Shipping is a bit of a complex issue when it comes to drop shipping, maybe the most complex.
The Problem
When your Customer is checking out on your website, by default, the shipping options which are presented come from your shop. The issue with this is that your shop does not know what shipping carriers and methods the Supplier of any given Crowdship product offers.
Additionally, this disconnection is made worse by the fact that both your shop and the Supplier's shop may have different names even for the same shipping methods (eg, you might call it "USPS Priority" while they may have it titled as "Standard Shipping - 1-3 days").
So, when an order from your store comes in to Crowdship, without any configuration, Crowdship doesn't necessarily know what shipping method to buy (from the Supplier of the products in your order) to match the price and speed of shipping method you sold to your Customer.
The Solution
For this problem, we have two solutions. One is available now, and one is still in progress.
Solution 1: Shipping Method Mapping
The Shipping Method Mapping screen looks like this:
To use it, simply
Set up your Shopify shipping methods
Click the "Add carrier service" button, so that a empty, new input field for a shipping method appears as pictured in the screenshot
Copy/paste the name of the method into the empty input box
In the selection drop down menu on the right, select the vendor and shipping service from the drop down menu
Do this for all the services you offer, and you're done!
Now, when Crowdship receives an order from you, it will purchase a shipping service from the Supplier(s) that is similar in price and speed to the service you sold to your Customer.
Pros of this solution:
free
more economic than static, fixed rates
Cons of this solution:
rates and time estimates shown to your Checkout are calculated from your address to your Customer's address, while the service you'll pay for will be calculated from your Customer's address to the Supplier's address - this means shipping will usually different in the price you collect from your Customer to the cost you'll pay to the Supplier
configuration may break if vendor changes name of service
no way to automatically set names as Shopify does not allow access to shipping methods
cost of shipping is similar to the price you sold shipping to your customer, but not the exact; cost may be higher or lower than what your customer paid
Solution 2: Automatic Calculated Shipping Rates at Checkout
NOTE: This second solution is not yet ready, but it is in progress.
This solution uses Shopify's CarrierService to automatically provide live, calculated rates from the Supplier's address to your Customer's address, ensuring that you pay exactly what your customer pays for shipping, and ensuring that your customer gets exactly the service they paid for and expect to receive.
Pros of this solution:
you pay exactly what your customer pays
your customer gets exactly the vendor and shipping service they paid for
automatic, no setup or maintenance required
Cons of this solution:
Only available if your shop meets one of three Shopify requirements - your shop must meet one of these following Shopify requirements:
be on the Advanced plan or higher,
prepay Shopify subscription annually,
pay Shopify $20 extra on top of your plan.