From the next street to the rest of the world: building your delivery rates

A single delivery fee drives your neighbours away and ruins you on long distances. Here is how to build rates that hold, from the next street to abroad.

A single delivery fee is easy to announce and wrong almost everywhere. Too expensive for the customer who lives ten minutes away, it does not cover the trip to the other side of town, let alone a parcel that has to take a plane.

Start from what a trip really costs you

Before creating a single zone, write down for two weeks what you actually pay: your courier by neighbourhood, the coach company for another city, the carrier for abroad. Your rates must reflect those prices, not an average.

Four circles are enough for most shops

Your neighbourhoods: the ones your courier covers every day, each at its own price.
The rest of your city, at a slightly higher rate.
The rest of your country, at the price of the coach or the agency.
The rest of the world, at the price of your international carrier.

In Komerxe, the most precise zone always wins: a customer in your neighbourhood will never pay the country rate just because a wider zone also exists.

Charge for weight, not just distance

A bar of soap and a box of soaps do not travel at the same price. Inside a zone, add rates by weight, amount or number of items. Enter your products’ weight: a missing weight counts as zero and never blocks a sale, but it skews your rates.

Free delivery has to be worked out

Offering free delivery above an amount grows baskets, provided the threshold sits just above your average basket, and only in zones where the trip stays reasonable. A threshold per zone saves you from offering an international shipment for a neighbourhood-sized basket.

Selling abroad without the fear

Show your prices in your customers’ currency: an amount in euros or dollars reassures more than a conversion done in their head.
Keep cash on delivery for the zones close to you, and take payment online for everything that travels far.
State an honest delivery time on the product page. A customer who knows to wait does not complain.

The right delivery fee is the one the customer sees before paying, and that is still true when the parcel arrives.