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All Offers

This screen displays any Offers. Offers are monetary discounts on Orders. 

You can add an Offer at any time. Make the Offer enabled, or time sensitive, and add triggers to indicate when they are available and when they are revealed to the Customers.

Offers can apply to a entire Cart, each Recipient in a Cart, or to one or more Products in a Cart.

Offers work by specifying the Offer Rules, and if the Customer's Cart meets the Offer Rule, then Offer Actions can be applied to the Cart by the Customer, or automatically by the website.

All Offers can share Offer Rules and Offer Actions. An Offer can only have one Offer Rule, but it can have multiple Offer Actions.

Each time a Customer adds or removes Products from their Cart, all Offers are re-evaluated and applicable Offers are applied.

Offers can be available to a Customer based on whether an Offer Code or Key Code has been entered by the Customer.

Some Offers can be made available only after the Customer has placed specific Products in their Cart, or when their Order subtotal reaches a predefined amount.

Some Offers require the Customer to enter an Offer Code or Key Code during the checkout process, while other Orders do not.

Some Offers will require interactivity with the Customer. This happens automatically. So if the Offer's action is to add a shippable Product to the Cart, and there are multiple recipients in the Cart, then the Customer will be prompted to select the recipient that will receive the shippable Product.

NOTE: Free shippable Products Offers must be applied to a recipient with an Order subtotal greater than "0.00". All Offers that add a free shippable Product to a Cart will also surpress any shipping charges associated with the Product, regardless of the Shipping Method selected.

Offers are calculated and displayed on the Shopping Cart Page and the Express Order Page.  This is also where the Customer will enter an Offer Code, if necessary.

Some Offers do not require a Customer to enter a Code during the checkout process. We call these "automatic" Offers. These Offers are applied automatically to any Cart that satisfies an enabled Offer's Rule. An example of an automatic Offer would be a quantity discount for one or more Products. More than one automatic Offer can be applied to an Order.

Some Offers require that the Customer enter an Offer Code or Key Code during the checkout process to make the Offer available to them. We call these "manual" Offers.  Only one manual Offer code can be applied to an Order at a time.  Only the Offers tied to one Offer Code may be applied to a Cart at any one time.  If a Customer enters a Offer Code after already entering a different Offer Code, only the the Offer associated with the most recent Offer Code entered will be applied to the Cart.

You can group Offers together by giving them the same code. If the group of Offers all have "Only Apply Best Offer" checked, then liveSite will only apply the best Offer from the group. Alternatively, if "Only Apply Best Offer" is not checked then all of the Offers will be applied. The former allows you to setup offers where only one offer will be given based on order levels (e.g. increasingly better free product at higher order levels). The latter allows multiple Offers to be applied when a customer enters a single Offer code. It is important that all Offers in a group have the same setting for "Only Apply Best Offer".

If you need to setup an Offer that should be granted as long as one of many Offer Rules is satisfied, then you can solve this be creating multiple Offers. For example, let's say that you want to grant free shipping as long as a customer orders a red shirt or a blue shirt. First, create an Offer with an Offer Rule for the red shirt, and uncheck Only Apply Best Offer. Next, create a second Offer, by duplicating the first Offer. For the second Offer, set the Offer Code to the same code as the first Offer, set an Offer Rule for the blue shirt, and make sure that Only Apply Best Offer is unchecked. Now, a customer will get free shipping if he/she orders a red shirt or blue shirt.

The current status of each Offer will be indicated by a green or red color. An Offer is active/green and can be used by customers when it is enabled and the current date is within the start & end dates. An Offer will appear red when it is inactive.

You can setup an Offer that can only be used once, by one customer, by creating a single-use Key Code. Please see the Key Codes area for more info.

Up-selling Offers

Some Offers are published on your website or in your direct mail campaigns, but there may also be a need to provide unpublished, point of purchase incentives once the Customer begins to checkout on your website. This process is called "up-selling".

To better understand up-selling, here is an example: When you visit your local grocery store, add all of the items into your shopping basket that you came for, you make your way to the checkout line. This area of the store is usually lined with in-store promotions designed to entice you into buying more from them at the point of purchase. This is a proven and effective method of increasing the average order amount, which is important to the success of the store.

In liveSite, you can create very intelligent up-selling triggers using Offers, allowing your website to do the up-selling for you, based on what Products each Customer has already placed in their Cart, or by the Cart's current subtotal amount, so:

  • When the Cart subtotal reaches a specific monetary amount, offer the Customer a deeper discount if they order more. When the Cart subtotal reaches an even higher specific monetary amount, offer the Customer an even deeper discount if they order more, and so on.
  • When the quantity of a Product is close to a certain level, offer the Customer a deeper discount to if the Customer increases the quantity. When the quantity of a Product reaches an even higher number, offer the Customer an even deeper discount if the Customer increases the quantity, and so on.

To create an Offer, click on "Create Offer".

TIP: Because Offers are linked to existing Offer Rules and Offer Actions, create your Offer Rules first, then your Offer Actions, then your Offers.

Create / Edit Offer

This screen displays are the properties associated with an Offer.

 
 
 
New Offer Code for Redemption & Order Reporting
Offer Code:
Enter a unique code that describes this Offer. If the Customer is going to be required to enter a code to receive this Offer, then enter that code here. If the Customer is not required to enter a code for this Offer, then you still must enter a code for this Offer for your own tracking purposes.

For example: "123456" or "BESTOFFER" or "Customer34SpecialPrice".

TIP: If you need to assign many different codes to this Offer, use Key Codes.
 
Commerce Pages Display Options
Message:
Enter a text message that will be displayed to the Customer during the checkout process and on the Order Receipt Page, whenever this Offer has been successfully applied.
 
Offer Terms & Conditions
Offer Rule:
Select any existing Offer Rule that must be satisfied before this Offer can be applied to a Cart. You may leave this pick list unselected if there is no Offer Rule for this Offer.
Offer Actions:
Select one or more existing Offer Actions that will be applied to the Cart (once the Offer Rule is satisfied).
Require Code:
Check this box to require the Customer to enter this Offer's Code or Key Code to make this Offer available to them.
 
Offer Up-sell Display Options
Display Up-sell Message:
Check this box to display to enable the Up-sell Message feature for this Offer.
Up-sell Message:
Enter the text message that will alert the Customer that they are "close" to meeting the Offer Rules and what is required to meet the rules so that this Offer can be available to them. This Up-sell Message will be displayed at the top of the Shopping Cart Page or Express Order Page.

NOTE: If the Up-sell Triggers (below) have been satisfied, this message will be displayed. This does not mean that the Offer is applied to the Cart. It simply means that the Customer has almost satisfied the Offer Rules, so they are notified that this Offer available to them to act on.
Triggers: Subtotal within:
Specify how close that a Customer's Order Subtotal must be to the Offer Rule's amount requirements before the Up-sell Message is displayed.
and/or Quantity within:
Specify how close (in quantity) that a Product in the Cart must be to the Offer Rule's Product quantity requirements before the Up-sell Message is displayed.
Action Button Label:
Specify the text that will be placed within the button (linked to the optional Action Page)  that will be displayed next to the Up-sell Message.

For example: "Offer Info", or "Product Details". 
Action
Page:
Select the Page that the Customer will be directed to when they click the Action Button.

TIP: Use this feature is you want to link the Customer to a Page:
  • with more information about this Offer
  • with more information about unpublished Offers available to them
  • that is an Order Form Page where they can add the Product to their Cart that satisfies the Order Rule, which in turn would apply the Offer to their Cart instantly

NOTE: The Action Page will appear in a new browser window so that it does not distract the Customer away from the beginning of the checkout process.
 
Apply Offer to Order or each Recipient
Scope:
Order: This Offer will apply to the entire Cart.

Recipient: This Offer will apply to each recipient in the Cart.

