Shipping

Overview

Prometora's shipping feature lets you offer physical product delivery on your marketplace. When enabled, shipping adds:

• Flat rate shipping — a fixed shipping cost per order
• Address collection — buyers enter their shipping address at checkout
• Phone number collection — for delivery coordination
• Deferred payouts — seller funds are held until the order is shipped
• Shipping deadlines — automatic cancellation and refund if sellers don't ship on time

Enabling Shipping

Shipping is available on the Business plan. If you're not yet on Business, see Prometora pricing to compare plans. To turn on shipping for your marketplace:

1. Go to Store Settings → Shipping in your Prometora dashboard
2. Turn on Enable Shipping under 1. Basics
3. Configure your shipping options (described below)

The tab is split into four steps: Basics (shipping on, cart, countries), What buyers pay (flat rate, per-listing cost or Canada Post live rates), Shipping labels (optional carrier labels for sellers) and After the sale (shipping deadline and payout release). Every change saves automatically, and a small “Saved” note confirms it next to the field. The Save Changes bar at the bottom confirms that everything is saved, saves anything you are still typing right away, and lists anything that needs its own button first (such as connecting a label provider).

When shipping is enabled, the checkout flow changes to collect a shipping address and phone number from the buyer. Seller payouts are also deferred until the seller confirms shipment.

Turn Shipping Off Per Listing Type

With shipping enabled, every listing type is treated as shippable by default — including ones that obviously aren't, like a booth or an in-person slot. For those, collecting a shipping address, charging a shipping fee, and deferring the seller's payout “until shipped” doesn't make sense — a booth seller would never get paid.

Each listing type has a Requires shipping toggle in its settings. Switch it off and listings of that type:

• Skip the shipping address step at checkout
• Are not charged a shipping fee (and don't count toward per-seller flat rate in a multi-seller cart)
• Pay the seller right away instead of deferring the payout until shipment

The same toggle decides how custom offers are paid. An offer on a shippable type is charged delivery on top of the agreed price, collects the buyer's address, and holds the seller's payout until the order ships. An offer on a type with shipping off is paid without delivery and the seller is paid right away.

Shipping Mode

Currently, Prometora supports flat rate shipping as the shipping mode. This means every order has the same shipping cost regardless of weight, dimensions, or distance.

Carrier Integrations

On top of flat rate shipping, Prometora supports direct carrier integrations for sellers who want live rates and one-click label creation right from their order dashboard. There are four integrations today. Canada Post gives live rates at checkout. Three label providers work together with flat rate / per-listing pricing. They are Shipmondo for Nordic carriers, ShipStation for UK, US and international carriers, and DPD for a direct DPD UK business account.

Shipping Labels via Shipmondo

Shipmondo is a Nordic shipping aggregator: one account covers GLS, PostNord, dao, Bring, Danske Fragtmænd, DHL Express, UPS and more, and it can be used across all of the Nordics (parcels can be sent from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland). Connect it and every seller gets a Create label button on their orders: the label is booked with the carrier, the tracking number is filled in automatically, and the PDF is ready to print. Labels are paid from your Shipmondo account's balance.

Unlike Canada Post, Shipmondo is a label provider, not a rates provider. It composes with flat rate and per-listing shipping. Buyers pay the shipping price you configure; sellers use Shipmondo to actually produce the label.

Setting It Up

1. In Shipmondo, create an API user and key under Settings → Integrations → API
2. In Store Settings → Shipping → Shipping labels, choose Shipmondo as the label provider and enter the API user and key
3. Click Test connection, then pick the default shipping product used for labels (optionally add service codes like email/SMS notification)
4. Click Connect Shipmondo. Nothing changes for sellers until this step
5. Under Label rules, set a default parcel weight (used on every label; carriers bill by actual weight at pickup)

Optionally, turn on Bill labels to sellers to recover the label price from the seller, either on their next subscription invoice or out of their payout for the order. See Charging Sellers for Labels.

Weight Classes

Carriers price by weight band, and by default every Shipmondo, ShipStation or DPD label is booked at your single default parcel weight and (with billing on) charged at the one flat label price. If that doesn't match how your carrier bills you, add weight classes - e.g. “Up to 1 kg”, “1-5 kg”, “5-10 kg” - each with the weight the label should be booked at and its own price per label. Sellers then pick the parcel's class before creating a label.

Weights and box sizes use the weight unit and size unit picked at the top of Label rules: pounds, ounces, kilograms or grams, and inches, centimeters or millimeters. New US-dollar stores start on pounds and inches. Switching a unit converts the values you already saved, so 1 kg becomes 2.2 lb and the parcel stays the same.

