Rate Groups

A Rate Group is a named collection of carrier services that ShipGenius compares against each other at fulfillment time to automatically determine the best option for a given shipment. Instead of hardcoding a single carrier service onto an order, a Rate Group lets the system evaluate real-time rates across multiple services and select the winner based on your configured priority -- cheapest or fastest.

Where Rate Groups Are Configured

Rate Groups are configured at the account level under your carrier settings. Once created, they are available to be mapped to your integrations through the Shipment Mappings section of each integration's configuration. Rate Groups are not part of the Shipping Blueprint -- they live at the integration level and determine how carrier services are selected when an order comes in from that integration.

How a Rate Group Works

When a Rate Group is active on an order, ShipGenius fetches real-time rates for every carrier service in the group simultaneously. Each service returns its cost, estimated delivery information, and any warnings or errors. The system then applies your configured filters to eliminate services that don't meet your requirements, and selects the winner based on your priority setting.

Rate Groups run during the fulfill flow -- either automatically when an order moves through fulfillment or when an operator manually ships an order. The winning service is auto-selected for the shipment. The order itself isn't assigned a carrier service until the check against both the carrier_service_id and rate_group_id on the order resolves the correct service to use.

Priority: Cheapest vs. Fastest

Every Rate Group has a priority setting that determines how the winner is chosen from the qualifying services after filters are applied:

• CHEAPEST: selects the service with the lowest cost among all qualifying services
• FASTEST: selects the service with the earliest estimated delivery date among all qualifying services

Choosing the right priority depends entirely on what the Rate Group is for. A Rate Group built for economy ground shipping should use CHEAPEST. A Rate Group built for express delivery should use FASTEST.

Filters

Filters narrow down which services are eligible to be selected before the priority logic runs. All filters are additive -- a service must pass every configured filter to be considered. If a service fails any filter, it is removed from the eligible pool and an error is surfaced showing why it was excluded.

Deliver By Date

Sets a hard deadline date. Any service whose estimated delivery date falls after this date is excluded. Use this when an order has a specific must-arrive-by date that cannot be missed.

Deliver In Days

Sets a maximum transit time in days. Services that estimate delivery beyond this number of days are excluded. Works alongside Deliver By Date -- both must be satisfied if both are set.

Day Count Method

Controls how the Deliver In Days value is interpreted:

• TOTAL: counts all calendar days including weekends and holidays
• BUSINESS: counts only business days, excluding weekends and federal holidays

Max Cost

Sets a ceiling on the acceptable rate. Any service that comes back above this dollar amount is excluded from consideration entirely. Useful for preventing unexpectedly expensive services from being selected when rates spike.

Shipping Time Guarantee

Controls what level of delivery time certainty is required for a service to qualify:

• None: no requirement -- services that don't provide an estimated delivery date are allowed. Note that services without an estimated delivery date bypass all shipping time filters entirely.
• ESTIMATED: services must provide an estimated delivery date, but it doesn't need to be a carrier guarantee. Services with no estimated date are excluded.
• GUARANTEED: services must provide a carrier-guaranteed delivery date. Estimated-only services are excluded.

Building a Good Rate Group

The services in a Rate Group should make sense together relative to the priority. Mixing services that will never compete meaningfully -- such as UPS Next Day Air alongside DHL eCommerce Ground -- produces a group where the winner is always predetermined regardless of order factors. CHEAPEST will always pick the ground service. FASTEST will always pick overnight. There's no actual comparison happening.

A well-built Rate Group contains services that genuinely compete for the priority you've set. For a CHEAPEST group, a good example is: USPS Ground Advantage, DHL eCommerce Ground, UPS Ground, and UPS SurePost. These services are all in the same category -- economy ground -- and the winner will vary meaningfully based on package weight, dimensions, destination zone, and current carrier rates.

Keep Rate Groups focused. Fewer services means faster rate responses. Every service in the group is queried in real time -- a large group with irrelevant services slows the process down without improving the selection.

Active and Inactive Rate Groups

Each Rate Group has an active flag. Inactive Rate Groups are not evaluated at fulfillment time even if they are mapped to an integration. Use this to temporarily disable a Rate Group without removing its mapping from the integration configuration.

FAQs

Where do I set up Rate Groups?

At the account level in your carrier settings. Once created, they are mapped to your integrations through the Shipment Mappings section of each integration's configuration.

Does a Rate Group automatically assign the carrier to my order?

It auto-selects the winning service for the shipment during the fulfill flow. The order resolves the correct carrier service based on the check against both the carrier service and rate group configured for that order.

What happens if no services pass the filters?

An error is surfaced showing which services were excluded and why. No service is auto-selected and the order will need manual attention to resolve.

Can I use both Deliver By Date and Deliver In Days together?

Yes. Both filters are applied additively -- a service must satisfy both to remain eligible.

What does Shipping Time Guarantee set to None actually mean?

It means services without any estimated delivery date are allowed into the eligible pool. Those services also bypass the Deliver By Date and Deliver In Days filters entirely, since there's no delivery date to compare against. If you need delivery time filters to apply to all services, set Shipping Time Guarantee to ESTIMATED or GUARANTEED.

How many services should I put in a Rate Group?

As few as needed to get meaningful competition for your priority. Every service is queried in real time -- unnecessary services slow down rate responses without improving the outcome. Three to five focused, comparable services is a good target.

Can I have multiple Rate Groups mapped to one integration?

Yes. The Shipment Mappings section of your integration configuration determines which Rate Group applies to which orders from that integration.