The scope is used when multi-recipient shipping is enabled in order to determine if the Offer Rule and Offer Action should be evaluated at the order level or the recipient level. For example, if you want to setup an Offer that requires that 2 of the same Product be added to the same recipient (and not spread among many recipients) before the Offer is valid, for that recipient, then you can set the scope to "Recipient".

The scope also affects the interpretation of the required subtotal in the Offer Rule. When the scope is "Order", the required subtotal means "the subtotal of the entire order". However, when the scope is "Recipient", the required subtotal means "the subtotal of an individual recipient".

For example, if you setup an offer, with "Order" scope, that gives free shipping when the subtotal is at least $100, then the customer will get free shipping for all recipients once the entire order subtotal is at least $100. Alternatively, you setup the same offer with "Recipient" scope, then the customer will only get free shipping for each recipient that has an individual subtotal of at least $100.

You can also set the scope to "Recipient", in order to specify that an Offer, that adds a Product, can be applied to multiple recipients (you must check field below to enable this).

This scope setting is ignored if the Offer Action discounts the Order.
Allow offer to be applied to multiple recipients:
You can allow a Customer to apply an offer to multiple recipients.

NOTE: This property is only used if the Offer Action adds a Product to the Cart.
 
Offer Availability
Start Date:
Enter the starting date that the Offer is valid (enabled). The Offer will be valid at 12:00am on this date.
End Date:
Enter the ending date when the Offer will expire (disabled). The Offer will expire after 11:59pm on this date.
Status:
You can enable or disable this Offer at any time. When disabled, this Offer is unavailable to anyone at anytime and no messages are displayed.

TIP: Disabling your Offers provides an easy way to keep your old Offers in liveSite for reference purposes, without the worry that someone might be able to act on it.
 
For Offers that Share this Offer's Code
Only Apply Best Offer:
You can group Offers together by giving them the same code. If the group of Offers all have "Only Apply Best Offer" checked, then liveSite will only apply the best Offer from the group. Alternatively, if "Only Apply Best Offer" is not checked then all of the Offers will be applied. The former allows you to setup offers where only one offer will be given based on order levels (e.g. increasingly better free product at higher order levels). The latter allows multiple Offers to be applied when a customer enters a single Offer code. It is important that all Offers in a group have the same setting for "Only Apply Best Offer".


NOTE: Codes must be alphanumeric, with no spaces. They are not case-sensitive.

All Offer Rules

This screen displays all Offer Rules. Offer Rules provide a way to match the contents on a Cart with a set of basic rules (or calculations) to determine if an Offer should be made available to the Customer.

Offer Rules can be shared by one or more Offers.

Offer Rules are very flexible, here are some of the many Offers you can make available to your Customers using Offer Rules:

  • Offers can be applied to all Customers.
  • Offers can be applied to all Customers that order a specific Product.
  • Offers can be applied to all Customers that order a specific Product, and to each Recipient.
  • Offers can be applied to all Customers that order within a specific date range.
  • Offers can be applied to a group of Customers that order using a series of Key Codes.
  • Offers can be applied to a group of Customers that order using a specific Offer Code.
  • Offers can be applied to a specific Customer that orders using a specific Offer Code.
  • Offers can be applied to a specific Customer that orders a certain quantity of a Product.
  • Offers can be applied to a specific Customer that orders a certain quantity of a Product for each Recipient.
  • Offers can be applied to a specific Customer that orders over a specific monetary amount.

To create an Offer Rule, click "Create Offer Rule".

Create / Edit Offer Rule

Create the Offer Rule criteria you wish to be used to determine if an Offer Action can be applied to any Shopping Cart that meets the Rule.

 
 
 
Offer Rule Name
Offer Rule Name:
Enter a descriptive name for this Offer Rule.

For example: "Order more than $100" or "Order 1 Widget, Get 1 Free".

NOTE: This is not displayed to the Customer.
 
Offer Rule Details
Required Subtotal:
Enter the subtotal amount, in your base Currency, that a Cart must reach before this Offer Rule is satisfied. If the Offer scope is "Order", then "subtotal" means "the subtotal of the entire order". Alternatively, if the Offer scope is "Recipient", then "subtotal" means "the subtotal of an individual recipient".
and/or
Required Product:
Enter the Product that must be present in a Cart. If the Offer scope is "Order", then the required product and quantity must exist in the entire order, for the Offer to be valid. Alternatively, if the Offer scope is "Recipient", then the required product and quantity must exist in an individual recipient, in order for the Offer to be valid for that recipient.
Required Quantity:
Enter the quantity of the Required Product that must be reached in a Cart before this Offer Rule is satisfied.

 

TIP: You can combine the Required Subtotal and Required Product/Quantity in your Offer Rule to create more specific rules.

All Offer Actions

This screen displays all Offer Actions. Offer Actions apply discounts to a Cart once the Offer requirements and Offer Rule is met. Offer Actions can be shared by one or more Offers.

Once an Offer's rules are met, the following Offer Actions can be applied to a Cart:

  • Change the Order Subtotal by a % or monetary amount.
  • Change the price of a Product by a % or monetary amount.
  • Add/replace a Product and/or it's quantity.
  • Change the shipping by a % for certain shipping methods.

To create an Offer Action, click "Create Offer Action".

Create / Edit Offer Action

This screen displays the details of the Offer Action.

 
 
 
Offer Action Name
Offer Action Name:
Enter a descriptive name for this Offer Action.

For example: "Take $15 Off Entire Order" or "Give away free Product #123".

NOTE: The Offer Action Name is only displayed to the Customer if there is an Offer that contains multiple Offer Actions that add Products to the Cart, so the Customer understands which Product is being added to the Cart.
 
Offer Action Details
Type:
Discount Order: when applied, will change the Cart's Subtotal by the Amount or Percentage specified.

Discount Product: when applied, will change the price of the specified Product in the Cart (if found) by the Amount or Percentage specified.

Add Product: when applied, will add a Product to the Cart with the specified Quantity. In addition, optionally, the Product price will also be changed by the Discount Amount or Discount Percentage.

TIP: To add a free Product, set the discount to 100%.

Discount Shipping: when applied, will change the Cart's Shipping by the Percentage specified. You can also set which shipping methods are allowed for this Offer Action.

All Key Codes

This screen displays all Key Codes. 

Key Codes are simply aliases to an Offer Code, much like a nickname is an alias to a person's real name.

Key Codes are used when many Offer Codes need to be linked to a single Offer Code.  This is typically used for catalog direct marketing and campaigns when a single Offer is advertised to large segmented customer list.

It is not practical to create hundreds or thousands of Offer Codes, each with the same benefit.  It is also impossible to track the Offer's popularity within each customer segment on your Order Reports if you allowed all Customers to use only a single Offer Code.

TIP: Only the Key Codes should be published to each customer segment.  The "master" Offer Codes should remain unpublished.

Key Codes can also be set as single-use codes, which allows you to create an Offer than can only be used once, by one customer.

The current status of each Key Code will be indicated by a green or red color. A Key Code is active/green and can be used by customers when it is enabled, has no expiration date or the expiration date has not expired, and the Offer is enabled, and the current date is within the start & end dates of the Offer. A Key Code will appear red when it is inactive.

Creating Key Codes

You can create all of your Key Codes quickly by importing your Key Codes.  Click on "Import Key Codes" and following instructions.  You can also create Key Codes one at a time by clicking "Create Key Code".

Deleting Key Codes

Once your direct mail campaign and Offer has expired, you can delete all Key Codes associated with it. Click on "Delete All Key Codes".

NOTE: There is no undo, but if you used a Key Code import file to create your Key Codes in the first place, you can re-import them again to your Key Codes will be restored.

Create / Edit Key Code

This screen displays the details of a Key Code.

