Why do we buy shipping labels when customer buys them?

[PJ7777]

When someone places an order and selects shipping, they pay for the shipping costs. Why do we have to buy a shipping label?

Also, the labels don't always match the price the customer paid. How do we match the costs?

[artbypino]

Following...

[BernadetteA]

Hi there! 🙂 You charge customers the cost of shipping, and then use the money they have paid you to purchase the label on their behalf. 

How do you have your shipping rules currently setup? Do you use the manual shipping calculator, or are you using the Real Time Shipping feature that is included in the Premium hosting plan? 

It might be helpful if you could provide an example order number where the label cost was not the same as what the customer was quoted. We should be able to give you some pointers based on the type of shipping rule you have setup. 

[nancye]

Hi! I have the same question. I have the premium plan I believe it doesn't include Real time shipping. So, I've set up a manual shipping rate. I set it up for 4 dollars and when I went to print the label I had to pay 7.50. Does this money get taken out of my bank account or how are we buying the labels?

[BernadetteA]

Hi @nancye Thanks for posting, and welcome to the Community. 🙂

If you have the Premium plan you should be using the Real Time Shipping rate instead of manually creating a rate. Can you let us know your site name so we can confirm? 

You will be invoiced for the labels if you are purchasing through your store dashboard, but the cost of the shipment should be included in the total amount the customer pays to you. Both manual and real time rates are considered estimates at checkout, but you will definitely get closer to the exact cost of the label if you use real time rates. 

[nancye]

Hi! I have performance, not premium. I understand that the customer pays for the shipping but how do we take that money and purchase the label? 

[BernadetteA]

The money for the entire checkout will be deposited to your Square account. You would then transfer the funds to your bank account, and use those funds towards your shipping label purchases. 

If you are purchasing labels through your store, you will be invoiced from either Shippo or UPS directly. 

Sellers using USPS, DHL, and FedEx will make payments through Shippo. I believe you would have been prompted to add your billing details when signing up or connecting the Shippo account, but you can learn more about Shippo billing here. 

If you signed up for a UPS account through Square then you will be invoiced from UPS directly. 

Which carrier are you using for your shipments?