Squarespace Shipping: How to Set It Up and Choose the Right Integrations

What do you want to learn?

Is Squarespace ecommerce-friendly? Well, you might be surprised at just how much Squarespace can do. It’s a leading ecommerce platform that offers easy-to-use ‘drag and drop’ elements to create a customizable website in just minutes. With everything else that goes into starting an ecommerce business, being able to simplify the web design and development process of your online store is a no brainer.

But there’s more that goes into building a great-looking website for your online brand. Once you start receiving orders through your website, you also have to consider the post-purchase experience. 

Squarespace offers ecommerce features and integrations that help make shipping orders that come in through your online store a breeze. Here’s what you need to know about setting up shipping options for your Squarespace store, plus how to further integrate your store with the right order fulfillment solution. 

More and more ecommerce shops are turning to Squarespace

Choosing Squarespace as your ecommerce platform offers several key benefits. For one, you have the option to choose from a wide range of high-quality website templates with ‘drag and drop’ elements. This allows you to easily create a customizable online store that is also user-friendly. 

High-quality templates

Squarespace’s website templates cater to different kinds of businesses, including online stores that sell physical products. Squarespace store owners can use templates with built-in product pages that showcase products in the best light. 

Squarespace also offers its users advanced customizable features, such as fonts and colors, to represent your unique brand. Additionally, different styles, such as Classic, Advanced, or Unique, come with their own set of helpful tools. The templates you have to choose from are always evolving based on current design trends.

Easy ecommerce setup

Squarespace is certainly one the most intuitive and easy platforms to get started on, and it is one of the top three ecommerce website builders for customer satisfaction.

What makes Squarespace unique from other ecommerce platforms is it thrives to make the entire process of building a website easy without compromising design and functionality.

For ecommerce merchants, Squarespace offers thorough help guides along with visual aids to help users throughout the online store setup process. Squarespace only charges business owners a 3% sales transaction fee, and you can have the store itself set up for a fixed-fee order.

A smooth back-end experience

Given how easy Squarespace is to set up, it’s no wonder that users remain loyal to the service. The platform not only provides functionality and design flexibility, but it’s also easy to customize without the need to hire a developer. Ecommerce retailers can easily add, remove, organize, and showcase their products anytime and change the page layout options. 

You also don’t have to work with a developer to ensure your website is fully optimized for SEO. You can easily update title tags and meta descriptions without needing to touch a single line of code. 

To top it off, the website builder has its own active help center and live support team to help Squarespace users navigate the website development process.

How to set up shipping configurations on Squarespace

Once you’ve created your website and added your products, it’s time to set up your ecommerce shipping options. The first step is to compare shipping methods that make sense for your business (e.g., are you selling small items like jewelry or shipping oversized items like dog beds?).

Factors such as where your customers are located and the weight and dimensions of your products play a role in the shipping options you decide to offer your customers. 

Note: Before you start shipping orders that come through your Squarespace store, you will need to create tax rules for the countries, states, and provinces where your customers are located. For US state sales law, refer to this resource for more information.

Here are the steps to get started with Squarespace shipping. 

1. Choose and add shipping options

In order to choose the right shipping options for your business, navigate to the home menu of your Squarespace account, and click ‘Commerce’ and then ‘Shipping.’ From there, you’ll have the option to choose from three different shipping options: Flat rate shipping, depending on weight, and carrier calculated.

Flat rate shipping

‘Flat rate shipping’ applies a per order fee for every order. This shipping option is ideal for stores that sell products similar in weight and size. Many customers prefer this option as it is easy to understand and remains consistent with different products. 

With this flat rate shipping, you have the option to offer customers with free shipping by creating a free shipping rate. To do so, enter ‘Free Shipping’ as the option name, then set the ‘per order’ fee and the ‘fee per item’ to $0.00.

To learn how to offer free shipping to local customers only, click here. 

Depending on weight

The ‘depending on weight’ Squarespace shipping option charges shipping fees based on the weight of each product within a single order. This shipping option is recommended for ecommerce businesses with products that are all around the same size. One downfall of weight-dependent shipping is it doesn’t account for volume dimensions or shipping distance. 

Carrier calculated shipping

The ‘carrier calculated shipping’ option is only available on the Commerce Advanced Plan. Also known as real-time rate shipping, this Squarespace shipping option is only available in the United States and is better suited for businesses whose shipping costs contribute significantly to the product’s price.

It calculates shipping costs based on FedEx, UPS, and USPS rates, and it takes location, weight, and dimensions into account. 

Although it provides the most accurate shipping rates, it might be difficult to communicate exact shipping costs to customers ahead of time.  