 
 
 
Increase Quantity to Create Multiple Key Codes
Quantity:
If you would like the system to generate multiple key codes at once, you may increase the quantity. In that case, the key codes will be automatically generated. You will not need to enter a code yourself. You may enter a unique note in the notes field, that will be assigned to all of the generated key codes. This allows you to later search on the All Key Codes screen for all of the generated key codes and view or export them.
 
New Key Code for Redemption & Order Reporting
Key Code:
Enter the Key Code that the Customer will enter during the checkout process. This field will not appear if you increased the quantity above 1.
 
Alias of Existing Offer Code
Offer Code:
Enter the Offer Code that is implied when this Key Code is entered by the Customer.
 
Availability
Enable:
Uncheck this field to prevent this Key Code from being used.
Expiration Date:
If necessary, enter the last date that this Key Code can be used. The date should fall somewhere between the start and end date for the Offer. You cannot extend the expiration date for the Key Code past the end date for an Offer.
 
Prevent Code from Being Used in Multiple Orders
Single-Use:
Check this field if you want this Key Code to only be allowed to be used once, by one customer. liveSite will automatically disable the Key Code once it is used. For single-use Key Codes, when an Order is submitted, liveSite will change the special offer code, that is stored in the Order record, to contain the Offer Code instead of the Key Code, so that Commerce Managers can understand which Offer was used in the Order.
 
Code for Order Reporting & Exporting
Report:
Select which code you want to be stored in the Order when it is completed. This will also determine which code appears in reports.

NOTE: Codes must be alphanumeric, with no spaces. They are not case-sensitive.

Import Key Codes

You may import key codes by uploading a CSV file. You can save a CSV file from Microsoft Excel. Here are the guidelines for the CSV file:

  • The first row of the CSV file must contain the names of the columns that appear below.
  • Columns can be listed in any order.
  • Column names must be similar to those in the list below (i.e. "key_code" or "keycode" or "Key Code").
Available columns
Column
Instructions
key_code
The key code that the customer will enter.
offer_code
The code for the offer that you want to connect the key code to.
enabled
"0" to disable or "1" to enable. "1" is the default.
expiration_date
Format: yyyy-mm-dd. Leave blank for no expiration date.
single_use
"0" to disable or "1" to enable. "0" is the default.
 
 
 
Select Formatted Text File to Upload
CSV File:
Click on the [Browse] button to select a CSV text file from your local computer that contains the Key Codes that you wish to import.

 

Click "Import" to upload and import your Key Codes.

WARNING: Any existing Key Codes will be overwritten if their Key Codes match those being imported.

All Shipping Zones

This screen displays all Shipping  Zones.

Shipping Zones are simply geographical physical address areas of all Countries and/or their States that your organization can ship Products too.

Shipping Zones can also adjust the shipping cost if some zones are more expensive to deliver too.

Shipping Zones are used by Shipping Methods (to determine if any carriers can deliver to the zone) and by shippable Products (to limit delivery areas to specific zones).

For each Shipping Zone, you can set the Base Rate, Primary Weight Rate, Secondary Weight Rate, Item Rate in order to affect the cost of shipping to a Shipping Zone. These values are used in association with the similar Properties in the Shipping Methods and Products.

NOTE: Shipping Methods can share Shipping Zones but typically do not share costs (there is a per item rate if this is required for your exceptions).

TIP: Typically Shipping Zones do not overlay each other.  However, if you have complex shipping cost formulas, overlaying Shipping Zones will allow you to create many fee variations.

To create a Shipping Zone, click "Create Shipping Zone".

Create / Edit Shipping Zone

This screen displays a Shipping  Zone's area and optional rates.

 
 
 
Shipping Zone Name
Shipping Zone Name:
This is the name for the Shipping Zone.
 
Shipping Zone Fees
Base Rate:
This monetary value is the starting rate for the Shipping Zone. It is not affected by Product quantities.
Primary Weight Rate:
This monetary value is multiplied by each Quantity of each Product's Primary Weigh Points for the recipient.

For example: If you wanted to charge $12.00 to ship a certain product in this Shipping Zone, you would set the Product's Primary Points to 1200 and set this value to 1.
Secondary Weight Rate:
This monetary value is multiplied by each Quantity of each Product's Secondary Weigh Points for the recipient.

TIP: Use the Secondary Weigh Rate for any Products that need a different Weight Rate for a  different Shipping Zone.
Item Rate:
This monetary value is multiplied by each Quantity of all Products for the recipient.

TIP: Use the Item Rate when a flat shipping rate must be applied to all quantities, regardless of the Product.
 
Shipping Zone Countries
Allowed Countries:
Select the Countries that this Shipping Zone will apply too.
Disallowed Countries:
Select the Countries that this Shipping Zone will never apply too.
 
Shipping Zone States or Provinces
Allowed States:
Select the State/Province that this Shipping Zone will apply too. 
Disallowed States:
Select the State/Province that this Shipping Zone will never apply too.


TIP: You may need to divide up your Shipping Zones into new, smaller Shipping Zones to accommodate more complex shipping fee structures.

Shipping Methods

Shipping Methods define each shipping carrier and their methods of shipment, and the costs associated with shipping Products (and Containers) to recipient addresses.

Shipping Methods can determine the cost of shipping in two ways: You can predefine the cost of shipping if you want to average out the cost of shipping fees across your customer base. You can also have liveSite determine the actual cost of shipping for each recipient in real-time. These two ways of determining shipping costs can be mixed together, so you can use both ways as needed within the same Shipping Method, providing amazing flexibility in how you calculate shipping charges. v2017.1

For predefined Shipping Methods, you can set Base Rate, Primary Weight Rate, Secondary Weight Rate and an Item Rate in order to determine the cost of shipping.

To use Real-time Rates for Shipping Methods, you will need to sign up with each carrier's online account to allow liveSite to access your account and requests real-time shipping costs as your customers checkout on your website. See Site Settings for more information.

Shipping Methods are displayed on the Shipping Methods Page All available Shipping Methods that can deliver the Products to each destination are always displayed to the Customer starting with the least expensive first.

Guaranteed Arrival Dates

For Each Shipping Method you can also set the number of day the shipment is in transit. These transit days are important if you are using the optional Arrival Date feature and therefore only offer the Customer the Shipping Methods that you can guarantee will deliver the Products to the recipients on time. Transit days can also be impacted by the destination Country so you can also adjust the transit days for any Country.

Base Transit Days is used in determining the number of transit days (calendar days) for that Shipping Method. If Adjust Transit is checked, then the Transit Adjust Days for the Country of the recipient will be added to the Base Transit Days of the Shipping Method.

If a Shipping Cut-off is configured for an Arrival Date, then the Preparation Time for Products, transit values for Shipping Methods, and Transit Adjustment Days for Countries are all ignored.

Street Address & Post Office Box Delivery

If Allow Street Address is checked then this Shipping Method may be available for a recipient with a street address. (This is determined by a shipping address entered by the Customer starting with a numeric character).

If Allow PO Box is checked then this Shipping Method may be available for a recipient with a PO box (shipping address entered starts with a non-numeric character).

You will also need to set the Allowed Zones that this Shipping Method can deliver too.

Shipping Selection Process

1) The Customer selects the "Check Out" button from the Shopping Cart Page or the Express Order Page.

The Cart's "Next Page (with shipping)" Page will be displayed if there are shippable Products in the Cart. This Next Page should be a Shipping Address & Arrival Page. This Shipping Address & Arrival Page will be shown for each recipient in the Cart.

2) The Customer will enter the shipping address and select a Requested Arrival Date and press the "Continue" button.

If no Shipping Methods can be found that will guarantee arrival of the shipment by the Requested Arrival Date, the Shipping Address & Arrival Page will appear again with an error instructing theCustomer to change his/her Requested Arrival Date and press "Continue" again.

3) If at least one Shipping Method is found, the Customer will be sent to the Shipping Method Page for the recipient.

