Options for Charging Shipping Fees in BackerKit Pledge Manager

We have different options to collect shipping for your pledge level rewards and add-ons using the BackerKit Pledge Manager.

Jump to:

Whole Order Shipping Option (Weight Based - Recommended)

Stackable Shipping Option (Pledge Level + Add-on Shipping)

Charge Shipping Later Option (Beta Feature)

Whole Order Shipping Option

Whole Order Shipping is one weight-based profile that calculates the fee based on the total weight of pledge level rewards plus add-on items.

Who should use the Whole Order Weight Based Shipping option:

• You did not charge shipping during your Crowdfunding campaign.
• You know all of the weights of your products.
• You want the final shipping fee to be calculated based on the final weight of all items in the backer’s order (pledge level rewards + add-on items)
• Your shipping rates are finalized with your fulfillment partner
• Or you've researched your shipping rates via USPS, ShipStation, EasyShip, Pirate Ship or other 3PLs (third party logistics) which are always calculated based on total weight.

When using whole order weight-based shipping, please make sure to follow these guidelines:

• Make sure to enter the weights of all of your items on the master SKUs page under Tools.
  • If your shipping quotes include the weight of the package and materials, please build these into the item weights.
• Always include an Infinity Rule when using weight-based shipping, to ensure all weights are calculating shipping fees. Without an infinity rule, if an order goes over the last weight rule, the order would have free shipping.

To create the Whole Order shipping profile:

• Navigate to the Add Shipping Fees page
• Select Whole Order Weight Shipping
• Click Create a New Shipping Profile
• Name the profile and click 'Next'

Shipping Regions

Create Shipping Regions before setting up your Whole Order table.

A shipping region can be a single country or multiple countries:

After setting up Shipping Regions, go back into your Whole Order weight-based table and begin building each region to look like this:

Stackable Shipping Option

Stackable Shipping is best for creators who want to charge a flat rate for pledge level rewards and additional fees for any add-ons purchased through the survey.

This is a big advantage if your campaign has items of all different sizes and or shipping classes and you need to set specific rates for specific items. 

Example: Your main reward are books which qualify for media mail rates and need to charge regular fees for all non-book items. Or you have a poster that will ship by itself in a tube, which will need to charge its own shipping fee.

Who should use Stackable Pledge Level Shipping + Add-on Shipping profiles:

• You collected Shipping Fees during your campaign
• Or would like to charge a flat rate for your pledge level items and charge a different rate for your add-ons
• Your shipping fees have been quoted on the pledge level reward bundles and separate pricing for add-ons.

Setup Pledge Level Shipping Fees

If shipping was charged during the campaign: From 2. Build: Add Shipping Fees Page choosing the Stackable Shipping option.

From the 3. Review: Pledge Levels use the Batch Edit tool: 

• On the lefthand side of your dashboard >> click on 3. Review: Pledge Levels
• In the upper right corner of the screen >> click the Batch Edit link
• Click on the Pledge level shipping fees tab.
• Create shipping fees per country by clicking Add New Shipping Fee or bulk Add EU Shipping Fees and enter fees.
  • Please note, pledge level shipping requires individual countries, but you can create 'regions' for your add-on shipping profiles.
• Under 'Select the pledge levels that you want to apply the shipping fees to' section, check the box next to all pledge levels that you want to apply the shipping fees too.
• Click Apply - This will override any current shipping fees, so please use with caution.

Pro Tip: You can also add/edit shipping to individual pledge levels by clicking on " Edit Details" from the Review Pledge Levels page.

To setup Add-on Shipping Profiles, please read our Set up add-ons shipping profiles help article.

Learn more about the different types of add-ons shipping profiles here. 

Charge Shipping Later Option (Beta Feature)

We are offering a new beta feature to creators who do not know how much to charge for shipping for their campaign. If you know how much to charge for shipping, then you do not need this feature. 

Who should use Charge Shipping Later:

• You don’t know what you want to charge for shipping
• You want to set and charge for shipping closer to your fulfillment date
• You need extra time to finalize your shipping costs for your project

Opt into this beta to skip the shipping fee setup and send surveys to gather shipping details from your backers.

Note: You cannot use this feature with PayPal, but can enable PayPal once shipping fees are set up.

Backers will be notified on their survey that " Shipping will be added and charged later" as shown in the image below.

When you are ready to setup shipping, please contact our Success team so we can provide next steps.

If this is something you’d like to try, please reach out to your Customer Success representative and ask them to enable it for you!

Additional Resources:

• How to choose an Add-on shipping profile
• How do I set up Add-on shipping profiles?
• Add base shipping fees