Shipping methods available to your store

Enable platform-assigned methods and configure what your plan allows instead of creating unsupported methods.

Operations

A shipping method is the line a buyer sees at checkout that tells them how their parcel reaches them and what it costs, and on Storix the methods you can offer are not invented from scratch — they are the ones your platform plan unlocks and assigns to your store. Many Egyptian merchants arrive expecting to type in any courier name and any rate they imagine, then get frustrated when a method they hand-built does not actually move a parcel or remit cash. The healthier mindset is the opposite: see which methods your plan already supports, switch on the ones that fit your business, and configure their rates and coverage inside the rails the platform gives you.

This lesson is about that configuration layer only — enabling the platform-assigned methods available to you and shaping what your subscription allows, rather than fabricating an unsupported method that has no real fulfilment behind it. It deliberately stays away from deciding which courier company deserves your trust and away from the day-to-day desk where you process shipments after an order lands; both are linked at the end. Here the single job is to understand the menu of methods your store can turn on, and to set each one up so the price, zone, and payment behaviour your buyer sees is one you can actually honour.

What "platform-assigned methods" means

Storix gives every store a defined set of shipping methods tied to your plan and to the integrations the platform supports. Think of it as a menu you choose from, not a blank text box you fill with wishful thinking. Typical methods you will recognise include:

  • Flat-rate shipping — one fee to most of the country, the simplest option for a new store still learning its true delivery cost.
  • Zone or governorate-based rates — different fees for Greater Cairo versus the Delta versus Upper Egypt and remote governorates, so a far-away order is not subsidised by a nearby one.
  • Free shipping above a threshold — a method you switch on with a cart-value rule, useful for nudging average order value upward.
  • Cash-on-delivery handling as part of a method — COD is still how most first orders in Egypt are paid, so the method may carry its own collection fee that the buyer sees.
  • Local pickup or self-collection, where the buyer skips delivery entirely and a shipping fee does not apply.

Because these methods are platform-backed, turning one on connects to real fulfilment and remittance behaviour. That is exactly why building a "method" the platform does not support is a dead end — it shows a price at checkout but nothing collects the parcel or your cash behind it.

Enable and configure, step by step

Work through your methods in this order so buyers only ever see options you can keep:

  1. Review what your plan unlocks first. Different subscription tiers expose different shipping capabilities; confirm which methods and how many zones you are entitled to before you design your rate table. If a capability you want is locked, that is a plan question, not a setup bug.
  2. Enable the methods that match your real coverage. If you only ship by courier nationwide, switch on a zone-based or flat method. If you also let Cairo buyers collect in person, enable local pickup too.
  3. Set rates in EGP per zone honestly. Charge a believable fee — for example a lower flat fee inside Cairo and Giza and higher tiers to far governorates — so the number reflects your actual courier cost rather than a guess.
  4. Decide your COD behaviour. Keep cash on delivery on if your buyers expect it, and make any small collection fee visible at checkout rather than as a surprise at the door.
  5. Set a free-shipping threshold only if the margin survives it. A "free over 1,000 EGP" rule works when the order value covers the delivery cost; below that it quietly eats profit.
  6. Save and test as a buyer. Place a test order to each zone you serve and confirm the right method, fee, and COD line appear for that governorate.

Common configuration mistakes to avoid

A few patterns waste merchants the most time. Do not promise next-day delivery to the whole country inside a method when your courier needs three to six days to Upper Egypt — the method should mirror reality. Do not leave every governorate on a single flat fee if your far-region shipping genuinely costs more, because either you absorb the gap or buyers in cheap zones overpay and refuse. Do not duplicate near-identical methods that only confuse the checkout; one clear option per scenario converts better. And never treat a hand-typed method name as a working courier — if the platform did not assign it, no parcel and no remittance sit behind it.

Related lessons