If there is a Product in the Cart that is not allowed to be shipped to the recipient's Country or State, the Product Restriction Message is displayed to the Customer on the Shipping Methods Page and the Customer is required to remove the Product from the Cart in order to continue with the checkout process.

liveSite will look for all Shipping Methods for the recipient's address.  liveSite will then refine the list of Shipping Methods to only those that can get the Products to the destination on or before the selected Requested Arrival Date.

4) If the Customer started the checkout process from a Shopping Cart Page, they will be directed to the Billing Information Page to enter their payment information and proceed to finalize their Order. If the Customer started the checkout process from an Express Order Page, they will be sent back to the Express Order Page to enter their payment information and proceed to finalize their Order.

Available Shipping Methods Calculation

It is important to understand how liveSite determines what Shipping Methods are available for each recipient during the checkout process. Here is the manual calculation, if there is no Shipping Cut-off for the Arrival Date:

Available Shipping Methods = Shipping Methods (ZONE MATCH): (longest Product:PreparationTime) + SHIP:HandlingTime + SHIP:BaseTransitDays + (If SHIP:AdjTransit = Y then CTRY:TransitAdjDays else 0) <= Days until Requested Arrival Date (adjusted for End of Day Time).

If there is a Shipping Cut-off for the selected Arrival Date, then liveSite will look at the Cut-off Date & Time in order to determine if the Shipping Method should still be available.

If one or more Available Shipping Methods are found then the shipping charges for each will be calculated and displayed to the Customer as follows:

Shipping Method Shipping Surcharge = (SHIP:BaseRate) + (ZONE:BaseRate) + For all non-Free Shipping Products: (Product:PrimaryWeightPoints * SHIP:PrimaryWeightRate * ProdQty) + (Product:SecondaryWeightPoints * SHIP:SecondaryWeightRate * ProdQty) + (SHIP:ItemRate * ProdQty) + (Product:PrimaryWeightPoints * ZONE:PrimaryWeightRate * ProdQty) + (Product:SecondaryWeightPoints * ZONE:SecondaryWeightRate * ProdQty) + (ZONE:ItemRate * ProdQty) + (Product:ExtraShippingCost * ProdQty)

For each Shipping Method there is also an option to not apply the Primary Weight Rate, Secondary Weight Rate, and/or Item Rate for the first item. If that option is selected, then the corresponding rate will not be applied to the first quantity of the first item of each recipient. The first item is the Product that the customer added to their cart first for each recipient. This option allows you to create flat rate shipping charges for the first product to each recipient regardless of the product's weight points. If that option is not checked then the corresponding rate will apply to all quantities of all items.

TIP: The Extra Shipping Cost portion of the calculation above is generally used for Products that might require extra preparation time and/or expense.

If there are multiple Shipping Methods for the Customer to choose from, then the Customer will be required to click to select the Shipping Method that he/she wants (i.e. no Shipping Method will be selected by default). However, if there is only one available Shipping Method, then that Shipping Method will be selected by default. If there are no available Shipping Methods then an error message will be displayed on the Shipping Methods Page. So it's a good idea to at least create one Shipping Method that covers all your Shipping Zones if that is the appropriate solution for you.

Create / Edit Shipping Method

Create/Edit a shipping method that will be made available during checkout based on the products and destination address.

 
Shipping Method Code for Order Reporting
Code:
Enter the value that will be saved and exported with the Order data if this Shipping Method is used.

For example: "AIR"
 
Shipping Method Page Display Options
Display Name:
Enter the Name of this Shipping Method that is displayed to the Customer on the Shipping Methods Page.

For example: "FEDEX Overnight".
Display Message:
Enter This is the text information for this Shipping Method that is displayed to the Customer on the Shipping Methods Page.

For example: "Overnight delivery will arrival by 10am the next business day."
 
Service for Real-Time Rate & Delivery
Service:

If you want to enable real-time rates and/or delivery date you may select the carrier's shipment method that will be used by this Shipping Method. Real-time rates means that liveSite will communicate with a carrier in real-time, when a customer is ordering, and show a real-time rate. liveSite can also communicate with the carrier to show a real-time estimated delivery date to a customer. Currently, the following carriers and their methods are supported:

USPS (Supports both rates and delivery date.)

  •    USPS Priority Mail
  •    USPS Priority Mail Express
  •    USPS Retail Ground

UPS (Currently only supports rates. Does not support delivery date.)

  •    UPS Next Day Air
  •    UPS Next Day Air Early
  •    UPS Next Day Air Saver
  •    UPS 2nd Day Air
  •    UPS 2nd Day Air A.M.
  •    UPS 3rd Day Select
  •    UPS Ground

FedEx (Currently only supports delivery date. Does not support rates.)

  •    FedEx First Overnight
  •    FedEx Priority Overnight
  •    FedEx Standard Overnight
  •    FedEx 2Day A.M.
  •    FedEx 2Day
  •    FedEx Express Saver
  •    FedEx Ground

TIP: If you don't want to use real-time rates or delivery date for this Shipping Method, leave this field unselected.

IMPORTANT: You must also configure liveSite to communicate with the selected carrier method. See Site Settings for more information on connecting your carrier's online account with liveSite.

 
Shipping Method Charges
Real-Time Rate:
Check this box if you want to enable real-time rates. This setting will only appear if liveSite supports real-time rates for the service you selected.

Base Rate:

This monetary value is the starting rate for the Shipping Method. It is not affected by Product quantities.

If you have a different base rate, based on the cost of items in the customer's cart, then you should check "Enable variable base rate". For example, let's say that you charge $1 for $0-$19, $2 for $20-$29, and $3 for $30+. First, enter $1 in the first row (there is no recipient subtotal field for this base rate, because it is assumed to start at $0). Second, enter $2 and then $20 in the second row. Third, enter $3 and $30 in the third row. You may leave the last row empty because it is not necessary for this example.

The recipient subtotal is considered to be the total price of all Products (multiplied by their quantities) for one recipient. Please be aware that the recipient subtotal is not the subtotal for the whole Order. When this feature is determining a recipient subtotal, it will take into account Offers that discount a Product, however it won't take into account Offers that discount an entire Order.

You can use variable base rates to reward customers that purchase large Orders from you. For example, you can setup a variable base rate, so that customers get free shipping (i.e. $0) if they order a certain amount.

This feature offers a maximum of 4 different variable base rates.

Primary Weight Rate:
This monetary value is multiplied by each Quantity of each Product's Primary Weigh Points for the recipient.

For example: If you wanted to charge $12.00 ship a certain product via this Shipping Method, you would set the Product's Primary Points to 1200 and set this value to 1.

If you don't want the rate to apply to the first quantity of the first item in the cart for each recipient, then check "Don't apply to first item". The rate will then only be applied to subsequent items for each recipient. The first item is the Product that the customer added to their cart first for each recipient. This option allows you to create flat rate shipping charges for the first product to each recipient regardless of the product's weight points. Uncheck this option if you want the rate to apply to all quantities of all items.
Secondary Weight Rate:
This monetary value is multiplied by each Quantity of each Product's Secondary Weigh Points for the recipient.

TIP: Use the Secondary Weigh Rate for any Products that need a different Weight Rate for a  different Shipping Zone.

If you don't want the rate to apply to the first quantity of the first item in the cart for each recipient, then check "Don't apply to first item". The rate will then only be applied to subsequent items for each recipient. The first item is the Product that the customer added to their cart first for each recipient. This option allows you to create flat rate shipping charges for the first product to each recipient regardless of the product's weight points. Uncheck this option if you want the rate to apply to all quantities of all items.
Item Rate:
This monetary value is multiplied by each Quantity of all Products for the recipient.

TIP: Use the Item Rate when a flat shipping rate must be applied to all quantities, regardless of the Product.