A class can also carry a box size (length, width and height in your store's size unit). UK carriers such as Royal Mail, Evri and DPD price by size band as much as by weight, so a class like “Small parcel, 0-2 kg, 35×25×10 cm” makes the booked service match the price you charge. Dimensions are optional; fill in all three or leave them empty.

Setting up weight classes

1. In Store Settings → Shipping → Shipping labels, find Weight classes (optional) under Label rules, below the label billing settings
2. Click Add weight class and fill in a name (what sellers see, e.g. “1-5 kg”), the weight the label is booked at (in your store's weight unit), and the price per label in your store currency, excl. VAT - set 0 to make a class free
3. Repeat for each of your carrier's price bands (up to 12 classes). A row saves by itself once it has a name, a weight and a price

What sellers see

Once classes exist, the label box on a paid order gets a Parcel weight dropdown listing your classes (with the price next to each when label billing is on). The class whose weight matches your default parcel weight is preselected, so the common case is still one click; picking a class is required before Create label is enabled. After the label is created, the seller sees the amount that was actually billed.

How booking and billing work

• The label is booked at the class's weight (and box size, when set), not the default parcel weight
• With Bill labels to sellers on, the seller is charged the class's price - on their invoice or out of their payout, depending on the billing mode below; the flat label price is ignored while classes are configured (the field says so)
• In invoice mode your subscription VAT rate, if enabled, is added on the invoice line as usual
• Prices are looked up server-side at the moment the label is created, so editing the table never bills a stale price; a class you deleted can't be used
• Without label billing, classes only affect the booked weight

Shipping Labels via ShipStation

ShipStation covers UK, US and international carriers (Royal Mail, Evri, DPD, UPS, FedEx, Parcelforce and more), including your own carrier accounts connected inside ShipStation. ShipStation itself is available to merchants in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France and Germany, so it's the label route for most marketplaces outside the Nordics. Like Shipmondo, it's a label provider: buyers pay the shipping price you configure, and sellers get a Create label button on their orders that books the label, fills in the tracking number automatically, and serves the PDF ready to print. Labels are billed to your ShipStation account or your connected carrier account.

Setting It Up

1. In ShipStation, generate an API key under Account Settings → Account → API Settings with the version dropdown set to V2 (v1 and v2 keys are not interchangeable; API access requires a paid ShipStation plan)
2. In Store Settings → Shipping → Shipping labels, choose ShipStation as the label provider and paste the key
3. Click Test connection, then pick the carrier and service used for labels. The list marks ShipStation's built-in rates vs. your own connected carrier accounts
4. Enter a default parcel weight if you haven't set one, then click Connect ShipStation
5. Optionally add weight classes, label billing and an order value limit under Label rules (see below)

Order Value Limit

If your marketplace sells items whose value can exceed what a standard parcel service should carry, set an order value limit. Orders above the limit can't have labels created. Instead, the seller is told to ship with their own (insured) courier and enter the tracking number manually, which is fully supported by the normal shipping form.

Shipping Labels via DPD (UK)

If you have your own DPD UK business account, Prometora connects to it directly, with no aggregator in between. It works like the other label providers. Buyers pay the shipping price you configure, and sellers get a Create label button on their orders. The button books the parcel with DPD on your account, fills in the tracking number automatically, and opens the label ready to print. Labels are billed to your DPD account on your own terms, which matters if your agreement with DPD covers goods that standard courier rates exclude.

Setting It Up

1. Log in to DPD's admin portal at myadmin.dpd.co.uk. This needs an admin login on your DPD account (usually the one with an email address as the username). Ask your DPD account manager for one if your login is rejected
2. Go to Manage Users, edit your user and turn on API Setting. DPD sends a verification link to the email you enter
3. Create a key with the Sandbox button and a second one with Live. Copy each key and secret straight away, as DPD shows the secret only once
4. In Store Settings → Shipping → Shipping labels, choose DPD (UK) as the label provider, keep Sandbox mode on and paste the sandbox key and secret
5. Click Test connection and pick the service used for labels, e.g. DPD Next Day
6. Enter a default parcel weight if you haven't set one, then click Connect DPD (UK)
7. Optionally set an order value limit, weight classes and label billing under Label rules

From Sandbox to Live

Sandbox labels are test labels. DPD never collects or bills them, so you can try the whole seller flow with a test order first. Sandbox and live keys are separate, and each only works in its own environment.

Before you can ship live, DPD requires a label sign-off. Click Edit connection, switch Sandbox mode off, paste your live key and secret, test and save, create a few test labels and print them on the printers your sellers will use. Post the printed labels to DPD's Customer Integration Team as described in DPD's developer portal. Once DPD approves them, live labels can go on parcels. Check with your DPD account manager how unused live labels are billed before you create test labels.

