On Airgoods, you ship your own orders and choose how you charge for shipping. This article covers how retailers are charged, how you are paid, and which shipping rate option to choose.
No shipping rates by default. Your account starts with no shipping rates set, which works the same as Added after shipped: retailers see an estimate at checkout and you enter the actual cost when you ship. To charge upfront rates or offer free shipping, set your rates in your seller shipping settings.
How retailers are charged for shipping
Shown before checkout. Retailers see a shipping price before they place the order, and it is charged together with the order.
Locked once the order is placed. The price shown at checkout is the price the retailer pays. It isn't adjusted to the actual shipping cost after the order ships, even on Added after shipped. The only exception: if you enter a shipping cost of $0 and the retailer was charged for shipping, Airgoods removes that charge from the retailer's invoice.
Rate changes only affect new orders. You can change your rates at any time. Orders already placed keep the rates that applied when the retailer bought.
How you are paid for shipping
Your shipping payout is based on your own shipping rate and is included in your order payout.
Your rate type | What you receive for shipping |
Free shipping | $0. You cover the shipping cost. |
Order meets your free shipping threshold | $0. You cover the shipping cost for that order. |
Fixed rate per order | The fixed amount you set per order. |
Fixed rate per case | The amount you set, multiplied by the number of cases in the order. |
Percentage of subtotal | Your percentage of the order subtotal. |
Added after shipped | The actual shipping cost you enter when you mark the order as shipped. |
Shipping labels
Label bought through Airgoods: Airgoods pays the carrier up front, and the label cost is deducted from your payout.
Your own carrier or account (UPS, FedEx, Shopify, ShipStation, etc.): you pay the carrier directly and are paid the shipping amount from the table above.
Entering the shipping cost (Added after shipped)
Enter the actual cost when you add tracking and mark the order as Shipped. If you skip it, you won't be reimbursed for shipping on that order.
Leave carrier sales tax out of the amount.
You can't edit the cost once the order is marked shipped. Contact Airgoods support if it needs correcting.
On the Shopify integration, enter tracking and shipping cost in Airgoods yourself. They don't sync automatically.
If the shipping charge on an order came out wrong
Email [email protected] or use the in-app chat. Tell us:
The order number.
What the shipping total should be, and if the order shipped in several boxes, the cost per tracking number.
How the cost got there — whether you typed the tracking and cost in yourself, or it synced from a fulfillment integration such as ShipStation. That tells us where to correct it.
Important: a person reviews and approves every change to a shipping charge, payout or other order-related charge. We can’t adjust one automatically, so these always go to our team.
Local delivery
Orders marked Local Delivery can't have a shipping cost, so no shipping is paid out for them.
Shipping rate options
Airgoods offers five ways to charge for shipping. If you haven't set any rates, you're on Added after shipped. We strongly recommend setting your rates upfront: retailers know exactly what they'll pay, can calculate their margin before ordering and reorder faster. Brands with upfront shipping rates get about 2x more orders.
Free shipping (most recommended): you cover shipping by absorbing it or building it into your wholesale prices. Free-shipping products get their own section on Airgoods, which usually gets the most retailer traffic.
Fixed rate per case: a fixed amount for every case in the cart. To stay competitive, aim for about 8–13% of product cost, or 10–15% of order value.
Fixed rate per order: one amount per order, however many cases. Works well when your orders are usually a similar size.
Percentage of subtotal: shipping scales up and down with order size.
Added after shipped (least recommended): this is the default when you haven't set any rates. The retailer sees an estimate at checkout, and you enter the actual cost after you ship.
How Added after shipped estimates work: the estimate retailers see is based mostly on the shipping costs you entered on past orders you fulfilled. If you enter costs above average, your estimates go up and retailers see higher shipping on your products, which means fewer orders. High shipping charges don't stay on one order. They follow your brand into every future estimate, so keep the costs you enter accurate and competitive.
Free shipping threshold
A free shipping threshold gives retailers free shipping once their order reaches a minimum subtotal. Below it, your normal rate applies. Retailers add more to the cart to unlock free shipping, so they get a better deal and you get larger orders.
Tip: set your threshold about $100 above your average order value. For example, if your typical order is $250, set free shipping at $350.
Ask us to set up your threshold
Email [email protected] or use the in-app chat, and tell us two things:
The order amount. The subtotal an order has to reach for shipping to be free.
Where it applies. The regions or states you want it in, or say nationwide. It doesn’t have to be nationwide, and you can use a different amount for different groups of states.
We’ll confirm once it’s set up, and you can check it on your Shipping page.
Where your rates apply
You can set a different rate option and amount, and a free shipping threshold (a minimum order value for free shipping):
By region: Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest
By state: using a custom zone
By product: for items that cost more or less to ship
Make sure every state you sell to has a rate. Anywhere you haven't set a rate, shipping works as Added after shipped, so retailers there see an estimate instead of an upfront price. Check the coverage map (below) to see which states are missing rates.
Each zone uses one rate option at one amount, plus an optional free shipping threshold. Tiered rates such as "$5 under $100, $10 from $100–200" aren't supported. Use Percentage of subtotal to scale shipping with order value.
Check your coverage map
The shipping coverage map shows which states are missing coverage from your rates. Use it to find states that don't have a rate yet and add one.
Adding another zone
Add a zone from your Shipping page, either as one of the regions or as a custom zone of states, and give it the rate option and amount you want — including the same ones you already use in another zone.
Note: if you’d rather we set a zone up for you, email [email protected] with the states you want in the zone, the rate option and the amount, and your free shipping threshold if you want one.
Fulfillment: ship-from location and package settings
The Fulfillment tab is where you:
Set the location you send packages from.
Create package settings, used for in-platform fulfillment.
Related articles
SEO: how shipping works, shipping rates, shipping payout, shipping reimbursement, who pays shipping, free shipping, free shipping threshold, fixed rate per case, percentage of subtotal, added after shipped, shipping estimate, shipping labels, local delivery