If you don't want the rate to apply to the first quantity of the first item in the cart for each recipient, then check "Don't apply to first item". The rate will then only be applied to subsequent items for each recipient. The first item is the Product that the customer added to their cart first for each recipient. This option allows you to create flat rate shipping charges for the first product to each recipient regardless of the product's weight points. Uncheck this option if you want the rate to apply to all quantities of all items.
 
Destination Delivery Options
Allow Street Address:
Check this box if this Shipping Method can deliver to a Street Address.

NOTE: A Street Address is determined by checking the first character in the Address Line 1 of the recipient's shipping address. If the first character is numeric, it is considered a Street Address, like "1234 Main Street".
Allow PO Box:
Check this box if this Shipping Method can deliver to a Post Office Box.

NOTE: A Post Office Box is determined by checking the first character in the Address Line 1 of the recipient's shipping address. If the first character is non-numeric, it is considered a PO Box, like "P.O. Box 1234".
 
Available Destinations
Allowed Zones:
Select the Shipping Zones that this Shipping Method can deliver too.
Disallowed Zones:
Select the Shipping Zones that this Shipping Method cannot deliver too.
 
Handling
Handling Time:
Enter the expected number of days that it should take to prepare Products for shipment after an Order is completed, for this Shipping Method. For example, a merchant might handle a shipment faster for next day vs. standard. This is added on to the Product preparation time.
Handling on:
Select the days of the week that you prepare Products for shipment, for this Shipping Method. For example, if you don't prepare Products on weekends, then leave those days unchecked.
Ships on:
Select the days of the week that you ship Products, for this Shipping Method. For example, if you don't ship Products on weekends, then leave those days unchecked.
End of Day Time:
This allows you to override the End of Day Time in the Site Settings for a specific Shipping Method. For example, if customers must order by 12:00 PM in order for a package to be shipped out the same day (e.g. for a next day/overnight method), then the merchant can enter that time for the method. That time might be earlier than the general End of Day Time in the Site Settings. You may leave this field blank if you don't want to override the value from the Site Settings.
 
Transit Details for Shipping Method
Base Transit Time:
Enter the expected number of calendar days that it should take for the carrier to deliver the Products to the recipient using this Shipping Method.

This value and the rest of the transit values are ignored if Shipping Cut-offs are configured for an Arrival Date. Shipping Cut-offs override Preparation Time for Products, transit values for Shipping Methods, and Transit Adjustment Days for Countries.
Adjust Transit for Country:
Check this box to add the Transit Days for the recipient's Country to the Base Transit Days.
Transit on Saturday:
Check this box if the carrier of this Shipping Method typically continues to move shipments on Saturday.
Transit on Sunday:
Check this box if the carrier of this Shipping Method typically continues to move shipments on Sunday.
 
Excluded Dates for Shipping & Handling (e.g. Holidays)
Excluded Dates:
Enter any specific future calendar dates that you or the carrier of this Shipping Method does not handle or move shipments (during labor holidays, Christmas, etc., each year).
 
Shipping Method Availability
Start Time:
Enter the date and time that this Shipping Method is available (enabled).

TIP: Start Time is great when you want to offer you Customers new shipping options automatically when you get too close to an popular arrival date (like a holiday or event) for other Shipping Methods to guarantee delivery in time.
End Time:
Enter the date and time that this Shipping Method is no longer available (disabled).

TIP: The End Time is great when you want to offer you Customers new shipping options automatically when you get too close to an popular arrival date (like a holiday or event) for other Shipping Methods to guarantee delivery in time.
Status:
Enabled makes this Shipping Method available.

Disabled makes this Shipping Method unavailable.
Available on:
This specifies which days of the week this Shipping Method may be selected. The Cut-off time will disable the Shipping Method at the specified time on that day. You may leave the Cut-off time blank if you want the Shipping Method to be available all day.

NOTE: The Cut-off time is based on the web server's time.
Protected:

Check this box if you want this Shipping Method only visible to your staff and not to your Site Visitors and Customers.

Protected Shipping Methods allow your Site Managers to set up Shipping Methods that can only be visible and selected by your internal sales reps so they can submit orders through your website on behalf of your customers with different shipping rates than your online customers. This is necessary if you handle catalog orders by phone, fax, or postal mail. You might want to provide Real-time Rates to your online customers at the point of purchase, which is not possible for your offline customers. For these customers, you will need to set fixed shipping methods / rates before the orders are entered through your website by your sales reps. v2017.1


NOTE: The Transit-related fields above are only required if you are using the Arrival Date feature.  In that case, these values are compared against the Requested Arrival Date selected by the Customer to determine if this Shipping Method should be displayed to the Customer.

TIP: If you only create one Shipping Method, the Customer will not be prompted to select a Shipping Methods.  However, if only one Shipping Method is available that matches the Product to the Destination, the Customer will still be prompted to select the only option they have.

TIP: You may need to divide up your Shipping Methods into new, smaller Shipping Methods to accommodate more complex shipping fee structures.

If there are multiple Shipping Methods for the Customer to choose from, then the Customer will be required to click to select the Shipping Method that he/she wants (i.e. no Shipping Method will be selected by default). However, if there is only one available Shipping Method, then that Shipping Method will be selected by default. If there are no available Shipping Methods then an error message will be displayed on the Shipping Methods Page. So it's a good idea to at least create one Shipping Method that covers all your Shipping Zones if that is the appropriate solution for you.

All Shipping Arrival Dates

This screen displays all Arrival Dates used for shipping Products.

Arrival Dates allow you to offer your Customer the ability to select their Requested Arrival Date for each recipient in their Cart. This is very important if you are offering gifts for purchase and your customers need the Products to arrive on or before a special occasion (the recipient's birthday or anniversary, event, or a holiday).

The Arrival Dates you create and enable are displayed to the Customer on the Shipping and Arrival Page during the checkout process. If you do not want the customer to select an Arrival Date, then you may delete all Arrival Dates.

Creating Arrival Dates

Here are examples of the three types of Arrival Dates that you can create:

At Once: This type of arrival date is the default for most websites that ship their products as soon as possible and the arrival date is not important.

TIP: To create an "At Once" Arrival Date, set the Arrival Date field to "0/0/0000".

NOTE: If you create an "At Once" Arrival Date, all Shipping Methods that are available to deliver all Products to each recipient's address (each Product's Allowed Shipping Zones intersects with the Shipping Method's Allowed Shipping Zones), will be offer the the Customer, no matter how many transit days the deliver might take.

IMPORTANT: You should only have one "At Once" Arrival Date ("0/0/0000") enabled at any time on your website.

Christmas: This type of arrival date is for gift giving sites when the Product must arrive on or before a specific holiday.  You can enable as many of these Arrival Dates as necessary at any time.

TIP: To create a "Christmas" Arrival Date, set the Arrival Date field to 12/25/XXXX or 25/12/XXXX (depending on your date format), where XXXX is the current year.

NOTE: If you create a "Christmas" Arrival Date, only Shipping Methods that are available to deliver all Products to each recipient's address (each Product's Allowed Shipping Zone intersects with the Shipping Method's Allowed Shipping Zone), on or before 12/25/XXXX.

TIP: Arrival Date/Shipping Method combinations allows the website to automatically switch between "standard" or "expedited" Shipping Methods for your Customers when orders are placed close to the Requested Arrival Date (i.e. holiday). Going further, the website will not allow the Customer to order if they are attempting to place an Order too close to the Requested Arrival Date (i.e.holiday) and no Shipping Methods are found that can get the Products to the destination in time.

TIP: Use the Arrival Dates Start Date/End Date features to tell the website when to automatically remove and add Arrival Date options for your Customers.  So when its too late to order for Christmas, that option can disappear and the option to order for Valentine's Day can appear.  Using these features, you can preset many future occasions in advance.

Special Date: This type of arrival date is for gift giving sites when the Product must arrive on or before the Customer's own specific occasion (i.e. birthday, anniversary, event).

