How checkout prices a cart
How Parcello packs a cart, splits it into shipments, chooses parcel or freight, and adds your surcharges to build each checkout option.
Available on the Advanced plan and higher. Compare plans
Updated October 13, 2026
When a customer reaches the shipping step, Parcello packs the cart, rates each shipment with your carriers, and adds your surcharges. This page explains each step so you can predict the prices customers see.
1. Packing
Parcello packs the cart with the same rules it uses for orders: each product’s boxes, max quantity per box, box weight and piece limits, alternative boxes, carton packs, shared boxes and ride-along items, and on the Operations plan, automatic packing. A cart quotes the boxes its order would get. See How Parcello packs an order.
Items that don’t need shipping are skipped.
2. One shipment or several
Parcello groups the boxes into shipments: one per ship-from location and carrier. Each product’s carrier comes from the Products page, then your store’s default carrier, then the first carrier ticked for checkout.
One shipment. Checkout shows that carrier’s own services, as set in its Checkout rates section on the Carriers page: the ticked services, in your rank order, with your names. If that carrier returns none of your ticked services, Parcello shows the next ticked carrier’s services for the same boxes.
Several shipments (items from two locations, or products on two carriers). Listing every carrier’s services side by side would be confusing, so checkout shows one option per Customer shipping tier on the Checkout Rates page. By default the tiers are Overnight, 2-Day and Ground. For each tier you pick which service represents it for each carrier, rename the tier with Tier name (shown to customer), and turn it off with Show this tier. Click Save tiers.
For each tier:
- each shipment is rated at its carrier’s service for that tier. If its carrier has no service in the tier, another ticked carrier’s service can stand in for the price.
- the price is the sum of the shipments,
- the date is the latest shipment’s date,
- a tier is offered only if every shipment can ship at it.
Options are listed fastest first. Pick the tier services that match your usual customers: for deliveries to homes, FedEx returns Home Delivery, not Ground.
3. Freight and parcel
On the Freight plan, with Estes or FedEx Freight connected and Surface at checkout ticked on its card, a product ships freight when:
- its carrier on the Products page is Estes (LTL freight) or FedEx Freight (LTL freight), or
- one of its boxes is over parcel limits: longer than 108 inches, length plus girth over 165 inches, or heavier than 150 lb.
A cart uses one freight carrier: the one its freight items are set to on Products when they name only one, otherwise Estes, then FedEx Freight (counting only carriers with Surface at checkout ticked). Each ticked service level of that carrier becomes one checkout option, named after the service (or your display name). The freight price is summed across your locations when freight ships from more than one. If that carrier can’t quote the freight, the cart gets your backup rates: the other freight carrier doesn’t stand in.
If the cart also has parcel items, the Freight card’s Consolidate parcel items onto a freight shipment setting decides what happens to them:
| Setting | Parcel items from a location that ships freight |
|---|---|
| On | They ride the freight shipment and are part of the freight quote. |
| Off | They ship as parcel. Each freight option adds their price at the carrier’s Default service (from Shipment defaults on the carrier card), or the cheapest service if that one isn’t quoted. The date is the later of the two. |
Parcel items from a location with no freight always ship as parcel.
Without the Freight plan or without a freight carrier ticked, large boxes stay parcel. FedEx quotes its air freight services for them; UPS refuses boxes over its limits.
4. Surcharges
For each shipment, Parcello takes the carrier’s price and adds, in this order:
- Surcharge % of the carrier’s price, from the matching column of the carrier’s checkout settings (domestic or international, parcel or air freight).
- Flat per shipment from the same column.
Then, once per option, it adds the Checkout surcharge of every box in the cart, from the Boxes page.
On the Operations plan, Shipping rules run last and can hide options or change their prices. Free shipping runs before them. See Free shipping at checkout and Shipping rules and Try a cart.
Signature
With Require signature on all shipments ticked in Rate settings, Parcello asks each carrier to price signature on delivery. The rate description ends with “Signature required”, and orders placed with that option start with Signature required ticked on their shipments.
If a carrier refuses signature for a lane, Parcello asks again without it so the cart still gets a price. Options built from that answer don’t say “Signature required” and don’t include the fee. With the setting on, freight options say “Signature required” too, because freight is signed for at delivery (unless parcel items riding along were priced without signature).
Declared value and insurance
With Add declared value (UPS, FedEx), Add shipping insurance (Shippo) or Add full-value coverage (Estes) on, the cart’s value is rated with the boxes, so its charge is in the price. FedEx Freight quotes carry no coverage. See column settings.
The description under each option
| Part | Example | When |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Delivery by Fri, Jul 10 | When Show at checkout shows the delivery date. |
| Message | Ships after graphics approval | Instead of the date, when no date is shown and a message is set. |
| Boxes | 3 boxes | Parcel options with more than one box, when Show box count on multi-box shipping options is on. |
| Shipments | 3 boxes in 2 shipments | Parcel options with more than one shipment. With box count off: “2 shipments”. |
| Freight | Freight in 2 boxes, or Freight + Parcel, 3 boxes total | Freight options. With box count off: “Freight” or “Freight + Parcel”. |
| Signature | Signature required | When the price includes signature. |
Parts are joined with ” · ”, for example “Delivery by Fri, Jul 10 · 3 boxes · Signature required”.
Examples
One shipment. UPS quotes Ground at $20.00. The domestic parcel column has Surcharge % 10 and Flat per shipment $2.00. The cart uses one box with a Checkout surcharge of $3.00.
$20.00 + $2.00 (10%) + $2.00 + $3.00 = $27.00
Two shipments. A cart has a product from your East location on UPS and one from your West location on FedEx, same 10% and $2.00 on both carriers. For the Ground tier, UPS quotes $12.00 and FedEx quotes $15.00.
($12.00 + $1.20 + $2.00) + ($15.00 + $1.50 + $2.00) = $33.70 for Ground, with the later of the two delivery dates.
Notes and limits
- Every shipment must get a price. If one shipment can’t be rated by any ticked carrier, Parcello returns no rates and Shopify shows your other or backup rates. See Why checkout shows backup rates.
- The customer’s choice is saved on the order. The order’s Shipping card shows it as “Customer checkout” with the promised date and any signature, declared value or freight options.
- Rate type List quotes the carrier’s published price. The label is still billed at your account’s price.