How do I offer free shipping above a certain order value?
What the two shipping fields in Settings hold, how to enter them, and how to check what your shoppers actually see at checkout.
"Free shipping above Rs 999" is one of the most familiar lines in Indian online shopping. If you want a version of it for your own store, the place to start is Admin, then Settings, then the Shipping tab.
The two fields
The Shipping tab has two number fields.
- Free shipping over (Rs). The order value above which delivery is free.
- Standard shipping (Rs). The delivery charge for orders below that value.
Both take whole rupee numbers. Type 799, not 799.50 and not Rs 799. The fields will not accept negative amounts, and an empty value is read as no number at all. When you have set them, press Save Settings at the bottom of the page like on any other tab.
An illustrative example
Say you pick a free shipping threshold of 799 and a standard charge of 60. The idea is that a customer with Rs 500 in the cart sees a Rs 60 delivery charge, and a customer with Rs 850 in the cart does not. The numbers here are only for illustration. Nothing about them is a recommendation.
Choosing your own number
Nobody can give you the right threshold from outside your business. It depends on what you pay to ship, your margins and what a typical basket looks like. A useful way to think about it is to work out what a parcel to a far-away pincode costs you, then ask what order value comfortably covers that. Your courier charges depend on your courier and your parcel weight, so check them in your own Shiprocket panel rather than trusting a number from a blog. The wider cost picture is in shipping across India.
Some sellers set the threshold slightly above their average order value to nudge people to add one more item. Others use free shipping above a threshold only during sales. Both are reasonable choices, and which suits you is your call.
Check it with a real order
Settings are only useful if they show up for the shopper the way you expect. After saving, open your store in a private browser window, add products to the cart and go through checkout up to the payment step. Look at how the total is presented below and above your threshold. Do this with a cart on each side of the number.
One thing worth knowing: the order total on Varchas is built from your product prices less any coupon, and the two shipping fields are stored as settings next to it. Do not assume the settings page alone changes what a shopper pays. Run the test checkout, and if the total does not behave the way you set it, ask the Varchas team before you advertise a shipping offer to your audience.
Keep your messaging in step
If you also use the announcement bar at the top of your store, make sure its text matches whatever you decide. A bar promising one threshold while your shipping settings say another is exactly the kind of mismatch that causes complaints. The announcement bar post shows where to edit it.
Summary
Set the two numbers on the Shipping tab, save, then place a test order on both sides of your threshold. Keep your ads, bar and settings saying the same thing.