state/province. Leave it blank to skip this filter (which means that the cost will apply to ALL states/provinces of that country).
• From (Weight) & To (Weight): Use those fields to define the cost for a package that its weight is between those two values. Please remember that the weight used for these calculations is the one defined in the Pledge/Addon and not the one defined in the SKUs. If a backer creates a pledge that exceeds your maximum weight for a country, then our system will split the pledge into separate packages, assigning the costs accordingly. For example if you have define that up to 2KG the cost is $10, and from 2KG to 5KG is $25 and a backer's pledge is 12 KG, then our system will split this pledge into 2 packages of 5KG each, and one of 2KG, charging a total shipping cost of $60.
• Cost: The shipping cost that should be charged.
• Default: Our system will try first to find a rule matching the State/Province, if none is found it will try to find one matching the Country. If no rule has been found then it will try to find one matching the Zone. If still no rule has been found, then it will try to find one that has been marked as "Default".

It is best if you create a CSN file with all your costs, instead of manually creating one entry at a time. This will also allow you to more easily make changes and see if you made any mistakes.

The best way to do so, is to first download our template. When you open it, you will see that the format is pretty simple:

• first column you will put the code of either the country or the Zone you want to create a shipping rule for. If you want to define a cost for a specific state (in the US) or province (in Canada), then you separate them with a dash (-). For example for the New York state you would write "US-NY", while for the Nova Scotia province you would write "CA-NS"
• the rest of the columns have as their first line the "To Weight" field. So, if the first column is set to "1", then the rules will be from "0.001" KG to "1" KG for that column. If in the second column you put the number 3 in the first row, then the rules will be from "1.001" KG to "3" KG. and so on. You can define any step in the weight you want.

Once you have your file ready, please save it as CSV. CSV stands for "Comma-Separated Values", which means that commas should be used as delimiters. Some times the default delimiter for Microsoft Office Excel when saving CSV files is set to semi-colon, and you will need to change it.

We recommend you use the "Per Weight" approach, rather than the "Per Item". That said, our platform fully supports per Item cost rules, and if you wish to go down that road you will be able to configure our system to match your needs.

When you use the "Per Item" shipping method type, you are supposed to add a cost for EACH pledge and addon in your project. Although there are ways to create default rules that apply to all items, we strongly advise to avoid this tactic as it has been proven to be error-prone.

If you create a cost rule that is not for a specific addon, then that rule will act as the default rule for all addons that do not have a cost assigned to them.

When you declare a rule you can define the following fields:

• Zone: Choose the Zone to which this rule applies. Leave it blank to skip this filter.
• Country: Choose the Country this rule applies. Leave it blank to skip this filter.
• State/Province: This filter is only visible if you choose as a country United States or Canada. By choosing a state or province, you define that this rule applies only to those backers from that state/province. Leave it blank to skip this filter (which means that the cost will apply to ALL states/provinces of that country).
• Pledge / Addon: You should define a shipping cost for each pledge and addon in your project. If you decide to leave this field blank, then this will act as the "default" rule for all pledges and addons that do not have a rule defined for them. Our system will always check to find first a rule that matches the specific pledge/addon, if it doesn't find one, then it will check for a rule that has no pledge/addon defined.
• From (Item Count) & To (Item Count): Although the cost defined is "Per Item", you can create rules that give discounts after a certain item count. For example, if you want to charge $10 per item for the first 5 items, but if the backer chooses more than that give them for $9, then you should define a rule with a cost of $10 from 1 to 10 items, and a rule for $9 from 11 to 999 items.
• Cost: The cost per Item that this rule will apply. Please be careful that if you added to the "To (Item Count)" a number higher than one, the cost will apply to EACH item in the backer's pledge. For example, if you defined a cost of $10 from 1 to 10 items, and the backer added 3 items in their pledge, then the final shipping cost for the backer will be $30.
• Additional Item Cost: This amount applies to items that are beyond your "To (Item Count)". For example if you defined only one rule for an addon for $10 from 1 to 10 items, with an additional cost of $5 per item, then a backer with 15 items in their pledge they will pay 10*$10 + 5*$5 = $125 shipping cost.
• Default: Our system will try first to find a rule matching the State/Province, if none is found it will try to find one matching the Country. If no rule has been found then it will try to find one matching the Zone. If still no rule has been found, then it will try to find one that has been marked as "Default".

In case our system can not find a shipping cost for a backer's pledge during checkout (because you maybe forgot a rule for a specific combination of pledge/addon and/or zone/country/state/province), then it will not allow the backer to complete their pledge. It will show an error to the backer and it will prompt them to reach out to you. At that point you can not make changes yourselves to the shipping method, but you can contact us to help you out.

It is best if you create a CSV file with all your costs, instead of manually creating one entry at a time. This will also allow you to more easily make changes and see if you made any mistakes.

