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Group (the cart) products by

Grouping products will change the shipping costs

We can analyze cart products grouped under different criteria, to determine if it matches over one rule and thus is applicable to shipping cost calculation.

Cart items group-by options

The possible criteria for grouping are:

None [no grouping]:

Each product will be analyzed individually, even if they have the same reference

Per ID / SKU:

The products with the same reference will be grouped

Per product [group variations]:

Every product variations included will be grouped

Per shipping class:

All products with the same shipping class will be grouped

All grouped as one:

The whole cart products will make up a only group

Another simple example

Let's show, how the different grouping criteria, switch how the cart is processed to calculate the shipping costs:

Let's say we want to charge $1 shipping costs for products that weigh one pound, or more:

Set $1 for half pound of weight

Let's consider this cart:

Product Quantity Weight Shipping class
Shirt (size S variation) 1 0.5 lbs Clothes
Shirt (size L variation) 2 0.6 lbs Clothes
Polo 1 0.8 lbs Clothes
External hard drive 1 0.95 lbs Computers

Grouping None [no grouping]

Each cart item will be analyzed separately:

Product Quantity Weight Rule #1 Cost
Shirt (size S variation) 1 0.5 lbs Min. 1 lb:
/
Shirt (size L variation) 1 0.6 lbs Min. 1 lb:
/
Shirt (size L variation) 1 0.6 lbs Min. 1 lb:
/
Polo 1 0.8 lbs Min. 1 lb:
/
External hard drive 1 0.95 lbs Min. 1 lb:
/
Rule #1 cost:

Note that even the two shirts L-sized are analyzed separately. This rule will not be taken because no product matches the selection criterion.

Important: If no rules to apply, because no product matches the selection criteria, the shipping method will be disabled for that cart.

Grouping Per ID / SKU

With the ID / SKU criterion, the variations are still analyzed separately, but grouped the products that are identical :

Product Quantity Weight Grouped weight Rule #1 Cost
Shirt (size S variation) 1 0.5 lbs 0.5 lbs Min. 1 lb:
/
Shirt (size L variation) 1 0.6 lbs 1.2 lbs Min. 1 lb:
$1 * 2 =
$2
Shirt (size L variation) 1 0.6 lbs
Polo 1 0.8 lbs 0.8 lbs Min. 1 lb:
/
External hard drive 1 0.95 lbs 0.95 lbs Min. 1 lb:
/
Rule #1 cost: $2

Note that only products that matches the selection criteria impact on the cost of the rule.

If one or more product (group in this case) matches the selection, the rule applies, and it will enable the shipping method for that cart.

Grouping Per product [group variations]

With the Per product [group variations] criterion, products that are the same, including variations, are grouped together:

Product Quantity Weight Grouped weight Rule #1 Cost
Shirt (size S variation) 1 0.5 lbs 1.7 lbs Min. 1 lb:
$1 * 3 =
$3
Shirt (size L variation) 1 0.6 lbs
Shirt (size L variation) 1 0.6 lbs
Polo 1 0.8 lbs 0.8 lbs Min. 1 lb:
/
External hard drive 1 0.95 lbs 0.95 lbs Min. 1 lb:
/
Rule #1 cost: $3

Note that the shirt S-sized itself does not match the selection criterion, but if it is grouped with the other two L-sized, it does.

Grouping Per shipping class

With the Per shipping class criterion, all clothing will be analyzed as a single group, and the hard disk as a second group:

Product Quantity Weight Shipping class Grouped weight Rule #1 Cost
Shirt (size S variation) 1 0.5 lbs Clothes 2.5 lbs Min. 1 lb:
$1 * 4 =
$4
Shirt (size L variation) 1 0.6 lbs Clothes
Shirt (size L variation) 1 0.6 lbs Clothes
Polo 1 0.8 lbs Clothes
External hard drive 1 0.95 lbs Computers 0.95 lbs Min. 1 lb:
/
Rule #1 cost: $4

Grouping All grouped as one

And finally, with the criterion All grouped as one, the whole cart will be grouped as one:

Product Quantity Weight Shipping class Grouped weight Rule #1 Cost
Shirt (size S variation) 1 0.5 lbs Clothes 3.45 lbs Min. 1 lb:
$1 * 5 =
$5
Shirt (size L variation) 1 0.6 lbs Clothes
Shirt (size L variation) 1 0.6 lbs Clothes
Polo 1 0.8 lbs Clothes
External hard drive 1 0.95 lbs Computers
Rule #1 cost: $5

And ... what about the other selection methods?

Products can be grouped, in the same way as we have seen with weight, to:

And can't be grouped (always take the products one by one) the next ones:

  • Price
  • Weight
  • Volume
  • Cart items
  • Volumetric calculation [PRO]
  • Min dimension
  • Mid dimension
  • Max dimension
  • Length+Width+Height [PRO]
  • In shipping class / NOT In shipping class
  • In category / NOT In category [PRO]
  • Tagged as / NOT Tagged as [PRO]

Why can't they be grouped? Well, relative to size, it would not make sense to sum the dimensions of the products. And about taxonomies, different products may belong to different taxonomies, so they cannot be considered together. In any case, it will be taken product per product.

Different grouping criteria on each condition [PRO]

In the PRO version, a different grouping for each condition can be set.

Let's say we want to set a flat shipping cost of $10 if the cart has more than 4 products, discarding those weighing more than a pound:

You must first uncheck the option to group globally:

Uncheck global group-by

And this would be the shipping rules table, with differentiated grouping options:

Shipping rules with diferentiate grouping options

All the control

Special Actions allow you to modify the execution of the rules or send messages to your customers:

Special Actions

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