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Shipping Methods

You can find this section under Shipping > Shipping Methods in the IRP Admin left navigation menu.

Shipping Methods are the services that you will use to ship products to your customers. You can set up Shipping Methods for all services provided by any courier.

Intersoft

IRP Commerce has partnered with Intersoft, a complete multi-carrier shipping integration solution, to enable the full and complete integration of Royal Mail, FedEx, DPD UK, DHL and other multiple carriers into the IRP order flow. Using Intersoft will allow all shipping actions to be implemented without leaving the IRP and provide substantial efficiency savings for all in-house dispatch operations where dispatch teams previously had to enter order data, print labels and pay for them from a separate system.

We are confident that this integration will help IRP clients to save money in real terms by introducing efficiency into their order processing via the IRP. It should allow teams to put any current time wasted on manual input and logging into different systems to better use.

For more details, see the How to Set Up the Intersoft Shipping Integration on the IRP help topic.

Parcelforce

Currently, IRP Commerce also provides a standalone Parcelforce integration. This is available for use, Free of Charge, for as long as it is supported by Parcelforce. If a time arrives in the future where Parcelforce require a change to this integration for it to continue to function, the Parcelforce Label solution will be migrated into the IRP Intersoft Shipping Gateway Licence and provided as a service from within this gateway along with the other carriers mentioned above.

Note on Royal Mail COSS
The Customer Own System Solution (COSS) from Royal Mail integration is currently being deprecated. This solution has been superseded by Intersoft and will therefore no longer be supported. Please contact your IRP Account Manager for more information.

ShippingMethods.aspx page

The ShippingMethods.aspx page appears as follows:

IRP Admin image

This shows the following details:

  • ID: The unique IRP identifier for this Shipping Method, created automatically by the IRP.
  • Priority: This is used when printing order sheets. Higher-priority Shipping Methods will have their sheets printed first. If priority shipping does not apply to your dispatch process, set this value to 0.
  • Carrier: The carrier to be used to provide shipping services.
  • Display Name: The name of this Shipping Method that will appear on the front end of the website.
  • Average Shipping Cost: The average ex-tax cost of this Shipping Method as charged to your company.
  • Label BackGround: This shows the label background for this Shipping Method, if one has been configured.
  • [Delete check box]: Check this box to select a Shipping Method for deletion. Subsequently, click the Delete Selected Shipping Methods button.
  • Create Label: Click this button to create an Ad-Hoc Postage Label for this Shipping Method. This takes you to the ShippingAdHocLabelEdit.aspx page – see the Ad-Hoc Postage Label help topic for more information.
  • Edit: Click this button to make changes to a Shipping Method configuration. For more details, see the How To articles below.

Overview video

Note: Currently videos are not maintained in line with each software release and therefore features may work slightly differently from the way they are shown.

How To Guides (6)

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How To Add or Edit a Basic Non-Integrated Shipping Method
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How to Set Up the Intersoft Shipping Integration on the IRP
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How to Add or Edit an Intersoft Shipping Method
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How To Set Up Parcelforce Shipping Integration
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How To Set Up Royal Mail COSS (DEPRECATED)

NOTE ON ROYAL MAIL COSS

The Customer Own System Solution (COSS) from Royal Mail integration is currently being deprecated. This solution has been superseded by Intersoft and will therefore no longer be supported. Please contact your IRP Account Manager for more information.


To set up Royal Mail COSS, follow these steps:

Step 1: Update Global Application Settings

Enter correct values for the following Application Settings. You will find these first ones in the ‘Shipping – Royal Mail’ grouping:

  • Royal Mail Account Number: This is the Account Number to be displayed on Royal Mail manifests printed from the IRP Admin. This is allocated by Royal Mail to be used throughout COSS integration. 10 characters.
  • Royal Mail Default Tracking URL: Enter the web address for tracking deliveries using Tracking Codes generated by integration. 255 character limit.
  • Royal Mail Posting Location Number: This is allocated by Royal Mail and used in Sales Order Summaries as well as in the Type 3 Pre-advice files. 10 characters.
  • Royal Mail Receiving Hub: This is allocated by Royal Mail and used in the Type 3 Pre-advice files. 4 characters.
  • Royal Mail Wire Number: This is allocated by Royal Mail to be used when naming any Type 3 Pre-advice files. 4 characters.
  • Royal Mail Content Description: Enter a brief description of the type of goods being shipped. 30 character limit.

