Calcurates

Showing the right delivery options at checkout

An online shop that charges too little for delivery loses money, and one that charges too much loses the sale. Calcurates is a multi-carrier shipping tool for stores on Magento, WooCommerce and Shopify that decides which delivery methods appear at checkout and what each one costs. It began as an Amasty product, and the vendor describes it today as an all-in-one storefront shipping solution that can replace a pile of separate plugins which may not work well together.

How rates are worked out

Merchants can set up their own shipping methods and areas, use table rates, or pull real-time quotes from carriers. Dimensional or volumetric weight is supported, so charges can reflect the size of a parcel and not just its weight, and a smart packaging feature considers how items fit together. Rules and restrictions control which methods are offered for which orders, for instance by destination, product or basket. In-store pickup can be offered as an option, and shipping can also be shown on product pages before the customer reaches checkout.

Telling customers what to expect

The tool can calculate estimated delivery dates from custom rules or take them from the major carriers, and it lets the shop add an explanatory message to every method. For orders shipped abroad it can estimate duties and taxes and include them in the rate, so overseas customers are not surprised by extra costs on delivery. Where a platform is not on its list of integrations, the vendor offers an API-based route and documentation.

A service as well as software

The vendor says it works with merchants personally: it offers calls, a configuration service and support it describes as quick. Its pricing flexes with sales, so the cost rises as the shop sells more. A free trial of fifteen days is advertised. The company also says its team brings experience from years in e-commerce, and that agencies have used it to sort out the shipping needs of large UK clients.

Who uses it

Merchants and the developers who build their stores, from small online shops to agencies working on behalf of bigger retailers.