How you choose to ship your products is a key element to the management and success of your store. You must account for the great variety of available methods, which can mix carriers, regional and international taxes, package weight and the price of a product itself. Luckily, PrestaShop makes it easy for you to handle it all in just a few screens.
A product's shipping price is basically calculated using either of two methods: the total price of the order, or the total weight of the order. This is how most carriers calculate their shipping fees, and this is why you should fill-in the weight setting when creating a product in the catalog, and also why you absolutely must indicate the per-weight and per-price costs for each carrier in the "Carriers" page.
PrestaShop computes shipping price according to a system of either weight ranges or price ranges. That system can only work for one or the other of these types of range.
The shipping settings work closely with the local settings of your PrestaShop installation, thanks to the "International" menu. With pages like "Localization" and Locations", you will be able to edit geographical zones, countries, currencies, etc. Therefore, make sure to have a serious look at the "International" menu, which is explained in the chapter "Going International". For instance, in order to create a complete carrier in PrestaShop, you must have clearly defined your geographical zones before; this is done in the "Zones" tab under the "Location" page.
This chapter contains the following sections:
