Ecommerce Media Rate Shipping

Here’s what each field means and how to decide what to enter:

1. Rule Name

Name it USPS Media Mail.
This is just a label so you (and customers) know what this shipping option is.

2. Destination Country

Select United States for domestic shipping.
That’s correct if you want this rule to apply only to domestic orders.

3. Shipping Provider

Select USPS.
for using USPS services.

4. Delivery Type

Select Media.

• “Media Mail” is a discounted USPS rate for books, CDs, etc. (No advertising materials.)
• If you want to offer Priority Mail, you should change this to “Priority” (or whatever the menu calls it—often “Priority Mail” or “Priority”).
• Use “Media” only if you want the package to go by Media Mail.

5. Base Rate

This is the starting shipping charge for the order — it’s applied once per order regardless of the number of items.
For example:

• If every order that uses this rule costs at least $5.00 to ship, set Base Rate to 5.00.
• If you want to calculate purely per-item, leave it 0.

6. Per-Item Rate

This is added for each item in the cart.
For example:

• If each book adds $2.00 to shipping, set Per-Item Rate to 2.00.
• If you charge a flat fee regardless of how many items, leave this at 0.

How to Decide on the Numbers

1. Check USPS rates

• For Media Mail, prices start at about $4.67 for up to 1 lb, then rise by weight.
• For Priority Mail Flat-Rate Envelopes/Boxes, it’s typically $9–$10 and up.

2. Decide if you want:

• Flat shipping (e.g., always $6.00 per order) → put it all in Base Rate and leave Per-Item Rate = 0.
• Per-item shipping (e.g., $3.00 for the first item + $1.00 for each additional) → put $3.00 in Base Rate and $1.00 in Per-Item Rate.
• True live USPS rates → If you can connect to USPS live, you can use it, but it’s much simpler to use the fixed rate as shown above.

Practical Example

If you’re selling books and want to use Media Mail:

• Base Rate: 4.50 (covers first pound or first book)
• Per-Item Rate: 1.50 (covers each additional book)

If you prefer a flat Priority Mail charge:

• Delivery Type: Priority
• Base Rate: 9.00
• Per-Item Rate: 0