Shipping

NOTE: If you run crowdfunding on Gamefound, shipping can be set up only after a successful crowdfunding campaign. The option will appear after the crowdfunding ends. If you imported your project from an external crowdfunding platform, you can start setting up shipping right away. Remember that if you import your project, all rewards and add-ons are called "products."

To edit shipping settings, go to "Project," choose "Dashboard," then "Project," "Settings," and click "Shipping." You’ll see a dropdown menu with all shipping settings.

Below, you'll find a specific setup example for shipping.

One of the common setups is by both pledge size and backer location. If you need more information about shipping setup, each element is described in detail below.

To set the shipping costs, you need to set the locations first (Go to "Project settings," then "Shipping & taxes" and "Locations"). They are automatically preset according to continents, but you can rearrange them or disable the countries you do not want to send your products to. In the case of "Sublocations" ("Project settings," "Shipping & taxes," "Subocations"), they refer to the states in the USA (each state is treated separately because there are different tax values in every state).

Once you set up the locations, you can move to "Shipping models." In "Shipping models," you can set different types of shipping (e.g., standard, courier, personal pickup) and set the zone availability for each added model (e.g., disable courier shipping for Australia).

Then, the question is: do you want to ship by quantity, by weight, or both?

NOTE: You do not need "Shipping stages" if you ship everything in one wave.

Setting shipping prices "by weight"

Once you set the "Locations" and "Shipping models," go to "Shipping zones," where you can set the weight range and price for each location.

Setting shipping prices "by quantity"

Once you set the "Locations" and "Shipping models," go to "Shipping cost rules," add a shipping cost rule, and set the shipping prices for every location.

Checking shipping calculation

When you set up the locations, shipping models, shipping zones/shipping cost rules, you need to ensure that every product has the right shipping calculation selected. Choose a product ( "Products," "Rewards," or "Add-ons" and go to "Reward settings" (or "Product settings" in the case of add-ons) and "Shipping." Then, set the calculation mode to "by weight" or to "by quantity," depending on your needs.

If you choose "by quantity," choose the shipping calculation rule from the list. If you chose "by weight," you need to fill in the weight in the text box above.

Then you can go to "Project," "Settings," "Shipping & taxes," and "Shipping calculation" and check if the prices are calculated correctly.

NOTE: products (or add-ons) that are part of a reward have lower priority than the reward itself. So if the shipping cost of the reward is, e.g., 30$ and the pieces of the set have their prices of, e.g., $5, $7, $2, the final shipping price will be $30, because the price of the reward items is not taken into account when calculating the shipping cost of the reward.

Shipping models

In "Shipping models," you can add and edit available shipping methods. Click "+ add a shipping model" and fill in the shipping model information:

The shipping model defines the shipment options available to backers. If you want to give people the option to choose between, for example, the economic and courier shipment, or a single-wave or two-wave shipment, this is the place where you need to set it up. You can also add a description. The description will be displayed as a tooltip next to the shipping model when choosing the shipping method. The shipping model will appear when a backer chooses the shipping method while submitting a pledge. You can also define the shipping stage, zone availability, or change other settings by clicking the description or shipping model name:

Here, you can change the model name and description.

"Enabled" defines if this option is available to backers. You can disable or enable shipping models depending on the shipping methods available to you.

"Default" means that when a backer chooses the shipping model, this option will be chosen by default.

"Order availability" defines if the shipping model is available for specific orders based on their content.

On the left, you'll see a section with "Zone availability." Here, you can add or remove shipping zones for each shipping model. For example, if you can't ship orders using the traditional post to Africa, you have to change the zone settings to "unavailable":

In the general setting, you can also add a flat fee for shipping for this shipping model:

Advanced shipping model settings

To open advanced settings, go to shipping models, click the model you want to edit and click "Show advanced settings" in general settings:

The settings include order availability, restricting availability to specific user groups, applying handling fees, and using volumetric weight.

Order availability

This setting defines how this model is available to backers at checkout based on its content. You can set up availability for all orders, orders with at least one item belonging to any of the shipping stages linked to this model, or orders where all items belong to shipping stages linked to this model.

Restrict availability to specific user groups

This setting defines which user groups can choose this shipping model at checkout.

Apply handling fee

Some shipping hubs require a flat fee for handling shipping and now you can add it here. It will be added to the order shipping cost.

Use volumetric weight

This setting enables the calculation of the shipping cost using volumetric weight. The system will select the higher weight between actual and volumetric when determining the shipping cost of an order item.

Shipping zones

In "Shipping zones," you can add where you’ll ship your pledges with a description of the zone - this is the place where you set up only shipping by weight. Here, you can also add your own zone; you don't have to use only predefined ones. You can also define the shipping cost for every model in each zone. Click the three dots icon and choose "View details". You’ll see the following window:

You can add the cost of shipping for different weights of packages by clicking "add a weight range."

