Shipping & Fulfillment Configuration

This guide covers how to configure shipment fulfillment in your offers. While billing events trigger shipment creation in Vrio, you have complete flexibility over how many shipments are generated and when they're scheduled, giving you the ability to create sophisticated fulfillment models that match your operational needs.

From simple monthly shipments to complex prepaid models where customers pay once but receive multiple deliveries, this guide will help you understand and configure the shipping options that work best for your business.

Why Shipping Configuration Matters

Smart shipping configuration isn't just about getting items to customers - it's about:

Improving cash flow with prepaid shipping models
Matching customer expectations with predictable delivery schedules
Preventing unnecessary shipments by delaying fulfillment in case customers call to cancel

Prepaid Shipping Models

Prepaid shipping lets customers pay once but receive multiple shipments over time. This is perfect for:

Improving customer retention (they've already paid)
Reducing payment processing fees
Offering bulk discounts
Seasonal or quarterly programs

How Prepaid Shipping Works

Customer pays full amount upfront (e.g., $89.99)
You configure multiple shipments (e.g., 3 monthly shipments)
System automatically schedules all future shipments
Customer receives items on schedule without additional charges

Configuration Example:

Billing: One-time charge of $89.99
Shipping: 3 shipments, one every 30 days
Result: Customer pays once, receives monthly boxes for 3 months

For detailed prepaid configuration and advanced models, see: Prepaid Offers Guide

Fulfillment Delays

Fulfillment delays control when Vrio schedules shipments to post to your fulfillment connection. When you set a fulfillment delay (e.g., 24 hours), Vrio waits that amount of time after the successful charge before sending the shipment information to your fulfillment provider.

How it works:

Customer's payment processes successfully
Vrio holds the shipment for the specified delay period
After the delay, Vrio automatically posts the shipment to your fulfillment connection
Your fulfillment provider receives the order and ships the item

This buffer between payment and fulfillment posting provides several benefits:

Prevent Unnecessary Shipping Costs

Setting a 24-48 hour fulfillment delay gives customers a window to call and cancel before items ship. This prevents:

Shipping costs on cancelled orders
Return shipping expenses
Lost inventory from cancelled shipments
Customer service workload handling returns

Common scenarios where this helps:

Customer calls within hours to cancel their order
Payment issues discovered after initial authorization
Customer realizes they ordered the wrong item
Duplicate orders that need to be consolidated

Configuration Best Practices

Recommended Delay Settings:

Digital items: No delay needed
Low-value items: 24 hours
High-value items: 48-72 hours
Custom/personalized items: 3-5 days

Shipping Price Configuration

How Shipping Pricing Works

Vrio calculates shipping costs using a two-layer system:

Campaign Shipping Profiles - Base shipping rates configured at the campaign level. Learn more about shipping profiles.
Offer Shipping Prices - Additional charges configured per offer cycle

The total shipping cost is: Base Campaign Shipping + Offer Cycle Shipping Price

Shipping Costs Per Cycle

Each offer cycle can have different shipping prices that are added on top of your campaign shipping profiles:

Example Configuration:

Campaign shipping profile: $2.99 (base rate for all offers in this campaign)
Offer Cycle 1 shipping price: $0.00 (free shipping for first order)
Offer Cycle 2+ shipping price: $2.00 (additional charge for renewals)

Customer sees:

First order: $2.99 total shipping (campaign base only)
Renewal orders: $4.99 total shipping (campaign base + offer addition)

This layered approach allows you to:

Set consistent base shipping rates across campaigns
Add offer-specific shipping incentives or charges
Test shipping price sensitivity per offer
Cover varying shipping costs across different subscription cycles

Common use cases:

Free shipping trials: Set offer cycle 1 to $0.00 to waive shipping on first orders
Shipping cost increases: Add charges to later cycles to cover rising fulfillment costs
Premium shipping: Add extra charges for expedited shipping on certain cycles

To update the shipping price for an offer cycle on a Custom Offer, click on the cycle you want to edit, and add the shipping price under fulfillment.

To update the shipping price on a Shared offer. Open the offer you want to edit and click on the Configuration tab to edit the offer cycle level shipping.

Keep in mind that this will only effect newly created transactions. Which is similar to the logic when updating the price on an offer cycle. For more information read here.

Custom Offer Example :

Shared Offer Example :

Remember: The flexibility of Vrio's shipping system means you can create almost any fulfillment model your business needs. Start with your ideal customer experience and work backwards to the configuration.