Contents:
1. What are custom package formats?
2. What custom package formats are automatically created?
3. How to create or edit custom package formats
4. Assigning custom package formats to orders
5. How to test your custom package formats
1. What are custom package formats?
In order to take full advantage of ChannelShipper's features, you should create and list all of the packaging formats your business uses. We will use these to calculate which package format is the best fit for your orders to help your staff reduce waste and pack your products more efficiently. We associate your package formats with the existing Royal Mail package types.
For example, you may have two differently sized envelopes which could both be considered a 'Large Letter' for Royal Mail services, but one envelope may be a more suitable size or durability for certain products than the other.
When created, custom package formats can be assigned to your orders via any of the following methods:
- Automatically when they are saved against your products
- Added when importing orders via spreadsheet
- Added when creating orders via API,
- Auto assigned via shipping rules
- Added when manually applying postage.
2. What package formats are automatically created?
Because custom package formats are integral to despatching efficiently through ChannelShipper, we will automatically create some for you when your account is created in one of two ways:
1. If you upgraded a Click & Drop account to ChannelShipper, and you already have products saved, we will create a custom package format for each Royal Mail package format assigned to your products.
For example, if you have 'large letter' and 'parcel' assigned to your products, we will create a 'large letter' and 'parcel' custom package format.
2. If you did not upgrade a Click & Drop account, we will create custom package formats for the most commonly used Royal Mail package types, 'letter', 'large letter', and 'parcel'.
We recommend that you add new customs package formats or edit the ones we have created as soon as you are able.
3. How to create or edit custom package formats
To begin, go to Settings > Package types. All your existing custom package formats will be displayed here.
Package formats settings page with pre-created package formats.
From here, you can click a row to edit the a package format, or click the blue 'Add a new package format; button.
Creating a new custom package format
Click the blue 'Add a new package type' button and a window will appear asking you to add some information.
Name: Add a name for your custom package type. This name will be visible to your users.
Weight: Add the weight of this package format. This value will be added to the weight of your product to calculate the total weight of your order. If you have already included the weight of any packaging materials in your order, you can set this value to 0.
In our example below, our package format 'Large box' weighs 35 grams.
Domestic RM package format: Select the equivalent Royal Mail package type for domestic orders.
International RM package format: Select the equivalent Royal Mail package type for international orders.
Size: Add a value for the size of this package format. This must be a whole number. This value does not represent the dimensions of the packaging format, and will be used by our Smart pack functionality to calculate which products could fit into this package size.
In our example below, 'Large Box' has a size value of 10. We will use the Size value assigned to your Products to calculate how many could fit into this package size.
1x T-Shirt (Size 5) could fit into our Large Box package format.
2x T-Shirts (Size 10) could fit into our Large Box package format.
3x T-Shirts (Size 15) would be too large to fit.
This also works with multiple products. For example:
If we had another product, a Baseball Cap (Size 3), then 1xBaseball Cap and 1xT-Shirt would have a combined Size value of 8. meaning they would fit into our 'Large Box' packaging format.
When you are happy with the values you have entered, click the blue 'Save' button. You will be able to go back and edit these values at any time.
Once created, your custom package types will be visible on the grid:
4. Assigning custom package types to orders
When your custom package types are created, there are multiple ways you can assign these to your orders:
Assigning custom package types when applying postage
When you apply postage to your orders manually, there will be two available tabs: 'RM package sizes' and 'Custom package types'. Click the 'Custom package size' tabs to view the eligible package types that can be assigned to the order.
The 'Content weight' and 'Package weight' fields will be automatically populated and calculated to obtain a realistic 'Total order weight'. Note that you can overwrite any of these values for the particular order you are applying postage to if you wish.
Assigning custom package formats automatically via shipping rules
When creating new or editing existing shipping rules, the 'package size' dropdown menu allows you to choose either the Royal Mail package sizes or your custom package types.
if you have added a new custom package type, you may need to review any existing shipping rules to ensure the correct package type is selected.
When an order imports into ChannelShipper that matches the criteria specified in one of your shipping rules, the chosen custom package size will be automatically applied.
Assigning custom package sizes via spreadsheet import or API
When importing via manual spreadsheet imports or ChannelShipper Desktop, you will need to map a 'Package Size' column with the full name of your custom package type. In our example above, this could be 'Large box' or 'Padded envelope'.
If you have created a custom package type with the same name as an existing Royal Mail package size, for example 'Large Letter', then ChannelShipper will default to your custom package types as opposed to Royal Mail package types.
We advise that where possible, you do not give your custom package types the same name as existing Royal Mail package sizes for this reason.
When importing via ChannelShipper API, you will need to add a 'packageFormatIdentifier' property within the 'Packages' object. You should enter the value without spaces. For our example above, this could be 'LargeBox' or 'PaddedEnvelope'.
5. How to test your custom package formats
When you have configured your custom package formats, our test tool allows you to check which package format would be automatically applied to your new orders.
Important note: If you test an order that only contains a single quantity of a single product, the test tool will not work, as we will automatically apply the smallest possible package format to that order. To learn more about the calculations ChannelShipper uses to determine which is the best package format to apply to an order, please see ChannelShipper Smart Pack.
From the 'Package formats' settings page, click the blue 'test package formats' button. You will be directed to the following page which asks you to enter some information:
Order section
Use this section to find an order you would like to test. When an order is entered, the 'Test criteria products' section on the right of the page will automatically load any products that have been added to the order.
Order number: Enter the ChannelShipper order number of the order you would like to test. For example, 1012.
Test criteria section
Use this section to review or add test products to the order. Changes made in this section will not change on the order itself.
Search for product: Use the dropdown or type the name or SKU of a product you would like to add to the test order.
Product quantity: Enter the quantity of the product you would like to add.
Product size: Enter the size value of the product you are adding. If the product already has a size saved, we will automatically populate this value.
Product weight: Enter the weight of the product. If the product already has a weight saved, we will automatically populate this value.
Order settings section
Use this section to help us determine the right package format based on differences between domestic and international shipping
Test for domestic shipping service: Check if you wish to test a domestic order with these products
Test for international service: Check if you wish to test a domestic order with these products
Results section
When you have entered all the required information above, click the blue 'Test package formats' button, and we will display a table of your custom package formats.
A green tick indicates the criteria has been met. A red cross indicates the criteria has not been met.
For our example below, both 'Padded Envelope' and 'Large Box' package formats would be valid for this order in terms of weight and size. However, 'Padded envelope' is the smallest possible package format for this order, and so this is the package format that ChannelShipper would automatically apply.
