How to Setup Table Rates Shipping in Magento (With Video)

When I first read about about table rates shipping in Magento, it seemed a bit complicated but after trying it out, I realized that it’s practical and easy to do.

In the video, I show you how to setup those rates using Excel.

Of course, if you don’t have Excel, it’s not a problem because there are some free programs out there.

Here is a list of country codes for the CSV file, if you need them. For those of you that need state codes for the US, that list is here.

Can’t view the video? Watch it on YouTube

Setup your table rates

To start, go to “System > Configuration”.

Then go to “Sales > Shipping Methods”.

Once on the shipping methods page, expand the ‘table rates’ box and change ‘enabled’ from “No” to “Yes”.

For ‘title’, you can change the default ‘Best Way’, to what ever you’d like — and same goes for ‘method name’.

As for ‘condition’, you can select from:

  • Weight vs. Destination
  • Price vs. Destination
  • # of Items vs. Destination

In the video I demonstrate price vs. destination but the concept is similar for the other 2 options and I promised in the video that I would show an example in this article.

The example below is for those of you that have watched the video and are looking for it.

Here is a weight based example. In this example, I use the weight “0.1875”, “1” and “10”. These weights are in pounds. 0.1875 equals 3 ounces. So this means that shipping on orders that weight from 3 ounces to 1 pound costs x amount. Orders that weight 1 to 10 pounds cost x amount and anything over 10 pounds costs x amount.

Here is a # of Items vs. Destination example. In this example 1 to 20 items costs x amount, 20 to 100 costs x amount and 100 or more items costs x amount for shipping.

For virtual products, you will need to specify whether “Yes” or “No”.

For ‘calculate handling’ fee, you should select “Fixed” if you wish to specify a fixed price handling fee and “Percent” if you’d prefer to charge a percentage.

In the ‘handling fee’ field, specify the handling fee as either a fixed fee or a percentage amount.

As for ‘ship to applicable countries’, you should select either ‘all allowed countries’ or select ‘specific countries’ and then select those countries from the select menu.

If you’d like the table rate method to be shown if not applicable, select “Yes”. If not, select “No”.

Specify a position if you’d like. Shipping methods with a lower number, are shown above shipping methods with a higher number.

Then click the “Save Config” button.

Then from the “Current Configuration Scope” dropdown menu (which is located at the top left of the page), select “Main Website”.

Then go back to the “Table Rates” box and click the “Export CSV” button.

Open that new file and edit the file in a spreadsheet program of your choice. My file looked like this csv file when I finished editing.

Here is a breakdown of each column.

Country column should contain the 3 letter country code.

Region/State column should contain either an asterisk (*) or a 2 letter state code. Note that the asterisk indicates “all” regions or states.

Zip/Postal Code column should contain either an asterisk (*) or the postal code. Note that the asterisk indicates “all” zip/postal codes.

Order Subtotal (and above) contains the order subtotal. For example, if you set 0 in one row, this would indicate 0 or more. If you have another row with 10. It would indicate 0 dollars to 10 dollars and 10 dollars and above.

My other examples show you how things works for # of items (and above) as well as Weight (and above). If you’ve missed these example, they are located here.

After you’ve saved your CSV file, go back to “Admin Panel > System > Configuration > Sales > Shipping Methods”.

In the table rates box, upload your new file and click the “Save Config” button.

Now test your shipping rates to make sure they were entered correctly by adding items to your cart and checking out.