Interacting with Global Logistics in checkouts
If you've selected the Direct Integrations option, gain a better understanding of how to interact with Global Logistics in checkouts
If you're using the Direct Integration checkout solution and enable Global Logistics, this page contains an overview of how to manage the checkout process. You'll also find details on how to:
During checkouts, Digital River's Global Logistics (GL) service gives you the capability to request international shipping quotes. Digital River routes your request to the appropriate global logistics provider (GLP) and then uses their response to provide you with a menu of shipping options that you can optionally filter before displaying to customers.
Once customers select a shipping quote, you'll need to apply their choice to the checkout, and then, assuming they selected a quote with delivered duty paid (DDP) terms, use the duty, fee, and import tax amounts returned by Digital River to present customers with a transaction's full landed cost.
During the early stages of an ecommerce transaction, customers land on your storefront, review products, build a cart, confirm the cart's details, and initiate checkout. This cart-building process is roughly the same for both domestic and international transactions.
Some of your products might however have country restrictions applied to them. In other words, products prohibited from being exported to one or more countries.
To handle this, you might want to block customers from adding restricted products to their carts. This helps avoid issues at customs as well as unanticipated return costs.
Plug-ins and extensions exist that geo-locate a customer's country. These add-ons then hide products from customers who are located in restricted countries. Some of these extensions also allow you to disable the add-to-cart button for prohibited product-country combinations.
However you send product data in create checkout requests, make sure each physical
items[] has a name, description, weight, image, and url. For details on why it's important to pass this data, refer to Defining basic product data on the Global Logistics page.Once you initiate checkout, you should obtain the customer's name, email, shipping address, and billing address.
When collecting a customer's shipping information in your checkout experience, we suggest using a drop-down menu (or a similar graphical control element) that restricts available ship to countries to those defined by your trading patterns, plus any additional countries you may be shipping to with the help of another logistics service.
Once you collect the customer's ship to information, you'll need to define and send a shipping quotes request to Digital River. We transform your request and route it to the appropriate global logistics provider (GLP). The quality of the data you provide in this request determines the accuracy of the returned shipping quotes.
Upon receiving a successful shipping quote response, you could handle the response by applying a filter before displaying the quotes to customers. Once the customer makes a selection, handle that event by retrieving data from the selected quote and using it to update the checkout.
Once you've collected a customer's shipping information, your
POST /shipping-quotes request must pass a currency, ship to address, and product data inside packaging.​curl --location 'dispatch-test.digitalriver.com/shipping-quotes' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer sk_test_343ddc5696e741b9b72a25de50f49ee6' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'Cookie: incap_ses_2101_1638494=tN70L9jJWwuBbqCbn0AoHWEwI2QAAAAARBWkgVilEwQuQA+kNZLVZQ==; nlbi_1638494_1914372=JivDUiucpRTFcbaKiXZ5LAAAAADW8KH8Q0zsipzOaOkg+Sdf; visid_incap_1638494=F+YbmPRBQV6qjnK2EapeH32gIWQAAAAAQUIPAAAAAAD7C2DNNcFOo7+iTjx6f0LK; Cookie_6=BIGipServerp-c020-gc-ica-admin-dc2-a1-active=293148426.64288.0000; Cookie_7=BIGipServerp-c020-gc-ica-shopper-dc2-s1-active=444143370.64288.0000; Cookie_8=BIGipServerp-c021-gc-sca-odsshopper-dc2-o1-active=!OhjDMSomDcB2YEE1x8Vl8DId3ryVdxpPZPmuV6tbSfGv17BizaNrIRaW4pTWy7BeqhvVFV02Ara7BjQ=; Cookie_9=BIGipServerp-c021-gc-sca-shopper-dc2-s1-s2-active=!vi0p5t6UvfLXzeo1x8Vl8DId3ryVd8qQ2Qj3wKSsTFhQVMTxblte8K+IRmdWrlhz+bFiRUk6ITpChfE=' \
--data-raw '{
"currency": "USD",
"shipTo": {
"address":{
"line1": "96 Euston Rd",
"city": "London",
"postalCode": "98001",
"country": "IT"
},
"name": "C. Brown",
"phone": "330-333-1144",
"email": "[email protected]"
},
"packages": [
{
"items": [
{
"productDetails": {
"id": "upsid_1680034693",
"skuGroupId": "group_9c99cdf6-3a36-462d-96da-a96c4f003c43",
"name": "phy_N1_1679494194",
"description": "Top rated keyboard",
"url": "https://producturl.com",
"countryOfOrigin": "US",
"image": "https://imageurl.com",
"partNumber": "DEMOPARTNUMBER2"
},
"amount": 7.99,
"quantity": 1
}
],
"weight": 10.5,
"weightUnit": "lb"
}
]
}'
Earlier in the checkout process, you required customers to select a ship to country from a restricted list. You also obtained the customer's ship to street address, city, state/region, and postal code.
