Case Study: Customizing Freight Fees for BigCommerce

Undercharge for freight, and you eat the difference. Overcharge, and you lose the sale. 

When charges vary by shipping origin, product type, and order quantity, BigCommerce freight shipping needs custom logic to apply the right fees at checkout.

RSI Copiers needed exactly that. We built custom freight calculation directly into their BigCommerce checkout, so the checkout calculates accurate fees on every order and shows them as clear line items before purchase.

The Problem: Freight Pricing Standard Shipping Can’t Handle

RSI Copiers sells the heavy hardware offices run on: copiers, printers, and wide-format machines, shipped from facilities in Connecticut, South Carolina, and Texas. Three factors determine their freight transfer fees:

• Origin: Each facility has its own rates.
• Product line: Copiers, printers, and wide-format machines each carry different rates.
• Quantity: Rates change based on the number of machines ordered.

Real orders rarely stick to one row of the rate table. Add two copiers from Texas and a wide-format printer from South Carolina, and one cart suddenly needs two freight calculations.

Standard shipping rates weren’t built for that. They return one shipping charge per order, not a separate freight fee for each facility. RSI Copiers needed freight that priced itself correctly and showed customers exactly what they were paying.

The Solution: Automated Freight Fee Calculation in the BigCommerce Checkout

IntuitSolutions combined the Ebizio Checkout app, custom scripting, and a hosted application to build a custom BigCommerce checkout that applies RSI Copiers’ freight rules automatically.

The checkout reads each cart and calculates exactly what the order owes. Key capabilities include:

• Rate-based freight calculation: Applies predefined rates by origin, product line, and machine count.
• Multi-origin freight fees: Adds up to three separate fees per order, one for each facility.
• Product-driven logic: Custom fields identify each product’s origin and category, so the checkout always applies the correct rule.
• Automatic recalculation: Updates fees the moment the cart changes.
• Itemized fees: Shows each freight fee as its own labeled line item in the order summary.
• Flexible fulfillment: Lets customers choose in-store pickup or freight delivery, and runs the freight calculation only when they select freight.

The Results: Faster, More Accurate Freight Shipping on BigCommerce

RSI Copiers now runs freight through its checkout instead of around it.

• For the team: Staff no longer calculate freight by hand, adjust orders after purchase, or field quote requests for standard orders.
• For customers: Buyers see accurate freight costs up front and complete their purchase without stopping to call for a price.
• For the catalog: The team tags each new product with its location and product line, and the freight rules handle the rest. The checkout never needs an update.

Need Custom Freight Calculations for Your BigCommerce Store?

Standard shipping settings don’t fit every business model. Whether you need product-based freight fees, multi-origin pricing, or custom shipping fees that follow your own rules, we’ll build a BigCommerce checkout that handles it. 

Contact us here or explore Our BigCommerce custom checkout solutions.