2. View or edit shipping options

Once you choose your Squarespace shipping options, you’ll be able to view them in the ‘Commerce’ panel. The shipping options you choose will display in the order in which you add them.

You can edit a Squarespace shipping option by visiting the ‘Shipping’ page found by clicking ‘Home’ then ‘Commerce.’ Then, click the shipping option you want to edit. 

3. Save and go live!

Once you’re done making updates, click ‘Save’ to push your shipping options live. Once live, customers will be able to see shipping options on the checkout page. 

Choose how you are shipping out your packages

The Squarespace shipping method you choose will also be based on how you decide to fulfill and ship the orders that come through your Squarespace store. Retail order fulfillment is a critical part of the post-purchase experience and should never be overlooked. Here are some of the most common ways ecommerce brands fulfill and ship their products. 

Self-fulfillment

Are you packing orders at your home or place of business? If so, you are following a self-fulfillment model. This model is ideal for startups or smaller businesses that have an in-house team that can keep up with their current volume of orders. Fulfilling orders in-house makes it easy to offer personal touches, such as a custom thank you note.

Dropshipping

In the dropshipping model, after a customer places an order from your store, you arrange for it to be delivered directly from the manufacturer to the consumer’s address. While dropshipping is the most economical method for business owners with little seed capital, it offers the least control and longest transit times. 

Third-party logistics (3PL)

Once ecommerce brands reach a certain level of growth, it’s not uncommon to partner with a professional fulfillment company and outsource fulfillment.

Third-party logistics (3PL) companies like ShipBob take on the entire fulfillment process for you, from managing your inventory to shipping orders in the most cost-effective way. This model takes a more hands-off approach with the 3PL taking care of the order fulfillment process for you while speeding up Squarespace shipping.

Many 3PLs also offer carrier shipping discounts to keep overall fulfillment costs down. 

Why dropshipping and self-fulfillment aren’t efficient ways to ship Squarespace orders

Business owners must make decisions that are beneficial long-term, especially for your company’s growth. When it comes to shipping orders in the most efficient and cost-effective way, choosing the right shipping model is essential. Here are some of the most common barriers when it comes to shipping Squarespace orders.

Self-fulfillment risks

If you decide to in-house fulfillment, you will have to focus a significant amount of time and resources on packing boxes and managing inventory. This can divert your team’s attention away from more strategic tasks, such as growing your customer base and expanding into new channels and markets.

Moreover, the self-fulfillment model can prove ineffective if you don’t have proper warehousing capacity. Limiting yourself to just one warehouse (or home, office, garage, basement, etc.) can be problematic for delivering orders, especially if you’re seeing orders come from all corners of the United States or even internationally.

And without proper inventory management, you might find that you’re paying too much in inventory carrying costs. 

“It’s a pain to pick, pack, and print the labels, and manage the storage. It would be a huge stress for us to do it ourselves, but the fact that ShipBob takes care of it all, both the savings in costs and time, is invaluable to our business.” 

Nikolai Paloni, Co-Founder of Ombraz Sunglasses

Dropshipping risks

The main issue that arises with businesses acting as agents is that the customers may at any time render their services useless and purchase from the manufacturers directly. There is already a thin profit margin, but when combined with financial losses due to supplier’s negligence or shipping errors, it becomes an even less profitable business.

Many ecommerce businesses also find that dropshipping leads to a lack of control over the Squarespace shipping process, which doesn’t help when customers call or email asking about their order status. 

“When we first got started, we were dropshipping. It was nice because we had no money tied up in inventory, but we also had no quality control. With no control over the customer experience and very poor shipping times, we quickly realized dropshipping was not a long-term solution. It was good for proving out an early concept, but we had to move to a professional fulfillment company.” 

Gerard Ecker, Founder & CEO of Ocean & Co.

What does a 3PL solution bring to Squarespace shipping that others can’t?

For fast-growing ecommerce brands, partnering with a 3PL has proven to be successful. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands usually don’t have access to the infrastructure needed to compete with bigger brands and marketplaces like Amazon. A 3PL offers a fulfillment network that can handle all the fulfillment and logistics needs for you. 

ShipBob is a tech-enabled 3PL with an international fulfillment network and the technology that helps to improve transit times and reduce shipping costs. 

ShipBob is also the only official fulfillment partner of Squarespace, which makes ShipBob the ideal 3PL for online stores powered by Squarespace.

Here is an overview of what ShipBob has to offer. 

2-day shipping

Customers will purchase more from online businesses that can deliver in less time at an affordable price. ShipBob has a growing fulfillment center network across the US (as well as in Europe, Canada, the UK, and Australia). By storing your inventory closer to your customers, you’re able to keep shipping costs down and reduce time in transit. 

