Troubleshooting: Live Rates at Checkout

Table of Contents

• Overview
• How are rates calculated?
• My rates are incorrect
• My rates aren't showing

Overview

This guide aims to help you understand the quotes you are seeing on checkout, what the rate is comprised of and what to do when the rates do not appear or do not match your expected/agreed-upon contracted rates with your courier

How are rates calculated?

Before troubleshooting, it's important to understand how Starshipit generates and displays rates. Starshipit does not hold any accounts with the couriers, so the rates you are displayed on checkout are based on your contract with the courier. 

As a first step, ensure that your rates are showing within the Starshipit application by following this guide.

If you have confirmed that rates are working and accurate in your Starshipit account but are not working or incorrect on your checkout, then you will need to check the following things. 

Rates on checkout can be less accurate than the rates within the Starshipit dashboard. This is because on checkout, we have less information about the shipment in terms of how it will be packed. On checkout, the rate will be based on:

• Your account number with the courier (As defined in Settings > Couriers > [Courier Name])
• Your sender address (As defined in Settings > Pickup Address) 
• Your package settings in Settings > Checkout Rates > Weight and Dimensions 
• The destination of the shipment
• The total weight of the shipment 
• The dimensions of the shipment* 
• The service with each courier you wish to use 
• Any margins/rules/advanced configuration as defined in Settings > Checkout Rates 

*Dimensions are only supported for Magento and WooCommerce at this time

We bundle this information up and send it to the couriers' rating system, which they then interpret and tell us what the rate should be given these details.

Troubleshooting

With this in mind, you may still be having problems with your rates. 

My rates are incorrect

If the rates on checkout look different from how you expect, there are a few things for you to check. 

• Navigate to Settings > Checkout Rates and ensure you have the correct services enabled.
  
• Check that the behaviour of rates is correct by creating an order in Starshipit, using the exact same weight and compare the prices with what is being used on checkout. For this, it's recommended that you first start with an order where the dimensions are 1 x 1 x 1 and the weight matches what you have in your platform. You can then adjust the dimensions and weights to see how this affects the price in Starshipit. Remember, dimensions are not included on checkout and in most cases it will assume all the items will be in one box. This can help determine whether the root cause of the issue is due to a carrier integration or package set up, rather than checkout rates.
• Use our Test Tool in Settings > Checkout Rates > Tools and enter in an address and weight. Select API, Shopify / Magento, WooCommerce or Tiandanube then click on Get Rates. You should then be able to see what rules were applied, and the carriers that were called.
  
• You can run a test from your store to use the logs to get the same information as above.
  • Go to the Logs tab, find the request using the time column or by searching by an address property. 
  • Click the triple dot button to open the request where you can find the same information as step two.
• Check Settings > Checkout Rates > Weight and Dimensions to confirm the package settings you have set up. 
  • If you are using a platform that supports dimensions ensure you have selected the right setting from here.
• Go to Settings > Options and ensure that the weight unit for checkout is correct.
• Alternatively, feel free to reach out to our support team who can help point you in the right direction.

My rates aren't showing

The way the rates plugin works is:

1. On checkout, the plugin will look at the items in the cart and send a request to Starshipit app.
2. Starshipit app will see the request and then forward this to the courier.
3. The courier will generate a rate and return it to Starshipit.
4. Starshipit will then forward this back to your checkout.

There are various different places where this can fail, so understanding the point at which the workflow is not working will help you pinpoint the issue. Here are some things to check:

• Go to Settings > Checkout Rates > Logs. If you can see nothing in here, that means that step one is failing. This will be a problem with how you have set up the plugin. Follow through the plugin's set up guide again, reinstall the plugin and ensure all API keys etc. are correct. It could also be that you have a shipping zone on your checkout that is preventing the plugin from being called.
• If you can see logs, but nothing is displaying it's likely that the courier is not enabled for checkout rates. Go to Settings > Checkout Rates > Courier Configuration and ensure the courier service is ticked. Also make sure that you don't have any rules in Settings > Checkout Rates > Rules that would hide the rates.
• Make sure that the values being sent through are correct. E.g. the weight is too high, the destination is incorrect.
• Use our Test Tool in Settings > Checkout Rates > Tools and enter in an address. What you see here should be reflected on checkout. If nothing is showing here, try the next step.
• Make sure you have enabled Checkout Rates by following the set up guide for the eCommerce platform you are setting up rates for. Also, go to Settings > Checkout Rates > Courier Configuration > Tick Enable advanced setting view and ensure you have selected the product codes you'd like to see at checkout.
• If it is only certain addresses then it is likely that the courier isn't returning a rate for that address. Try to create an order in the new tab with the same address, weight, dimensions and see if you can get a rate.
• Alternatively, feel free to reach out to our support team who can help point you in the right direction.