Delivery categories, packaging and surcharges, and their effect on price

Purpose#

This guide covers five screens under Setting in the company panel: Delivery Category, Delivery Charge, Delivery Type, Packaging and Liquid/Fragile. They belong to the older, table-based way of classifying and pricing parcels. The guide also says plainly how much of this still reaches a parcel's price today, which is less than the screens suggest.

Who can use it#

• Company staff on the company's own domain. Each screen needs its own permission: delivery_category_*, delivery_charge_*, delivery_type_read and delivery_type_status_change, packaging_*, liquid_fragile_read, liquid_fragile_update and liquid_status_change. They are part of the standard permission list, so the company admin gets them from the plan modules and other staff through their role.
• Without the permission the menu item is hidden, and opening the link directly sends you to the home page.
• A delivery company owned by a merchant (the merchant's internal company) has its parcels created from the merchant panel; the staff Add-parcel form and the Import button send you back to the Parcels list with a notice.

How a parcel's price is really set#

The table below describes parcels added on the staff Add-parcel form. Parcels brought in through the staff Excel import have their amounts calculated differently, as explained under the table.

• The Charge Details box on the staff Add-parcel form (Parcels > Add) (Delivery Charge, COD Charge, Liquid/Fragile Charge, P.Charge, Total Charge) is a preview calculated in the browser from these older tables. Its figures are not what is charged.
• The Import button on the Parcels list works differently: it does not use Delivery pricing. It computes each parcel's amounts from these tables (the delivery charge from the Delivery Charge table, or from charge rows set for the merchant if there are any; the packaging price and the Liquid/Fragile charge when the row asks for them; plus the merchant's COD and VAT settings) and stores them on each parcel in the parcel's old accounting fields. So for imported parcels, the figures in these tables do determine the amounts stored.

Set up the reference lists#

1. Delivery categories

   Open Setting > Delivery Category and press +. Enter Title (required and unique; if it is refused as already taken, choose another), Status and Position. The list also shows the shared category with ID 1, named KG in the standard data: it is the one priced by weight steps. Edit or delete your own categories from the row's actions menu.

2. Delivery charges

   Open Delivery Charge and press +. Choose the Category, and for the KG category enter the Weight. Then fill Same Day, Next Day, Sub City, Outside City, Position and Status. All are required numbers. A second price for the same weight is refused with "A delivery price is already registered for the same weight." On the staff Add-parcel form a category appears only when it has at least one charge row, and the weight list of the KG category comes from these rows.

3. Delivery types

   Open Delivery Type. The four types are fixed: Same Day, Next Day, Sub City and Outside City. Users with delivery_type_status_change see a switch for each type. Only the switched-on types appear on the staff Add-parcel form, where a type is required. A newly created company starts with Same Day on and the other three off.

4. Packaging

   Open Packaging and press +. Enter Name (required, up to 60 characters, must be unique), Price, Status, Position (all required) and an optional Image (JPEG or PNG, up to about 5 MB). Only active options appear on parcel forms.

5. Liquid/Fragile

   Open Liquid/Fragile. One row shows the on/off switch (liquid_status_change) and the charge. Use Edit to change the charge (a number). New companies start with the switch on and a charge of 20. While it is on, the staff Add-parcel form shows the Liquid/Fragile checkbox.

Expected result. The reference lists are ready for the staff Add-parcel form and for the staff Excel import; the fare of a parcel added on the form still follows Delivery pricing.

Common mistakes#

• Expecting these figures to change the fare of a parcel added on the form. Edit Delivery pricing instead; the Delivery Charge table, packaging price and Liquid/Fragile charge do not change it. Parcels brought in through the staff Excel import still take their stored amounts from these tables.
• No delivery type is on. The staff Add-parcel form requires one, so it cannot be submitted. Make sure at least one is on.
• A category is missing from the form. It has no row in Delivery Charge yet.
• A title or name is refused as already taken. Choose a different one.
• Trusting the Charge Details preview. Compare it with the parcel's real fare after saving.

Limits and permissions#

• Company domain only, with the permissions above.
• A separate generic Category screen (name, slug, description) exists but is not in the menu and nothing in parcel pricing reads it.