TIP: To create a "Special Date" Arrival Date, set the Arrival Date's Display Custom Field.

NOTE: If you create a "Special Date" Arrival Date, the Customer will be prompted to enter their own date, and only Shipping Methods that are available to deliver all Products to each recipient's address (each Product's Allowed Shipping Zone intersects with the Shipping Method's Allowed Shipping Zone), on or before the date entered by the Customer.

IMPORTANT: You should only have one Arrival Date using the "Display Custom Field" enabled at any time on your website.

Create / Edit Arrival Date

This screen displays the specific of an Arrival Date:

 
 
 
Arrival Date
Arrival Date:
Enter the Arrival Date that all available Shipping Methods will be checked against to see if they can deliver by this date.

TIP: To create an "At Once" Arrival Date, set this value to "0/0/0000".
To create a "Christmas" Arrival Date, set this value to 12/25/XXXX or 25/12/XXXX (depending on your date format), where XXXX is the current year.
 
Or allow Customer to enter this Arrival Date during checkout
Display Custom Field:
Check this box if you want to allow all Customers to enter their own Requested Arrival Date on the Shipping and Arrival Page.

TIP: You should only have one Arrival Date enabled as a Display Custom Field.
Latest Allowed Arrival Date:
Enter a date for this field if you want to set the latest custom Arrival Date that a Customer is allowed to enter. You might want to use this feature if you want to prevent a Customer from selecting a date that is too far into the future, because product and/or shipping costs might be different at that point in time.
 
Arrival Date Code for Order Reporting
Arrival Date Code:
Enter the code that will be saved and exported with the Order data if this Arrival Date is selected by the Customer.

For example: "XMAS".
 
Order Preview Page Display Options
Arrival Date Name:
Enter the selection name displayed to the Customer on the Shipping and Arrival Page.

For example: "Christmas Day".
Arrival Date Description:
Enter the description of this Arrival Date that will be displayed to the Customer on the Shipping and Arrival Page.

For example: "We guarantee your gift will arrive by Christmas Day."
Sort Order:
Enter the number that will be used to determine the display order of all enabled Arrival Dates displayed on the Shipping and Arrival Page.

For example: "1" would be displayed before "2".
 
Arrival Date Availability
Start Date:
The first date that this Arrival Date option is displayed to Customers on the Shipping and Arrival Page. This Arrival Date option will become available at 12:00 AM on the date that is entered here.
End Date:
The last date that this Arrival Date option is displayed to Customers on the Shipping Address & Arrival Page. This Arrival Date option will no longer be available at the "End of Day Time" (see Site Settings) on the date that is entered here.
Status Override:
Whether this Arrival Date is enabled (displayed to the Customer) or not. The Status overrides the Start and End Dates.
Selected by Default:
When the Shipping and Arrival Page is displayed to the Customer, this Arrival Date will be selected by default. There should only be one Arrival Date that has this set. If you want to "confirm" that the Customer actively selects an Arrival Date, don't set this option for any Arrival Dates on your Website.
 
Shipping Cut-offs
 
Shipping Cut-offs are generally used around holidays when you want to guarantee delivery before the holiday as long as Customers submit their Order by a certain date and time. Shipping Cut-offs override the Preparation Time for Products, transit values for Shipping Methods, and Transit Adjustment Days for Countries for a specific Arrival Date and Shipping Method.

For example, if you want to allow your Customers to select Standard shipping for Christmas delivery until Dec 20 2014 at 3:00 PM, then you should create a Shipping Cut-off for the Christmas Arrival Date where the Shipping Method is set to Standard and the Cut-off Date & Time is 12/20/2014 3:00 PM (adjust the order of the month and day based on your date format). You can also create Shipping Cut-offs for other Shipping Methods (e.g. Express, Next Day).
Shipping Method:
The Shipping Method that this Shipping Cut-off applies to.
Cut-off Date & Time:
The date and time that the selected Shipping Method will be available until for this Arrival Date.

 

IMPORTANT: You should only have one "At Once" Arrival Date ("0/0/0000") enabled at any time on your website. Also, you should only have one Arrival Date using the "Display Custom Field" enabled at any time on your website.

All Verified Shipping Addresses

 

This screen displays all the optional verified shipping addresses you may like to present to your Shoppers when they checkout.

Verified Shipping Addresses are ideal if your website commonly ships gifts to camps, or organizations where the exact shipping address may be unknown to the Shopper, or when shipments are common sent to organizations that have a preferred physical address where shipments are received.

When a Shopper reaches the Shipping Address & Arrival Page, if ANY Verified Shipping Addresses are defined, then the shopper will be presented with the option to use one of these Verified Shipping Addresses to pre-fill their shipping address fields. (So if you want to remove the verified shipping address area from your Shipping Address & Arrival Pages, please delete all the Verified Shipping Addresses found under the [Commerce] tab.

Creating Verified Shipping Addresses

You can create and assign Verified Shipping Addresses to any State/Province in any Country you have already defined within the "All Countries" and "All States" screens in the Commerce area of the Control Panel.

The Country selected as the default country (see "All Countries") will be selected when the Verified Shipping Address fields appear on the Shipping Address & Arrival Page.

Editing Verified Shipping Addresses

Click on the Verified Shipping Address to edit or delete it.

NOTE: If you don't want to display any Verified Shipping Addresses on your Shipping Address & Arrival Pages, then you need to delete all Verified Shipping Addresses.

Create / Edit Verified Shipping Address

This screen displays a Verified Shipping Address and its properties.

 
 
Company:
Enter the name (or descriptive label) of the organization and or location that will be identifiable to the Shopper.

TIP: Don't make this label too long since it will be displayed in a pick list field.
Address 1:
Enter the main address line of the Verified Shipping Address.
Address 2:
Enter the secondary address line of the Verified Shipping Address. This is optional.
City:
Enter the city or town of the Verified Shipping Address.
State:
Select one of the existing States of the Verified Shipping Address.
Zip Code:
Enter the zip code or postal code of the Verified Shipping Address.

All Containers

This screen will display all the shipping Containers that have been created. Containers are the physical boxes or other vessels that can be used to ship more than one Product for delivery to a recipient. Containers are used to lower the cost of shipping and handling by organizing multiple Products in the same shipping Container. It is only necessary to define Containers if you are going to use the Real-time Rates feature for any of your Shipping Methods.

Containers are identified by a Name and can be enabled or disabled. Containers have a physical dimension and weight associated with them that is used in Real-time Rate calculations. You would typically create a Container for each size shipping box or other container that you use to pack Products into and affix a shipping label on the outside.

liveSite has a 3-D Modeling Engine built-in that can "look" at all the Products that are being shipped to each recipient and figure out which Products and Containers will fit together into one or more larger Containers so the fewest possible shipping containers are used and thus the best Real-time Rates can be determined ahead of time and presented to the customer.

NOTE: If there are any emabled Containers, liveSite will begin using them immediately if Real-time Rates are enabled in any available Shipping Methods.

TIP: If you want to review the decisions made by liveSite to pack the Containers with Products and other Containers, you can view the results in the Site Log.v2017.1

Create / Edit Container

Containers are used by the Real-time Rates calculator to determine the specific shipping costs for each outbound package. Containers are not required if you are going to manually preset your shipping rates.v2017.1

Name:
Enter the name you wish to use to refer to this Container for your Shipping Methods. This is not displayed to the customer. For example, you might call this "UPS Small Box", or "Poster Tube", or "2FT Square Cardboard Box". Anything is fine that helps you identify this Container when you are adding it to your Shipping Methods.
Enable:
Check this box if this Container is currently available to ship Products in. You might Disable this Container temporarily if you have run out of this Container and are waiting for more to arrive. liveSite will only attempt to package Products in Containers that are enabled.
Dimensions:

Please enter the dimensions of this Container in U.S. standardized measurements. These are the dimensions that your Shipping Carrier uses to define the dimensions of any items you are using them to ship. For most containers made of lightweight cardboard, the inner and outer dimensions will not vary enough to matter so you can enter either of these values.