The best way to do so, is to first download our template. When you open it, you will see that the format is pretty simple:

• first column you need to put the name of the addon. Please note that the name needs to match exactly the name as it appears in your project's "Rewards" tab.
• second column you will put the code of either the country or the Zone you want to create a shipping rule for. If you want to define a cost for a specific state (in the US) or province (in Canada), then you separate them with a dash (-). For example for the New York state you would write "US-NY", while for the Nova Scotia province you would write "CA-NS".
• third column should be an integer value higher or equal to 1 and it reflects the "From (Item Count)" field.
• fourth column should be an integer value higher or equal to 1 and it reflects the "To (Item Count)" field.
• fifth column should be the cost you wish to charge. Please note that you should NOT use thousand separators nor any currency symbols.
• sixth column should be the additional cost per item. You can leave it blank if you do not wish to define it. Like the previous column, this one also needs to have no thousand separators nor any currency symbols in its value.
• seventh column should be set to either 1 if you want this rule to be set as "Default" or 0 if you do not want to do that.

Once you have your file ready, please save it as CSV. CSV stands for "Comma-Separated Values", which means that commas should be used as delimiters. Some times the default delimiter for Microsoft Office Excel when saving CSV files is set to semi-colon, and you will need to change it.

To assign a shipping method to your project, simply go to your project's "Fulfillment" tab and click the button "Assign Shipping Method".

When you do so, a popup will appear with all the available Shipping Methods that can be assigned to your project. Find the one that you want, and click the relevant button to assign it.

Zero Weight Default Rule

If your shipping method is "Per Weight", then it may not be assigned because you see an error about a missing "Zero Weight default rule" (like the one in the image below)

In this case, you need to visit the costs of that shipping method, and make sure that you have assigned a rule that satisfies the following:

• It's zone is set to "Rest of the World"
• It is "Default"
• The "From Weight" is set to 0
• The "To Weight" is set to 0.01
• The "Cost" is set to 0

This is your way of telling to the system that you will consciously allow people to complete their pledge by paying 0 shipping cost if they have selected "No Reward" (these are the $1 backers).

If you will be sending something even to the "No reward" backers, and that will have a shipping cost, then you need to set the cost to a non-zero value.

Once you attend to the above, the shipping method will be available for assignment.

Implementing a Fulfillment Plan

When you are ready to start implementing your fulfillment plan, then in the same "Fulfillment" tab you can create segments, assign your backers to hubs and prepare the files you will need for your fulfillment.

You can read more about this process in this article.

If you want to give Digital Items as add-ons or part of your pledge, or you have some items that should not be counted when calculating shipping costs, then you need to do one of the following (depending on the shipping method type you are using):

• Per Item: You need to create ONE cost rule for each of those items, setting the rule as  "Default", with a "Shipping Cost" of zero, set the "From Item Count" to zero, the "To Item Count" to one, and choose as a "Zone" the "Rest of The World".
• Per Weight: To begin with, you need to set the pledge's or addon's weight to zero. This is done inside the "Rewards" tab of your project. Then when you define shipping rules, you need to define one that has "From Weight" set to zero, "To Weight" set to "0.01", with a "Shipping Cost" of zero, and set as "Default" for the "Zone" Rest of The World.

If you do the above, the system will calculate a zero (0) shipping cost for those items.

Please make sure to test thoroughly your project BEFORE opening the Pledge Manager.

No Reward Backers

For the backers that chose No Reward, their weight will be by default 0, and they will have no items in their pledges. So, in the "Per Weight" shipping method, you will need to create a rule that assigns a cost of 0 to the backers with weight from 0 to 0.01. 

If you decide to absorb some shipping costs, to make your pledges more appealing, you have two ways of doing so:

• Reducing the shipping costs. This is a straightforward approach, where you simply reduce the final shipping costs for all your backers. You need to remember that after the end of the pledge manager, the total shipping costs collected will NOT be enough to cover the actual final shipping costs the hubs will incur. Budget accordingly to avoid any unforeseen surprises.
• Balance Pledge and Shipping costs. This approach assumes that you will increase the pledge cost by an certain amount, which you will then deduct from your shipping costs. This approach is almost the only option if your main pledge is of a price lower than $30. Shipping costs will not be lower than $12 to $18, which means that if your game is $30 the shipping costs could end up being 50% of the pledge price. Backers usually expect around 25% to 30%. In this case it is better if you increase the pledge price by $5 and drop the shipping cost by the same amount making the pledge $35 and the shipping $10 to $12. These costs, in the eyes of the backers, make more sense.

If you attend conventions or you are working with VFI (for Asian retailers) or you want to give local backers the option to pick up from your place and save in shipping costs, it is good to create a "Pick Up" shipping method.

Use in the title the word "Pick Up", and make sure to clarify in the description the details for this shipping method. For example look at the one below:

If you want to define a flat rate (e.g. $5 USD for all) or free shipping ($0 for all backers), then simply leave the type of the method "per Weight", do not check the "Show Weight", and create only one shipping cost rule from 0 to 99KG with the cost that you want, setting the Zone as "Rest of the World" and marking it also as "Is Default".

This will ensure that anyone that picks that method will be charged only the specific amount you set.