Troubleshooting: Rates/Quotes

Overview

This guide aims to help you understand the quotes you are seeing for your shipments within Starshipit, what the rate is comprised of and what to do when the rates do not seem to match your expected/agreed-upon contracted rates with your courier

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

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 within the app are based on your specific contract. 

To generate a rate for any courier we use the following information:

• Your account number with the courier (As defined in Settings > Couriers > [Courier Name])
• Your sender address (As defined in Settings > Pickup Address) 
• The destination of the shipment
• The total weight of the shipment 
• The dimensions of the shipment 
• How many packages are in the shipment
• Any options (Insurance/Signature Required/Authority to Leave etc)
• The service with each courier you wish to use 

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. From here, we will display this in Starshipit (without altering or amending the rate in any way). 

Troubleshooting

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

My rates are incorrect

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

1. The easiest first step is to create an order in Starshipit, and one in the courier portal, and compare the prices. For this, it's recommended that you first start with an order where the dimensions are 1 x 1 x 1 and the weight is 1kg. You can then adjust the dimensions and weights to see how this affects the price in Starshipit. 
2. Different delivery options can have additional fees, for example, some couriers charge extra to obtain a signature, Saturday delivery, or to apply insurance. When you're comparing the prices, ensure you have the exact same options selected in both portals. 
3. Starshipit's rates rely on what is returned from the courier API, this can mean that in certain cases the rates in the Starshipit portal do not show all the surcharges and taxes in the price. To see what the rate comprises of:
   • In UI 2.0, we have included a shipping price breakdown which will list out the components of the rates so you know what the price is including:
     
   • In the classic UI, if you hover over the quoted price in the order dialog, most couriers have a tool tip which shows the breakdown of the quote:
     
     
4. If you've checked all these, we recommend reaching out to your account manager at the courier as it is likely that they have loaded in the wrong rates for your account. If you let them know the prices you are seeing, they should be able to quickly rectify this
5. Alternatively, feel free to reach out to our support team who can help point you in the right direction

My rates aren't showing

If this is a new courier you are adding to Starshipit and the rates aren't showing, it's likely that there has been an issue with setting up your courier integration. Try the below steps:

1. Go through the related courier setup guide and ensure you have completed each step. Make sure you have added the product codes you intend on using with the courier.
2. Ensure you haven't accidentally added any whitespace to the account number or any of the API key fields 
3. If you're still having trouble, reach out to our support team who can help point you in the right direction

If this is an existing courier where suddenly the rates stop displaying, this is likely an issue with your contract with the courier or a courier system outage. 

1. Check status.starshipit.com to ensure that there are no reported courier outages
2. Contact your courier account manager and ask them to check your contract. Things they should be looking out for:
   • Your contract hasn't been canceled/put on hold
   • There's no credit stop on the account
   • All your products are loaded against your contract 
3. If you've spoken to them and they aren't able to pinpoint the issue, reach out to our team who can find the exact error to help provide more context to your account manager