You will find this one in the ‘Shipping’ grouping:

  • Shipping Return Address: You can enter this address against Stock Locations or enter the address here to govern the Return Address that needs to be printed on Royal Mail labels. Note that you should add the Country Code to this address instead of the Country Name, for example, enter ‘GB’ instead of ‘United Kingdom’ as in the following example:
    Shipping Return Address Application Setting

Step 2: Add Parcel Types

If you have standard packages that you use to Dispatch Orders, add these using the Parcel Types section in IRP Admin.

Weight (g) is most important Parcel Type setting for Royal Mail. This determines the starting Weight of a Parcel before the items have been added:

Parcel Types screen

Step 3: Add Royal Mail Shipping Methods Based on Services Used

In the Shipping Methods section of IRP Admin, proceed as follows:

A. Set Royal Mail Properties Against the Shipping Method

  • Service Type: This is the type of Service being added. International Products should be marked – this determines what is rendered on the Sales Order Summary as well as in the Type 3 Pre-advice file.
  • Product Code: This is the Royal Mail code for the Service being added. You can obtain Product Codes from the COSS Spec 01 Product Guide – Appendix 1 — contact Support for more information.
  • Mail Format: This links directly to the Product Code and can be found in the COSS Spec 03 – Barcodes and Tracking Numbers Appendix 3 — contact Support for more information.
  • Mail Class: This links directly to the Product Code and can be found in the COSS Spec 03 – Barcodes and Tracking Numbers Appendix 3 — contact Support for more information.
  • Tracking Codes: This is applicable only for Tracked Services. You can find test values in the COSS Spec 03 – Barcodes and Tracking Numbers — contact Support for more information.
  • Tracked: This is NOT a requirement in COSS v2.
  • Signed For: This is used in 2D Barcodes printed on Postage Labels. This can usually be determined from the Product Name itself.
  • Account Number: Only set this against a Shipping Method if it differs from the default value stored in the ‘Royal Mail Account Number’ Application Setting.
  • Contract Number: (Optional) This is allocated by Royal Mail for applicable Products.

Here is an example COSS Shipping Method configuration in IRP Admin:

Example COSS Shipping Method configuration

B. Set Default Parcel Type Against the Shipping Method

Add the Parcel Type from Step 2 above, otherwise the default weight of Parcel will be 0.

C. Upload Label Background for the Shipping Method

The key points are as follows:

  • Label designs are specific to the Service being added.
  • You can find Service-specific designs in the COSS Spec 01 Product Guide – Appendix 1 — contact Support for more information.
  • You can download Label templates from the Label Customisation tab on the Shipping Method edit page.
  • You can download Label graphics from the Label Customisation tab on the Shipping Method edit page.
  • Remember to remove horizontal lines from template file images once you have added components to background images. The system automatically prints dividing lines where necessary and the lines on the template are only there for a guide.
  • Certain Shipping Methods require a second dividing line to be drawn – refer to the following documents for details: COSS Spec 01 Product Guide – Appendix 1 and COSS Spec 02 – Label Designs — contact Support for more information.

Here is an example COSS Postage Label Customisation in IRP Admin:

COSS Postage label Customisation

Step 4: Set EU Member Countries

Type 3 Pre-advice files require extra records for non-EU member Countries. By default, every IRP Shipping Country will be set up as a non-EU member.

To ensure that EU member Shipping Countries are correctly identified, go to Shipping Countries in IRP Admin and tick the ‘Is EU Member Country’ checkbox against any Shipping Country that is a member of the EU. (For a list of EU Member Countries, visit the European Union website.)

Here is an example Shipping Country configuration in IRP Admin:

Shipping Country configuration
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How To Set Up Royal Mail Shipping Integration (DEPRECATED)

FAQs (1)

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With Parcelforce, what do I do if a Shipping Method has specific settings that are different to the global ExpressLink Application Settings, for example if there is a different Contract Number ?
If, for example, you are supplied with two shipping Contract IDs from Parcelforce, add the main one with the most services attached to it in the Parcelforce Application Settings, and the second code behind the other Shipping Method in the Shipping Methods section. You can edit the Shipping Method as follows:

1. In the ‘Parcelforce’ section of the ShippingMethodEdit.aspx screen, check the box for ‘Method has Unique Settings’.
2. Add the different setting, for example the Contract Number.
3. Click ‘Update Shipping Method’.

All default Parcelforce settings can be amended in this way if a particular method has a unique variant on the value.
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