2-day shipping options have helped ShipBob merchants reduce cart abandonment by 18% and increase their average order value by 97%.

“Speeding up deliveries and keeping them affordable for customers is a top concern for us. With ShipBob, we can comfortably assign a shipping cost to each order by pinpointing the product weight and destination zip code.”

Greg MacDonald, CEO & Founder, Bathorium

Optimized warehousing

To manage inventory storage, your business may need to hire a team of fulfillment associates. Your employees will have to see to matters such as acquiring space, managing shipments, organizing and managing inventory, and keeping up with inventory tracking at all times.

By partnering with a 3PL, you can save on capital by not having to spend on extra space and more labor. ShipBob operates its fulfillment center locations and will organize and store inventory for you. Through our dashboard, you’ll also be to track inventory in real-time.

Distributed inventory

Thanks to ShipBob’s robust fulfillment network, merchants are given the option to split inventory across multiple fulfillment center locations. When an order is placed, it is automatically sent to the fulfillment center closest to the order’s destination for the cheapest, fastest Squarespace shipping possible. 

“We love that ShipBob actually operates its fulfillment centers — they know their operations and they are very clear about it. ShipBob having multiple locations was also huge for us. Keeping our inventory in Chicago and Los Angeles has brought cost savings since we ship from the locations that are closest to the customer.”

Courtney Lee, founder of Prymal

Shipping rate discounts

ShipBob partners with major shipping carriers to offer shipping discounts for its merchants. These discounted shipping costs are then be passed directly onto their clients. 

The 4 best Squarespace shipping integrations for ecommerce shops

You can integrate your Squarespace ecommerce store with a shipping platform to make the order management and delivery process more efficient. Here are some of the top shipping platforms in the business.

Integration	Discounted Shipping Rates	Distributed Inventory	3rd-Party Fulfillment	Inventory Auditing	Pick & Pack Available
Shippo	✔	X	X	X	X
ShipStation	✔	X	X	X	X
Shipping Easy	✔	X	X	X	X
ShipBob	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Shippo

Shippo makes it easier for self-fulfillers to ship, but it doesn’t offer any logistics support or warehousing. Through Shippo, a Squarespace order can be shipped in three easy steps, and you can save money through various discounted offers. However, Shippo only takes care of generating shipping labels, and you will have to take care of the rest of the order fulfillment process.

ShipStation

ShipStation makes it easy to track inventory and orders, and it’s a great option for merchants who currently self-fulfill orders. The platform provides order confirmation features and an order tracking number for monitoring shipments. By linking Squarespace to your ShipStation account, you can manage orders from anywhere. Although it’s a great software, you’re still responsible for completing the entire fulfillment and shipping process yourself. 

Shipping Easy

Shipping Easy offers multi-channel order fulfillment software, but sellers must again rely on self-fulfillment. On the plus side, the platform offers active customer support for resolving questions regarding shipment and inventory storage. The service will also manage your inventory, making it easier for Squarespace store owners to track their stock levels in real-time.

ShipBob

ShipBob offers business owners the complete package. As the only tech-enabled 3PL partner for Squarespace, you can easily streamline orders that come in through your online store with ShipBob’s ecommerce fulfillment solution. ShipBob takes care of the order fulfillment process for you, including inventory management, order tracking, ecommerce warehousing, shipping orders, and more. 

Integrate ShipBob and Squarespace easily

ShipBob automatically syncs to your Squarespace account in just a few clicks — it’s that easy! Once you integrate Squarespace with ShipBob, you can manage orders that come through your Squarespace store from your ShipBob dashboard. 

“The ShipBob integration with Squarespace has been a huge leap forward, because now I have a tight unification between my web store, my inventory, and my fulfillment.”

Craighton Berman, founder of Manual

Step 1: Click on “Store Integration” button

From the ShipBob dashboard, click on ‘Quick Setup,’ then ‘Store Integration.’

Step 2: Select Squarespace as your online store

You’ll see a list of store integration options. From here, you’ll click on ‘Squarespace.’

Step 3: Insert store name and press “Link Store”

Insert the name of your store, then click ‘Link Store.’ Then, you’ll begin synching your products. You can do this by importing products directly from your Squarespace site or upload a CSV file. Learn how to sync your products here.

Conclusion

Squarespace is a great option for your online store. It’s easy to use and set up, plus ShipBob’s Sqaurespace shipping integration makes it easy to plug in a fulfillment solution, which allows you track orders and inventory all in one place. 

By integrating your Squarespace store with ShipBob, you can grow your business and improve customer satisfaction. Learn how ShipBob helps merchants simplify Squarespace shipping to be more successful online. Click below to request a quote.