We recommend you retrieve these same values and pass them in the request's
shipTo. This helps make the returned shipping quotes as accurate as possible.However, the only hard requirement in
shipTo is address.country. The request's
shipFrom represents the address of the product's warehouse. You're not required to pass shipFrom. Global Logistics identifies the appropriate trading pattern by using the request's shipTo.address.country. Your request must contains
packages[] and nested inside each element of this array must be one or more items[]. In multi-package transactions, this allows you to designate which products are to be sent in each parcel, potentially making the returned shipping rates more precise.
If you have a dynamic packing integration with your WMS, prior to sending a
POST/ shipping-quotes, you could call that service and provide it data on the physical products in the customer's cart so that its algorithms can tell you the optimal number of packages[], the weight, height, width, and length of each, plus which items[] should go in those packages[] and then send that data to Digital River in the request. Additionally, you might have large products that you know are always packaged individually. In this case, for each of these product types, you could send one
packages[] with a single items[] whose quantity is 1. For each
packages[]:- Its
height,width, andlengthshould be represented in inches. - If you don’t pass a
height,width, orlength, Global Logistics looks for these values in your default package settings. If you have no saved dimensions, we pass aheight,width, andlengthof one inch to the GLP. - If you don't pass
weight, we look for values initems[].productDetails.weight. However, if you do define this parameter inpackages[], we ignore anyweight(s) inproductDetails.
For details on why it's important that the quote request that Digital River routes to the designated GLP contains weight values, refer to Product weight and dunnage. ​
For each
items[] in that packages[]:- The
idshould reference the product in your order management system. - The required
skuGroupIdmust reference the SKU group that the product belongs to. From this resource, we retrieve the product's compliance data. - The product's
weight. If you don’t passweightinproductDetails, we look for a weight in your default package settings. If you have no saved value, we send aweightof one pound to the GLP.
For both
packages[] and items[].productDetails, the enumerated values of weightUnit are oz, lb, g, and kg. The default value is lb.- You're required to specify a
quantity. This is a key input for accurately calculating shipping rates.
From your shipping quotes request, Digital River retrieves product and packaging data, and uses it to define another request that we route to the appropriate GLP. We also determine whether any products in the request are classified as dangerous goods and/or require a signature, and, if this is the case, pass that data to the GLP.
When the GLP responds to our request with a list of quotes, we convert the cost of each back into the same
currency you specified in your request. For each quote returned by the GLP, we also aggregate any carrier assessed fees and surcharges into a single total amount.A successful
POST /shipping-quotes request returns a currency and an array of shipping quotes[].The
currency is always the same value that you sent in the request.200
{
"currency": "CAD",
"quotes": [
{
"id": "58SLC-DHL",
"description": "Express",
"estimatedDelivery": "3 - 5 Business Days",
"shippingTerms": "DDP",
"totalAmount": 28.19,
"shipFrom": {
"address": {
"city": "Salt Lake City",
"postalCode": "84604",
"state": "Utah",
"country": "US"
}
},
"fees": {
"details": [
{
"name": "Fuel Surcharge",
"amount": 1.72
},
{
"name": "Temporary Surcharge",
"amount": 0.45
},
{
"name": "Dangerous Goods Fee",
"amount": 1.56
}
],
"amount": 3.72
}
},
{
"id": "58SLC-DHL",
"description": "Express",
"shippingTerms": "DAP",
"totalAmount": 28.19,
"shipFrom": {
"address": {
"city": "Salt Lake City",
"postalCode": "84604",
"state": "Utah",
"country": "US"
}
},
"fees": {
"details": [
{
"name": "Fuel Surcharge",
"amount": 1.72
},
{
"name": "Temporary Surcharge",
"amount": 0.45
},
{
"name": "Dangerous Goods Fee",
"amount": 1.56
}
],
"amount": 3.72
}
}
],
"liveMode": false
}
Each element in
quotes[] contains the following attributes:The elements in the array are not a resource, which means you can't use
id to make an API call to retrieve a unique shipping quote.However, when handling a customer's shipping quote selection, you do need to pass
id in an update checkout request.The
description indicates the duration of transportation. In other words, how quickly the goods are transported to the customer and what priority level they are assigned. Some common values are Economy, Express, and Priority. This is a pass-thru value from the GLP.A shipping quote's
estimatedDelivery defines a minimum and maximum delivery period in days. For example, estimatedDelivery might be 3 - 5 Business Days.A quote's
shippingTerms are designated as either DDP or DAP. These values indicate when customers must pay duties, fees, and import taxes.In delivered-duty-paid (
DDP) shipments, customers pays all duties, fees, and import taxes upfront during the checkout process. Upon product delivery, there are no additional charges they must pay.In delivered-at-place (
DAP) shipments, customers do not pay the full landed cost at checkout-time. Instead, they pay product and shipping costs, and then, upon delivery, they're responsible for paying duties, fees, and import taxes.The
totalAmount of a quotes[] represents how much customers must pay to ship the goods to their final destination. It includes the estimated cost of handling, transportation, and postage as well as carrier assessed surcharges and fees.In
fees, we itemize these estimated fees and surcharges. A carrier might collect them to, for example, offset the cost of higher fuel prices, package signature options, or dangerous goods handling requirements.Each quote's
totalAmount, fees.amount, and fees.details[].amount is denominated in the response's single currency.Each shipping quote's
shipFrom represents the address where that product is warehoused.If you maintain multiple warehouses in the same country, then the response might contain one or more
quotes[] with the same shipFrom.address.country but other attributes nested in shipFrom.address (such as line1 and city) that contain non-matching values.If you fail to define parameters marked as required in the shipping quote request specifications, you'll receive an error.
In addition, if the request contains
shipFrom.address.country and shipTo.address.country values not supported by your trading patterns, we return a 400 Bad Request.{
"type": "bad_request",
"errors": [
{
"code": "invalid_parameter",
"parameter": "shipTo.address",
"message": "The shipTo.address is invalid with the shipFrom.address"
}
]
}
Depending on your business objectives, you may decide you want to filter and adjust the returned shipping quotes before displaying them to customers.
By only displaying
quotes[] whose shippingTerms are DDP, you can help minimize rejections, returns, and chargebacks.
Shipments with DAP terms generally have higher return rates. At the time of delivery, some customers may be unaware of the outstanding balance and, in response, either refuse the delivery altogether or accept the delivery and then return the products.
You should be aware however that some carriers and ship to country combinations don't support the prepay DDP option. In these cases, the only quotes[] in a successful response are those with shippingTerms of DAP. So, if one of your ship to countries doesn't support DDP, make sure you have logic in place that displays DAP quotes in the event DDP quotes are not returned.If you'd like to offer your customers a discount on shipping costs, you can reduce one or more
quotes[].totalAmount values before displaying them to customers. Just make sure you pass this reduced amount when setting the checkout's shippingChoice.For each shipping quote that you display to customers in your checkout UI, reveal its
serviceLevel, estimatedDelivery, and totalAmount.If you'd like to provide customers with more shipping cost granularity, you can also display
fees.details[] and/or fees.amount.In addition, you should indicate whether the quote's
shippingTerms are DAP or DDP. We recommend however that you don't display these acronyms in your UI. Few, if any, customers will understand their meaning. Instead, display a more user-friendly description. For example:Shipping term | Customer-facing text |
|---|---|
DAP | Import charges collected upon delivery |
DDP | No additional import charges at delivery |
Here's an example of what this might look like:
When customers select a shipping quote, handle that event by retrieving data from their selection and using it to define
shippingChoice and shipFrom in an update checkout request:Shipping quote | Text | POST /checkouts/{id} |
|---|---|---|
id | âž” | shippingChoice.id |
amount | âž” | shippingChoice.amount |
description | âž” | shippingChoice.description |
serviceLevel | âž” | shippingChoice.serviceLevel |
shippingTerms | âž” | shippingChoice.shippingTerms |
shipFrom | âž” | shipFrom |
If all the necessary preconditions are met, this request prompts Digital River to call its landed cost service.
If the checkout's
shippingTerms are DDP, then the response to your request provides recalculated duty, fee, and import tax amounts at both the checkout-level and items[] level.In the Global Logistics solution, the customer is the designated importer of record. As a result, the customer pays the checkout's
totalImporterTax.If the checkout's
shippingTerms are DAP, then checkout-level and items[] level duty, fee, and import tax amounts are all zero.DDP Checkout
DAP Checkout
{
"id": "206bfba3-7bda-4d0b-b6e3-657875b5cc6c",
"createdTime": "2021-11-11T22:25:24Z",
"currency": "EUR",
"email": "[email protected]",
"shipTo": {
"address": {
"line1": "Neuer Wall 10",
"city": "Hamburg",
"postalCode": "20354",
"country": "DE"
},
"name": "John",
"phone": "9526123456",
"email": "[email protected]"
},
"shipFrom": {
"address": {
"line1": "Landed Cost Cross Order",
"line2": "80 Sunraysia Road",
"city": "INVERMAY",
"postalCode": "3352",
"state": "Victoria",
"country": "AU"
}
},
"totalAmount": 1809.99,
"subtotal": 1809.99,
"totalFees": 0.0,
"totalTax": 0.0,
"totalImporterTax": 288.99,
"importerOfRecordTax": true,
"totalDuty": 221.0,
"totalDiscount": 0.0,
"totalShipping": 100.0,
"items": [
{
"id": "434e3932-a20d-49d3-ad82-0abb25eaa9be",
"skuId": "3c99757b-a543-455f-bbd3-57dc1bb21579",
"amount": 1200.0,
"quantity": 3,
"tax": {
"rate": 0.36,
"amount": 0.0
},
"importerTax": {
"amount": 288.99
},
"duties": {
"amount": 221.0
},
"fees": {
"amount": 0.0,
"taxAmount": 0.0
},
"tariffCode": "6404201000"
}
],
"shippingChoice": {
"id": "testDDP",
"amount": 100.0,
"description": "FedEx Next Day",
"serviceLevel": "Test",
"taxAmount": 0.0,
"shippingTerms": "DDP"
},
"updatedTime": "2021-11-11T22:25:24Z",
"locale": "en_US",
"customerType": "individual",
"sellingEntity": {
"id": "DR_IRELAND-ENTITY",
"name": "Digital River Ireland Ltd."