TIP: To properly calculate the dimensions: Length is always the longest side of the box that has a flap. Width is the second longest side with a flap. Height is the only dimension without a flap.

Weight:
Enter the actual weight of the empty Container itself in pounds (using decimals as necessary). For lightweight cardboard boxes, the weight is so marginal you can typically leave this value blank if necessary. For larger and heavier Containers, this weight will be important to calculate the Real-time Rate.
Cost: v2017.2
If you want to include the cost of the container in the rate, then you may enter that cost here. This is useful if the container is expensive. This cost will be added to the real-time rate from the carrier. Customers will only see the total real-time rate (i.e. they will not see a line item for this cost). You may leave this field blank if you don't want to charge the customer for the container cost.

Shipping Report

 

This screen allows you to view the number of Products that need to be shipped or have been shipped on different days. This is useful in order to determine how much inventory you need by a certain date.

This screen displays data only for ship tos that contain a ship date. When an Order is submitted, the ship date is calculated based on the requested Arrival Date and stored in the ship to. The ship date is the date that liveSite recommends you ship items in order for those items to be delivered by the requested Arrival Date. You can read more about how the ship date is calculated in the help for the view order screen.

By default, only data for unshipped items will appear on this report. You can change the status in the upper-right to "Shipped" if you want to see all items that have been shipped on various days. Also, the "[Any]" status will show data for both shipped and unshipped items.

You can update the shipped quantity on the view order screen in order to tell liveSite that all items have been shipped. Once you do that, if status is set to "Unshipped", then those items will no longer appear on the shipping report. You can also remove the ship date from the ship to on the view order screen, if you don't want items for that ship to to appear in the shipping report.

You can use the arrows next to the date range to change the range of dates in the view. The before column shows all data before the current date range. This is useful to see data for older Orders that have still not been shipped, for whatever reason, so they are not forgotten. The after column shows all data after the current date range, so you can prepare inventory. You can click a column heading in order to see a list of Orders for that column. You will be taken to the All Orders screen and the advanced filters will be set automatically for you so that the correct results appear. Alternatively, you can click on a Product description in order to quickly edit a Product.

All Ship Date Adjustments

Ship Date Adjustments allow you to adjust the calculated ship date for a recipient for a specific zip code prefix and Shipping Method. This feature allows you to space out the shipments close to an Arrival Date, so you do not have to ship out all shipments on the same day. For example, for a zip code prefix that is located near your shipment center, you might be able to ship your shipments later than other zip code prefixes, and still get them to the customers by the requested Arrival Date.

When an Order is submitted, if the Arrival Date that the customer selected/entered matches an active Arrival Date in liveSite, and the zip code prefix (first 3 numbers) and Shipping Method match a Ship Date Adjustment, then the ship date for that recipient will be adjusted forwards or backwards, a specific number of days, based on the adjustment setting in the matched Ship Date Adjustment.

This feature does not apply to recipients where "At Once" was selected for the Arrival Date.

You can access Ship Date Adjustments from the Shipping Report screen.

Create / Edit Ship Date Adjustment

This screen allows you to create or edit a Ship Date Adjustment.

Zip Code Prefix:

Enter the first three numbers for the zip code that this adjustment applies to.

Shipping Method:

Select the Shipping Method that this adjustment applies to.

Adjustment:

Enter the number of days that you want to adjust the ship date by. Also, select whether the adjustment should move the ship date earlier or later. The adjustment that you configure here will be applied after the normal ship date is calculated. The final ship date will be stored in the recipient, as part of the Order.

If the adjustment pushes the ship date into the past, then the ship date will be set to the order date. In other words, the ship date will never be set to a date before the order date. However, if the adjustment pushes the ship date later than the requested Arrival Date, the adjusted ship date will be preserved. In other words, liveSite will allow an adjusted ship date that is past the requested Arrival Date.

All Tax Zones

This screen displays all Tax Zones.

Tax Zones are simply geographical physical address areas that your organization must collect tax from, for all or some of your Products.

Taxes are based on either the location of the Shipping Addresses of each Recipient, or the Billing Address of each Customer during the checkout process.

Taxes are calculated as a percentage of the Order Subtotal. Any shipping fees are excluded from tax calculations.

TIP: If some of your Customers are Tax-Exempt, you can prompt them during the checkout process and the Tax will not be calculated, displayed, or collected for that Order.  Your Site Manager can enable this feature in the Site Settings.

TIP: If none of your Customers are taxable, or none of your Products are taxable, then you can completely disable tax from all Commerce Pages and Orders. Your Site Manager can enable this feature in the Site Settings.

IMPORTANT: Tax Zones must not overlay each other.

Creating Tax Zones

To create a Tax Zone, click "Create Tax Zone".

How Tax is Calculated

Both the Billing and/or the Shipping Addresses are considered in the calculation of tax for each Order. Only "taxable" Products will be included in any tax calculations.

For each taxable Product in the Cart, taxes will be accumulated as follows:

  • For Products that are "shippable", the sum of all taxable Products for each recipient in the Cart is computed:
    Destination Tax = ((Product Price - Product Discount) * Product Quantity) * Tax Percentage from the Tax Zone of the Shipping Address.
  • For Products that are NOT "shippable", the sum of all taxable Products in the Cart is computed:
    Purchaser Tax = ((Product Price - Product Discount) * Product Quantity) * Tax Percentage from the Tax Zone of the Billing Address

Therefore, the total Order Tax = Destination Tax + Purchaser Tax

Create / Edit Tax Zone

This screen displays a Tax Zone's area and tax rate.

 
Tax Zone Name
Tax Rate Name:
This is the name for the Tax Zone.
Tax Rate (%):
This is the percentage of the tax to apply to each Product item.
 
Tax Zone Countries
Allowed Countries:
Select the Countries that this Tax Zone will apply too.
Disallowed Countries:
Select the Countries that this Tax Zone will never apply too.
 
Tax Zone States/Provinces
Allowed States:
Select the States/Provinces that this Tax Zone will apply too.
Disallowed States:
Select the States/Provinces that this Tax Zone will never apply too.

All Countries

This screen displays all Countries.

Countries provide two geographical functions for the website.

First, they are used to define Shipping Zones, Product Shipping Zones, and Tax Zones.

Secondly, they are used to create the address entry fields that your Customer will use to enter their billing address and each recipient's shipping addresses.

The Billing Address is entered by the Customer

  • during checkout on the Billing Information Page, or the Express Order Page, or the Order Preview Page.
  • after they login and view their My Account information, and update their billing address on the Account Profile Page.

The Shipping Address is entered by the Customer

  • during checkout on the Shipping Address & Arrival Page.
  • after they login and view their My Account information, and update their shipping addresses on the Update Address Book Page.

TIP: If you don't accept orders or ship orders to more than one Country, you should delete all other Countries. Once you have done this, the website will no longer prompt the Customer for a Country selection. Instead, the sole  Country in liveSite will be used by default, displayed for completeness, but will not be editable by the Customer.

IMPORTANT: If a Country does not have any States defined for it, the website will display a blank text area for the Customer to enter the State value themselves. This value will be saved and exported with the Order data.

Add/Edit Country

This screen displays a County and it's properties.

 
 
 
Country Code for Order Reporting
Code:
Enter the value that will be saved and exported with the Order data if this Country is selected.

For example: "US".
 
Commerce Pages Display Options
Name:
Enter the name for this Country that will be displayed to the Customer on any billing or shipping address entry field.

