Table of Contents

Rating Maps

Cory M. Updated by Cory M.

Rating Maps are used by ShipStream in a handful of different ways:

  • to provide real-time rate quotes over the rating API or to third-party integrations such as Shopify
  • to inform the Rate Shopping process when resolving Virtual Shipping Methods
  • to inform multi-warehouse order allocation algorithms like Simple Cheapest and Simple Fastest

The types of Rating Maps are

  • Zone Maps – map a country and postal code to a rating zone
  • Days In Transit Maps – define the number of days a shipment is expected to take to arrive when shipped to a given destination country and postal code
  • Delivery Area Surcharge Maps – define what type of delivery area surcharge (DAS) applies to a given destination country and postal code

These maps are uploaded for each warehouse as the origin and one or more shipping services for a given carrier. For example, the Zone Map will likely be different for UPS Ground and FedEx Ground as well as from one origin warehouse versus another.

Format the Data

When the rating data is extracted from a carrier, it may not be in a format that ShipStream can readily understand. To fix this, there are some formatting steps that must be taken to successfully import the carrier rating data into ShipStream for Rate Shopping to work.

Postcode Format

The postcode field in the data set can be set to a single 5-digit postcode, a range of postcodes with 1-5 digits, or a wildcard denoted with an asterisk ( * ). The examples below are valid formats for postcode entries:

  • 1-2 (10000 through 29999)
  • 004-005 (00400 through 00599)
  • 400-400 (40000 through 40099)
  • 48752 (only postcode 48752)
  • * (All postcodes within the specified country)

Zone Maps

Zone Maps are sets of pre-defined zone numbers assigned to postcodes or postcode ranges. To gather zone data, please refer to the carrier you are setting up. Here are three zone chart resources to get started:

Format the Zone Map using the example file provided (sample_zone_map.csv) as a guide.

EXAMPLE ZONE MAP:

country

postcode

zone

US

501-501

1

FM

*

2

US

10065

3

US

1007-1014

3

Days In Transit Maps

Days In Transit Maps are sets of pre-defined distances (in days) from the origin to the specified postcode or postcode ranges.

Format the Days In Transit Map using the example file provided (sample-days-in-transit-map.csv) as a guide.

EXAMPLE DAYS IN TRANSIT MAP:

country

postcode

days

US

501-501

1

FM

*

1

US

10065

2

US

1007-1014

2

DAS Maps

DAS Maps, or Delivery Area Surcharge Maps are sets of zip codes or zip code ranges to which a carrier will likely charge a surcharge, such as if they are on an island or otherwise far out of the way of normal delivery routes.

ShipStream defines the following DAS types, which correspond to a single letter in the map:

  • "D" for regular DAS
  • "E" for Extended DAS
  • "A" for Alaska
  • "H" for Hawaii

Format the DAS Map by starting with the example file (sample_das_map.csv).

While it may be tempting to just do this once, please be aware that carriers may periodically update their DAS definitions, and countries may periodically add new postal codes, so please ask the account manager with your carrier about the frequency of their updates.

EXAMPLE DAS MAP:

country

postcode

das

US

501-501

D

FM

*

E

US

10065

E

US

1007-1014

E

How to Add Maps

  1. To add a Zone or DAS Map, first navigate to Billing > Zone/DAS Maps.
  2. Click Add New Map.
  3. Select the name of the Stock location that the map will be relative to.
  4. Choose the appropriate Map Type.
  5. Select the Carrier you are constructing a rate map for.
  6. Choose the Services that are applicable for this rate map.
  7. Click Choose File to import your DAS, Zone, or Days in Transit Map using the formats mentioned above.
Sample DAS Map, Zone Map, and Days In Transit Map files are provided as templates for the user to modify and upload.

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