Creating Custom Shipping Profiles

Custom shipping profiles ensure that your items will be processed correctly by the shipping carrier and not rejected, returned to sender, or cause your buyer to incur excess postage fees upon delivery.

More commonly listed products will have an existing shipping profile. However, you can create your own if you regularly sell something that does not fit an existing shipping profile.

 Important Notes:

• Bundling options, including setting a max # of items in one box, are not applicable to custom shipping profiles in Germany.

How to access created custom Shipping Profiles from iOS mobile app

1. Open the Whatnot app on your mobile device
2. Tap Profile in the bottom menu bar
   
3. Tap the Menu two-lines icon
   
4. Scroll down to 'Selling' and open the Seller Hub
   
5. Select "Shipping Profiles"
   
   

From Android Mobile App

1. Open the Whatnot app on your mobile device
2. Tap Profile in the bottom menu bar
3. Scroll down to Selling and tap into Shipping
4. Select Shipping Profiles

From the Web

1. On a web browser, navigate to https://www.whatnot.com/dashboard/home
2. In the left pane, tap Shipments to expand the dropdown and select Shipping Profiles
3. Tap the "Create Shipping Profile" button

Creating Custom Shipping Profiles

1. Configure the following settings:
   1. Name: Name associated with the item (e.g., Pokemon card pack).
   2. Weight: Weight of the first item that includes the packaging. 
   3. Scale: Specify if the weight is in Pound, Ounce, Gram, or Kilo. 
   4. Bundling Options (Optional)
      1. Max Bundle Size: Sellers now have the option to specify the total items that can be bundled together before creating a new shipment. You can now select the dimensions of your box and how many items you can safely fit into them with packaging. And if you have a flat rate box, you can directly select the type of flat rate box with predetermined dimensions.
          
      2. For fragile items like glass vases, you can specify the max bundle size of 1 so those items are always sold separately and never get bundled.
      3. See FAQ below for details.
      4. Incremental Weights: Sellers can also specify the incremental weight (which is often lower than the first item weight since it would include less packaging material) which will allow you to accurately weigh items and associated shipping costs
         
2. Tap Save Profile. 

Now when you add a listing to your Livestream shop or the Marketplace, you can choose the custom shipping profile you just created instead of the default common shipping profiles. 

Bundling FAQ

What happens if I don't set a max bundle size on the shipping profile?

If you don't define a max bundle size on a shipping profile, then the item will be placed in the smallest shipment based on our Smart Bundling™ algorithm. It will not be grouped with other items that have a max bundle size set. 

How will the max bundle size on this shipping profile affect bundling with other shipping profiles?

When you set a max bundle size on a shipping profile, items will only be bundled with other items that have the same shipping profile. 

Can you give an example with a max bundle size of 1?

Let's say we have two shipping profiles:

• Shipping Profile 1: 1oz, max bundle size = 1. Nothing else will get bundled with this.
• Shipping Profile 2: 1oz, max bundle size not set

A user makes the following purchases in a livestream:

• 2 orders using shipping profile 1
• 2 orders using shipping profile 2

The resulting shipments will be:

• Shipment 1: order 1 (shipping profile 1)
• Shipment 2: order 2 (shipping profile 1)
• Shipment 3: order 3 & 4 (shipping profile 2)

Can you give an example with multiple shipping profiles?

Let's say we have three shipping profiles:

• Shipping Profile 1: 1oz, max bundle size = 3
• Shipping Profile 2: 1oz, max bundle size = 3
• Shipping Profile 3: 1oz, max bundle size not set 

A user makes the following purchases in a livestream:

• 4 orders using shipping profile 1
• 2 orders using shipping profile 2
• 7 orders using shipping profile 3

The resulting shipments will be:

• Shipment 1: orders 1 - 3 (shipping profile 1)
• Shipment 2: order 4 (shipping profile 1) because shipment 1 was maxed out
• Shipment 3: orders 5 & 6 (shipping profile 2)
• Shipment 4: orders 7-14 (shipping profile 3)

Managing Custom Shipping Profiles

To make changes to existing custom shipping profiles, simply tap on the shipping profile to update the shipping profile settings, and then choose whether to apply these changes to the existing listings that have this custom profile. Or tap Delete Profile to remove the shipping profile entirely.