For example: "United States".
Zip Code Required:
Check this box if you want a zip/postal code to be required for this Country. Some Countries do not require postal codes. The zip/postal code field will continue to appear for all Countries, however it will only be required if you check this box. The default selections for Countries should be correct, so you should only have to change this if a Country starts to implement postal codes.
Selected by Default:
Check this box it you want this Country to be the default selection displayed to the Customer on any billing or shipping address entry field.

TIP: This feature is for the convenience of your main Customers. Only one Country should be selected as the default on your website, and typically this is the Country where your largest base of Customers reside.
 
Shipping Delays specific to this Country
Transit Adjustment Days:
Enter the number of extra calendar days it will take to deliver any Product to this Country.

TIP: Leaving this value blank is the same as zero extra calendar days.

NOTE: This is used by the Shipping Methods to determine the estimated Arrival Date. This is an optional value, added to the Arrival Date calculation only if the Adjust Transit Days is set in the Shipping Method selected by the Customer. This value is ignored if Shipping Cut-offs are configured for an Arrival Date. Shipping Cut-offs override Preparation Time for Products, transit values for Shipping Methods, and Transit Adjustment Days for Countries.

All States

This screen displays all States.

States provide two geographical functions for the website.

First, they are used to define Shipping Zones, Product Shipping Zones, and Tax Zones.

Secondly, they are used to create the address entry fields that your Customer will use to enter their billing address and each recipient's shipping addresses.

The Billing Address is entered by the Customer

  • during checkout on the Billing Information Page, or the Express Order Page, or the Order Preview Page.
  • after they login and view their My Account information, and update their billing address on the Account Profile Page.

The Shipping Address is entered by the Customer

  • during checkout on the Shipping Address & Arrival Page.
  • after they login and view their My Account information, and update their shipping addresses on the Update Address Book Page.

NOTE: The Country selected by the Customer affects the State selection list for the Customer. The website system uses this method to unclutter the State selections available to the Customer by displaying only the State choices within Country selected by the Customer.

IMPORTANT: If a Country does not have any States defined for it, the website will display a blank text area for the Customer to enter the State value themselves. This value will be saved and exported with the Order data.

Add / Edit State

This screen displays a County and it's properties.

 
 
 
State/Province Code for Order Reporting
Code:
Enter the value that will be saved and exported with the Order data if this State is selected.

For example: "TX".
 
State Name
Name:
Enter the name for this State that will be displayed to the Customer on any billing or shipping address entry field.

For example: "Texas".
 
Country
Country:
Select any existing Country that this State is geographically located within.

For example: "United States".

All Referral Sources

This screen displays any optional Referral Sources. By asking for a Referral Source helps your marketing or communications team learn how your Customers found out about your products and/or services.

Referral Sources are the selectable answers you provide to the question "How did you hear about us?". 

This question is asked of each Customer on the Order Preview Page, or Express Order Page during the checkout process.

Examples of Referral Sources:

  • Internet Search
  • News Story
  • A Customer
  • A Friend
  • Direct Mail
  • Radio Ad
  • Print Ad
  • TV Ad
  • Other

TIP: This feature is optional and can be disabled (and your Customers will not be prompted) simply by deleting all your Referral Sources from liveSite.

Create / Edit Referral Source

This screen displays a Referral Source and it's properties.

 
Referral Source for Order Reporting
Referral Source Code:
Enter the value that will be saved and exported with the Order data if this Referral Source is selected.

For example: "tv-5-2332".
 
Order Preview Page Display Options
Referral Source Name:
Enter the name for this Referral Source that will be displayed to the Customer as an answer to the question "How did you hear about us?" selection field.

For example: "Television Ad on Channel 5".
Sort Order:
Enter the number that will be used to determine the display order of this Referral Source.

For example: "1" would be displayed before "2".

All Currencies

This screen displays all Currencies.

Currencies allow Customers to convert base Currency amounts into the Currency of their choice while viewing and navigating the Commerce Pages. This is ideal if you have foreign Customers that want to see your Product prices and Order Totals displayed in their own Currency.

When Customers select a different Currency it is for display purposes only. This means that all calculations are still done in the base Currency, all payments are still collected in the base Currency, and all Orders are still stored and exported in the base Currency, regardless of the Currency selected by the Customer.

You can select one base Currency. The base Currency will be the Currency that you use for entering amounts in the control panel and it is the default Currency that will be displayed to each Customer. Also, it is the Currency that will be passed to your payment service/gateway.

TIP: Any Currency that is selected by a Customer and used throughout their checkout process will be stored and exported with the Order data. This means you can also create Order Reports and track your Customers by the Currencies they prefer.

Adding Currencies

Click on "Add Currency" to add another Currency for your Customers to select while browsing your Commerce Pages.

IMPORTANT: To enable Currencies on your website, your Site Manager must select the Multi-Currency option in the Site Settings. Once enabled, the Currency selection field will be appear on the all Commerce Pages.

Updating Exchange Rates

There are three ways to update the Exchange Rates:

  • Click on the Currency you wish to update, and enter a value in the Exchange Rate field.
  • Click on the "Update Exchange Rates" and the website will refresh all rates, in real-time from Yahoo!* at http://financial.yahoo.com.
  • Setup a cron job/scheduled task to refresh all rates each day automatically from Yahoo!* at http://financial.yahoo.com. Please contact your Site Administrator if you would like to enable this feature.

*Disclaimer: We are not responsible in any way for the availability, accuracy, or timeliness of any third-party data.

Add / Edit Currency

This screen displays a Currency and it's properties.

 
 
Name:
Enter the name of this Currency that will be displayed on all Commerce Pages and selectable to the Customer.

For Example: "US Dollars".

Base:

Check this box if this is the standard Currency that your business operates around. There can only be one base Currency. The base Currency will be the Currency that you use to enter amounts, in the control panel. It will also be the default Currency that will appear to Customers on commerce Pages.

When an Order is completed, the amount that is sent to your payment service/gateway will be in the base Currency, even if a Customer selected to view prices in a different Currency. Also, the payment service/gateway will be instructed by this system to complete the transaction in the base Currency.

You will need to check that your payment service/gateway supports your base Currency. This system will send Currency info to most of the popular payment services/gateways via their API's. In general this system will probably support any base Currency that your payment service/gateway supports, however please see exceptions below.

  • Authorize.Net does not allow the Currency to be passed via their API for recurring transactions, so you will need to check if they support your base Currency at your account or processor level for recurring transactions.
  • For ClearCommerce / Payfuse, this system only supports the following base Currencies: USD, AUD, CAD, EUR, and GBP.
  • First Data Global Gateway does not allow the Currency to be passed via their API, so you will need to check if they support your base Currency at your account or processor level.
  • Sage Payment Solutions does not allow the Currency to be passed via their API, so you will need to check if they support your base Currency at your account or processor level.

Please be aware that this system assumes the base Currency has a format with 2 decimal places (e.g. $1.99). This system might not work for you if your base Currency does not support decimal places or has more than 2 decimal places.

liveSite does not keep track of the base Currency that was in use when an Order was completed. It assumes that all Orders were placed with the current base Currency. In other words, once you change your base Currency, past Orders will show the same old total value, but show the new base Currency symbol, so the amount might appear to be incorrect. Because of this, you should not change your base Currency often.

Code:
Enter this Currency code that will be stored and exported with the Order data.

For Example: "USD".

It is important to enter the correct, internationally recognized, standard code for the Currency, because this code may be sent to your payment service/gateway.
Symbol:
Enter the symbol for this Currency.

For example: "$".

You may enter the HTML code for an HTML entity if necessary (e.g. "&euro;").
Exchange Rate:
The current rate of exchange for this Currency, as compared to your base Currency. Your base Currency should always have an exchange rate of "1".

TIP: Use the "Update Exchange Rate" button on the "All Currencies" screen to update this value instantly.

IMPORTANT: Don't alter this value by hand unless you are sure that it is not being updated automatically.

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