Shipping Carriers

#Overview

CMS Max supports shipping through USPS, UPS, and FedEx. Each carrier has different strengths depending on the size and destination of your shipments. Understanding their surcharges and refund policies helps you make the best choice for your business.

#Carrier Comparison

General guidance: Use USPS for lightweight packages going to residential addresses. Use UPS or FedEx for heavier shipments, business-to-business deliveries, or when a guaranteed delivery time is required.

#USPS

#When to Use

USPS is the most cost-effective option for small, lightweight packages delivered to residential addresses. It has no residential surcharge and no fuel adjustment fees, which makes it significantly cheaper than UPS or FedEx for packages under 1 pound going to homes.

USPS also has a legal obligation to deliver to every US address, including rural and remote locations that other carriers may charge extra to reach.

#Required Information

Sender email address and phone number are required when generating USPS labels.

#Refund Policy

If you create a shipping label but don't use it, you can void it within 30 days for a refund. USPS verifies that the label was never scanned into the mail stream before issuing the credit. Refunds are held for 14 days before being applied.

#UPS

#When to Use

UPS performs well for heavier packages (over 10 lbs) and business-to-business deliveries. It offers fast guaranteed service options and a post-billed model — you are only charged for labels that are actually scanned into the UPS network.

#Surcharges to Expect

• Residential delivery surcharge: Approximately $5.00 or more per package
• Fuel surcharge: Approximately 15% or more (the rate changes weekly)

These surcharges can add up on high-volume residential shipping. Factor them in when comparing rates with USPS.

#Refund Policy

Unused labels can be voided within 90 days (for direct accounts). Unscanned labels are not charged. Refunds typically process within 10 business days.

#FedEx

#When to Use

FedEx is best for premium overnight delivery, large items, and heavy shipments. It is reliable for commercial deliveries and offers a wide range of time-definite service levels. Direct accounts use a post-billed model.

#Surcharges to Expect

• Residential delivery surcharge: Approximately $5.00 or more per package
• Fuel surcharge: Approximately 15% or more (the rate changes weekly)

#Refund Policy

Unused labels can be voided within 30 days (on third-party platforms). Unscanned labels are not charged. Refunds typically process within a few business days.

#Setting Up Shipping in Your Store

Shipping carrier configuration is available under eCommerce > Store Settings > Shipping. From there you can:

• Enable or disable specific carriers
• Configure available shipping services and rates
• Set up flat-rate or carrier-calculated shipping options
• Define free shipping thresholds

#Limiting Fulfillment Methods for a Product

The Fulfillment Methods tab on a product controls which of your store's fulfillment methods that product can be ordered with. Unchecking a method there means customers cannot check out using it for any cart containing that product. Checkout shows the method as unavailable for that cart; if checkout has a stale selection, it shows an error asking the customer to choose another method or remove the item.

A few things worth knowing:

• Products you have never configured are unrestricted. If you have never touched a product's Fulfillment Methods tab, it stays available through every method your store has enabled. Only a deliberate change on that tab restricts a product.
• The restriction applies to the whole cart. Because an order uses one fulfillment method, a single restricted product blocks that method for everything in the cart.
• Unavailable methods cannot be selected at checkout. Checkout disables any method that is not allowed by every explicitly configured product in the cart, including pickup and custom methods.
• Re-enabling a store method preserves deliberate product choices. When you turn a method back on in store settings, choosing No, Skip leaves it switched off for products that received it from a previous Apply to All, but methods deliberately selected on a product remain enabled.

If you want to remove a method from a product you configured by hand, untick it on that product.

#Setting a Fixed Shipping Price for a Product

The Fixed Shipping Price field is an optional per-product override that appears on the Fulfillment Methods tab whenever Shipping is one of the selected fulfillment methods. It gives you three ways to control shipping cost for a single product:

#How to set it

1. Open the product in the admin panel
2. Go to the Fulfillment Methods tab
3. Make sure Shipping is one of the selected fulfillment methods
4. In the Fixed Shipping Price field, either leave it blank (use standard methods), enter 0 (free shipping for this product), or enter the per-quantity cost
5. Save the product

#How to update products by category

1. Open eCommerce > Products and choose Bulk Edit
2. Filter the products by Category
3. Under Columns, enable either Shipping Enabled or Fixed Shipping Price; selecting either one displays both columns
4. Select Shipping Enabled for each product that should support shipping. The price field remains disabled until Shipping is enabled
5. Enter a fixed price for each product you want to update, or clear the field to restore standard shipping
6. Select Save Changes

You can enter 0 for free shipping, a positive per-quantity amount, or leave the field blank to use the standard shipping methods. Turning off Shipping Enabled clears the fixed shipping price while preserving the product's other fulfillment methods.

These columns are available only when Shipping is enabled in the store's fulfillment settings.

#How a fixed price behaves in the cart

When a customer adds a fixed-price product to their cart, shipping for those items is Fixed Shipping Price × quantity and is added to whatever standard shipping methods apply to the rest of the cart. The customer just sees the carrier name (e.g., "UPS Ground") with the combined total — they don't see a separate "Fixed Shipping" line.

If the cart contains ONLY fixed-shipping-priced products, the customer sees a single shipping option labeled "Shipping".

Free-shipping-threshold does NOT apply to fixed-price items — they are always charged the fixed amount.