Configure Your Shipping and Fulfillment Model

Before setting up shipping zones and rates in Nautical, it's important to configure your marketplace based on who will manage inventory and fulfill orders, and where you ship to. The following key settings will impact how fulfillment and shipping work in your marketplace.

There are three critical marketplace configuration settings related to fulfillment and shipping that you need to set up before proceeding.

Marketplace fulfillment model

The Marketplace fulfillment model determines who is responsible for fulfilling orders—either the marketplace, the sellers, or a combination of both.

This setting also defines who accrues shipping revenue. If the marketplace fulfills orders, it handles logistics and collects shipping fees. If sellers fulfill their own orders, they manage shipping and retain the revenue.

In hybrid models where some sellers fulfill their own orders and others are handled by the marketplace, you can configure each seller's fulfillment and shipping revenue settings individually.

Set your fulfillment model

1. Go to Settings -> Marketplace configuration.
2. Under Shipping, find the Marketplace fulfillment model field.
3. Choose the option that matches your operational model:
   • Fulfilled by marketplace: The marketplace fulfills orders on behalf of sellers.
   • Fulfilled by seller: Sellers fulfill their own orders.
   • Hybrid: A mix of both—the marketplace fulfills some orders, while certain sellers handle their own order fulfillment.
4. Select Save.

Choose which sellers accrue revenue (hybrid only)

If you set the Marketplace fulfillment model to Hybrid, you must specify whether the marketplace or the seller manages shipping for each individual seller.

1. Go to Sellers.
2. Open a seller to the Settings tab.
3. Use the Marketplace accrues shipping revenue for this seller toggle to determine who manages shipping and keeps the revenue:
   • Off (default): The seller handles their own shipping and keeps any shipping costs.
   • On: The marketplace handles shipping for this seller and keeps any shipping costs.
4. Select Save.
5. Repeat for each seller in your marketplace.

Shipping options at checkout

The Shipping options calculated by field controls which shipping rates are displayed to customers at checkout. Shipping rates can be calculated based on either the seller’s order total or the marketplace’s total order amount. This flexibility allows you to configure shipping rates according to who is managing the fulfillment process.

Set the shipping method calculation method

1. Go to Settings -> Marketplace configuration.
2. Under Shipping, find the Shipping options calculated by field.
3. Choose the option that matches how orders are bundles for shipping:
   • Seller Total: Shipping methods are based on each seller's individual order total.
   • Marketplace Total: Shipping methods are calculated based on the total order amount for the entire marketplace.
4. Select Save.

Supported countries

The Supported countries field defines the countries you can ship to and where you can configure shipping zones. Setting this field is a global control that determines which countries are available for shipping configurations. Make sure this is aligned with where you ship orders to.

Set your supported countries

1. Go to Settings -> Marketplace configuration.
2. Under Shipping, find the Shipping options calculated by field.
3. Ensure only the countries you support selling and shipping products to are selected.
4. Select Save.