Federal Express - FedEx Web Services integration

The FedEx Web Services integration enables you to integrate dynamic FedEx® shipping capabilities into your ProductCart store. The integration with the new API was completed in May of 2012. Update to ProductCart v4.6 and above to take full advantage of the new FedEx API, including the ability to print FedEx labels.

1. Update your version of ProductCart to v4.6 or above.
2. Navigate to ”Shipping > Add or View Shipping Services” from the ProductCart main menu
3. Select “FedEx Web Services” and click “Activate”
4. Fill out the “FedEx Web Services Shipping Configuration” form and click “Continue”. Note: you do NOT need any special FedEx keys, codes, or meter numbers: ProductCart will take care of the complicated stuff behind the scenes for you. The only FedEx identifier that you will need is your FedEx account number, which needs to be inserted at the top of the form.
5. Select the FedEx services you want to enable and click “Continue”
6. Select your shipping preferences. More details on each option can be found below.
7. That is all! You are done.

You can select from a variety of shipping services provided by FedEx, and for each of them, you can specify an order amount above which a service will be provided to your customers for free (e.g. Free FedEx Ground for all orders that exceed $100), and additional shipping and handling fees.

If you plan to use ground delivery options, make sure to select both FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery. The former is used to deliver packagers to commercial addresses, the latter to residential addresses. If you only selected one of the two, and a customer on your store specified an address type that is not compatible with the service you selected, no rates would be returned. For example, if you only checked FedEx Ground, and a customer indicated that his/her shipping address is Residential, no ground rates would be returned.

You can enable several Express Freight options.

• FedEx 1Day® Freight: next business day
• FedEx 2Day® Freight: 2 business days
• FedEx 3Day® Freight: 3 business days
• FedEx International Priority Freight®: 1, 2 or 3 business days
• FedEx International Economy® Freight: within 5 business days

For details on which shipments these services apply to:

1. Visit http://www.fedex.com/us/service-guide/our-services/express-freight-us/index.html
2. On the left-side navigation, click on “US Freight” (or click on “International Freight” for more information on the international freight options)
3. Click on “Time-definite Delivery”
4. Click on each service for detailed information

You have the ability to select the type of package that your orders are typically shipped in. If you are using your own packaging to ship products (which is the most common scenario), specify a default package size using the appropriate input fields. This size should be the most common size for the majority of packages that you ship. Length is the longest side of the package.

For products that are always shipping by themselves (e.g. particularly large packaging), you can use the Oversized Package settings, which is set at the product level. ProductCart extends the Oversized feature to shipping charges calculation via FedEx (see Shipping Oversized Items with UPS, FedEx and USPS). So when you add or modify a product, you can enable the Oversized option, which will have the following three consequences on shipping rates calculation:

1. The product will be flagged as Oversized (this may trigger extra shipping charges).
2. The product-specific package dimensions entered on the add/modify product page will replace the default package size mentioned above.
3. The product will be regarded as a separate package (e.g. if a customer purchases 3 units of the product, ProductCart will calculate rates for 3 separate packages).

Packages are measured as package length plus girth:

(length + ((width x 2) + (height x 2)))

The following information about oversized packages is provided by FedEx (contact your FedEx account manager if you have additional questions or to confirm that this information is still accurate):

• A package weighing less than 30 lbs. and measuring more than 84 inches and equal to or less than 108 inches in combined length and girth will be classified as an Oversize 1 (OS1) package. The transportation charges for an Oversize 1 (OS1) package will be the same as a 30-lb. package being transported under the same circumstances.
• A package weighing less than 50 lbs. and measuring more than 108 inches in combined length and girth will be classified as an Oversize 2 (OS2) package. The transportation charges for an Oversize 2 (OS2) package will be the same as a 50-lb. package being transported under the same circumstances.

To use the order total (total of products listed in the shopping cart) as the amount to insure, choose Use Dynamic Insurance Rate. If you are not using Dynamic Insurance Rate, you can set a Flat Rate as the amount to insure, and that amount will be used for every FedEx rate calculation in the storefront. The default flat rate will be set to $100.00 if one is not set and you have not selected to use Dynamic Insurance Rate.

Specify how packages are typically picked up or dropped off. If you are unsure of what the correct selection is for your FedEx account, please contact your FedEx account representative.

Select the type of rates that will be displayed to your customers. This feature only affects the FedEx rates displayed in the storefront. If you are unsure of whether you are eligible for Discount Rates on your FedEx account, please contact your FedEx account representative.

• List Rates are usually higher than Discount Rates.
• Your account may or may not be eligible for Discount Rates. If it is, you can basically decide whether to pass the discount onto your customers or not.
• Discount Rates + Multiweight Ground Rates

Multiweight Ground rates are available by contract only. Contact your FedEx account executive for more information. They apply to multiple-piece shipments when the total shipment weighs 200 lbs. or more. A shipment average minimum package weight applies and varies by contract. Multiply the per-pound rate by total shipment weight and divide by 100.

In a nutshell, multiweight rates will be returned (assuming you have a contract with FedEx that includes this service) when the shipment hits the 200 lbs. minimum requirement, and the rate is lower than the customer's regular discounts. FedEx will always return the better rate.

The ability to finalize a shipment and print a FedEx label from within ProductCart is not yet available as part of the new integration with the FedEx Web Services as of October, 2011. Unfortunately, the related certification process requires a significant amount of work (over 100 labels that need to be individually created and either digitally or physically sent to FedEx), and there was simply not enough time to complete this project as part of ProductCart v4.5 (which introduced the integration with the FedEx Web Services).

We understand that being able to process a FedEx shipment from within ProductCart is very convenient. However, it is not clear to us how many ProductCart merchants are really using this feature. Please contact Early Impact if you are using this feature or were planning to use this feature.

In the meantime, you have 2 options for FedEx label printing:

• Export to Ship Manager: ProductCart v4.5 includes a new feature that allows you to export order information and import it in the FedEx Ship Manager. You can then process the shipment and print the label there (including thermal label printing). There is one limitation: this feature does not export package information (if any), so if the shipment requires multiple packages, you will need to address this manually within the FedEx Ship Manager.
• Export to QuickBooks: If you use the handy ProductCart Synchronizer for QuickBooks, then you can take advantage of the integration between QuickBooks and the FedEx Ship Manager. NOTE that starting in QuickBooks 2007, the QuickBooks Shipping Manager supports multi-package shipments.

If a tracking number is associated with a shipment (e.g. you imported information about shipped orders), the order details page in the ProductCart customer account area in the storefront will include a link to tracking the shipment. The link will take the customer to the FedEx Web site and will automatically include the tracking number.