},
"liveMode": false,
"payment": {
"session": {
"id": "1822d8bd-1531-40da-aedc-10ac9b0eda4c",
"amountContributed": 0.0,
"amountRemainingToBeContributed": 1809.99,
"state": "requires_source",
"clientSecret": "1822d8bd-1531-40da-aedc-10ac9b0eda4c_4b58e8ed-505c-4334-b349-bc65be9029e5"
}
}
}
{
"id": "2554c935-98a4-49e6-95ac-1d179c47b2e4",
"createdTime": "2021-11-11T22:26:22Z",
"currency": "EUR",
"email": "[email protected]",
"shipTo": {
"address": {
"line1": "Neuer Wall 10",
"city": "Hamburg",
"postalCode": "20354",
"country": "DE"
},
"name": "John",
"phone": "9526123456",
"email": "[email protected]"
},
"shipFrom": {
"address": {
"line1": "Landed Cost Cross Order",
"line2": "80 Sunraysia Road",
"city": "INVERMAY",
"postalCode": "3352",
"state": "Victoria",
"country": "AU"
}
},
"totalAmount": 1300.0,
"subtotal": 1300.0,
"totalFees": 0.0,
"totalTax": 0.0,
"totalImporterTax": 0.0,
"totalDuty": 0.0,
"totalDiscount": 0.0,
"totalShipping": 100.0,
"items": [
{
"id": "5fbe0052-7b63-460a-a5f6-c516ab9b900d",
"skuId": "3c99757b-a543-455f-bbd3-57dc1bb21579",
"amount": 1200.0,
"quantity": 3,
"tax": {
"rate": 0.0,
"amount": 0.0
},
"importerTax": {},
"duties": {},
"fees": {
"amount": 0.0,
"taxAmount": 0.0
},
"tariffCode": "6404201000"
}
],
"shippingChoice": {
"id": "testDAP",
"amount": 100.0,
"description": "FedEx Next Day",
"serviceLevel": "Test",
"taxAmount": 0.0,
"shippingTerms": "DAP"
},
"updatedTime": "2021-11-11T22:26:22Z",
"locale": "en_US",
"customerType": "individual",
"sellingEntity": {
"id": "DR_IRELAND-ENTITY",
"name": "Digital River Ireland Ltd."
},
"liveMode": false,
"payment": {
"session": {
"id": "561f72d9-44e0-4002-840b-908df73926c4",
"amountContributed": 0.0,
"amountRemainingToBeContributed": 1300.0,
"state": "requires_source",
"clientSecret": "561f72d9-44e0-4002-840b-908df73926c4_3493ddf5-d60e-474d-b2d3-2bda3237649d"
}
}
}
In both
DAP and DDP scenarios, use the checkout's data to update the product, shipping, duties, fees, taxes, and total amounts displayed to customers. When displaying duty and import tax amounts in DAP scenarios, let customers know that they don't pay these costs at checkout time. We recommend using language such as "Outstanding" or "Collected upon delivery".Here's an example of what this might look like:
DDP selection
DAP selection
Prior to initiating the payment collection process, you obtain the customer's billing information and use it to set (at a minimum) the checkout's
billTo.address.country. Once you initiate payment collection, Drop-in payments only displays payment methods applicable to that currency and bill to country.
If you're using DigitalRiver.js with elements to collect payment, make sure that only applicable payment methods are presented to customers by calling
retrieveAvailablePaymentMethods().For details, refer to:
Once the necessary preconditions are met, you can convert the checkout to an order. After the order's
state either synchronously or asynchronously moves to accepted, send a ship request to your third-party logistics (3PL) provider.​
Last modified 27d ago