Shop Drop-off With a QR Code

Most private sellers don't own a label printer. With Shop drop-off with a QR code switched on under the DPD connection, the Create label button becomes Get drop-off code. It books the parcel with DPD and gives the seller a code instead of a label. The seller shows the code on their phone at any of DPD's thousands of Pickup shops, and the shop scans it, prints the label and attaches it. Tracking starts when the shop scans the parcel, and the tracking number is filled in on the order as usual.

The code opens from My Sales as a page with the steps and the nearest-shop finder, and it is also emailed to the seller with the code inline, so it is on their phone when they walk in. The same email carries a printable label as a PDF for sellers who do have a printer, and My Sales offers that label too. Labels that are never scanned are not charged by DPD.

Charging Sellers for Labels

Labels created through Shipmondo, ShipStation or DPD are paid from your carrier account, while the buyer's shipping fee is paid out to the seller by default. To keep the shipping fee instead (it pays for the label), see Store Keeps the Shipping Fee. Or turn on Bill labels to sellers (in any label card) to recover the label price from the seller, and pick how:

The price is the flat price per label, or the picked weight class's price when classes are configured. In both modes sellers see the price before they create a label, and sellers who ship with their own label and paste the tracking number are never charged.

Deduction example

A saddle sells for £200 with a seller-set shipping price of £8 and a 6% commission. The seller prints a “5-10 kg” label priced at £5. At release the seller receives £208 minus £12 commission, the Stripe fee and the £5 label; the £5 stays in your balance, covering the £5 your carrier charges you. Price a class above your carrier cost and the difference is your margin; price it below and you subsidise that class.

• The seller's My Sales page shows the label as its own line (“Shipping label: -£5.00”) and all totals are net of it; your order detail shows the amount as recovered
• A label can only be charged while the seller's payout for that order is still held (i.e. before they mark it shipped). Once released, label creation for that order is refused and the seller ships with their own label
• A label priced above what is left of the payout is refused - the seller ships with their own label instead. Several labels on one order are each deducted
• Label charges are not refunded to the seller. If an order is refunded or cancelled before the payout is released, there is no payout to deduct from: the buyer gets their money back and the label cost stays with you - void the label in your carrier dashboard
• Keep the held earnings in your Stripe balance: with automatic Stripe payouts to your bank the balance can be empty when a seller's payout is due. Manual payouts, or a standing balance, avoid that

For every label provider, sellers must have their shipping address filled in under Dashboard → Settings; it becomes the sender address on the label. To get it up front instead of chasing it after the first sale, turn on Seller shipping address under Store Settings → Signup Form and switch on Require shipping address underneath it, which blocks seller signup until the address is filled.

Flat Rate Amount

Set the shipping cost that will be added to every order. This amount is charged to the buyer at checkout on top of the product price.

Choose a rate that balances cost recovery with buyer expectations. Consider what your sellers typically spend on shipping and set a rate that covers most cases without discouraging purchases.

Free Shipping Threshold

Optionally, you can set a minimum order amount above which shipping becomes free. This encourages larger orders and increases your average order value.

Per-Listing Shipping Cost

By default, every order uses the same flat rate shipping cost. If you want sellers to set their own shipping cost on each listing, enable Per-Listing Shipping Cost in the Flat Rate Shipping section.

Store Keeps the Shipping Fee

By default the buyer's shipping fee is paid out to the seller, who buys their own postage. If your store provides the labels instead, so sellers create them on your carrier account, you pay the postage and should keep the fee. Turn on Store keeps the shipping fee in the Flat Rate Shipping settings. This is how resale marketplaces like Vinted work: the store sells shipping to the buyer and buys the label.

• The buyer still pays your flat rate at checkout, exactly as before
• The shipping fee stays in your Stripe balance. Seller payouts cover their items only (minus commission and processing fees)
• Sellers see the shipping listed as paid to the store in My Sales, so nobody wonders where it went
• It applies to new orders only. Orders placed before you switch keep the split they were paid with
• It works with flat rate shipping only, not with per-listing shipping costs, since sellers shouldn't set a price they never receive

Pair it with a label provider (DPD, ShipStation or Shipmondo). Without one, sellers would pay their own postage while the store keeps the fee. On a refund, the buyer gets the shipping back from your balance, since that is where it went.

Shipping Countries

Select which countries your marketplace supports for shipping. Only buyers with addresses in the selected countries will be able to complete checkout.

When shipping countries are configured, the checkout form automatically collects:

Shipping Deadline

The shipping deadline is the maximum number of days a seller has to ship an order after it's placed. This protects buyers and ensures timely fulfillment.

What Happens When the Deadline Passes

If a seller does not confirm shipment within the deadline:

How It Works for Sellers

When shipping is enabled, the seller experience changes to include shipment tracking and deferred payouts:

How It Works for Buyers

Buyers have a straightforward experience with shipping-enabled orders:

Quick Reference