NOTE: If you want to use the conditional shipping cost, you have to set up the weight-based shipment cost here and remember to add weight to each product in product settings.

If you set up a few ranges, for example, 3, 5, and 10kg, they will include the following weights:

3 - from 0 to 2.99kg

5 - from 3 to 4.99kg

10 - from 5 to 9.99kg

Locations

In "Locations," you can add tax settings, and define if you ship to this location. You can also move locations to shipping zones. Here, you also define a default tax rate to use in sublocations.

In "Sublocations," there's a list of all states in the USA. You can choose which states/APO/FPO you want to send your products to. Here, you can also define the tax rate for each state or use a default one (you can set up the default tax rate in Locations).

Shipping stages

In "Shipping stages," you define and edit how the pledges will be sent. You can add a 1 or 2 wave shipping stage, etc. You can change your pledge status here, add a description and estimated shipping date:

If you want to define which products will be shipped in each stage, click the three-dot icon and then click "Add a product to this stage." "Is final" means that this is the last wave of shipment. In this stage, everything that's left to send has to be shipped. The backer sees the estimated shipping date while placing an order. The "unspecified" status is set as long as backers can make pledges. When you change the status, it will trigger generating invoices and you won't be able to change it back. But you still can edit, add and remove items.

NOTE: 1 wave shipping means that the creator sends out all pledges at once, meaning that sometimes it may take a long time to complete all versions of the project (localization, meeples). So, there’s also a 2 wave stage, meaning that the pledge will be sent out in 2 waves: 1 wave when the main part of the pledge (usually the core box) is ready, and 2 wave when other elements are ready (a localized version of the game, meeples). In the case of 2 wave shipping, backers get two packages. There may be more waves. The creator decides how many and what will be sent in each wave.

NOTE: If you set up shipping stages and won't pick any in shipping models, stages won't be applied to the models.

Shipping cost rules

In "Shipping cost rules" you define how the shipping cost will be calculated for every piece of the pledge:

Click "Add a shipping cost rule," and define the product name, and add a description. It's recommended to add a shipping rule for every available product and name the shipping cost rule with the product's name, and choose the shipping behavior (rule).

There are 3 types of rules:

Neutral - is used for projects that calculate shipping based on product weight

Forced by quantity shipping - in this rule, the cost of shipping increases linearly. Each product added to a pledge increases the cost of shipping by a specific value (you can add exceptions). For this rule to work, you need to set up the shipping cost calculation of a product to "by quantity." You can define the shipping cost for each shipping model and zone by clicking the three-dot icon on the right and then "View details." It will open the following window:

As you can see, you can choose which shipping model to edit at the top of the window. To change the shipping cost of zones, click the pencil icon next to the zone name and enter the shipping price. Apart from the base price for each zone, you can also add an additional item price as well. An additional price for shipping is used for quantity shipping when someone orders more than one item of the same type. Then, the shipping is calculated as the base price for ordering one item and the additional price for any extra one. So, if a backer ordered 3 core boxes with a base price of 5$ and an additional price of 1$, it means that the shipping will cost the base price + 2x the additional price.

NOTE: for most shipping configurations, you don't need to use conditional shipping. Please contact your account manager if you have any questions about how to set up the shipping configuration for your project.

Conditional Shipping Costs - this rule should be used in cases when a creator wants to set up a minimum shipping cost for small orders and use this option if they want to add an additional shipping cost rule for pledges that weigh less or are smaller than usual pledges and because of that the shipping cost may be below the shipment cost they can send the parcel for. This way, depending on the content of the pledge, shipping will be calculated based on weight or quantity. The conditional shipment rule allows defining a minimum shipping cost when the weight of the order components is below the minimum weight value. For example, if you set the cost of shipping of a pledge to be up to 5kg for Europe to 5$, the cost of shipping will not change unless the weight is over 5kg. If the pledge is heavier than 5kg, the shipping cost will be calculated based on quantity. For this rule to work, you have to set up product shipping settings to "by quantity."

To set up conditional shipping, you have to:

- choose "conditional shipping" in shipping cost rules and item settings for all items that are not core pledge (rewards, add-ons, etc.)

- set up weight for ALL items (not only the items you want to set as conditional, but every item - the weight of the order needs to be calculated based on its full content)

- set up weight and price ranges based on the value of the lowest pledge in "shipping zones" (described above). For example, if a core pledge weighs 2kg and its shipping to Africa costs 30$, you have to set up the price and weight range to be 2kg and 30$:

NOTE: After you set up shipping options, you need to apply "Calculation rules" for each product. Otherwise, the shipping cost may not be calculated correctly.

In "Shipping calculation," you can use our "Shipping calculation tool" to calculate the cost of shipping automatically.