Shipping and taxes

Every order needs a way to reach the customer, and the right VAT. Only Admins can change shipping and tax settings.

Shipping zones

A zone is a group of countries with the same delivery rates, such as Norway, Nordics or Rest of Europe. Make zones under Shipping. Each has:

• Countries: two-letter codes, such as NO, SE and DK. A zone for the rest of the world covers every country that isn't in another zone.
• Rates: up to 10, such as Standard and Express. Each rate has:
  • a price in your main currency, and a price in each other currency you sell in
  • Free over: the order is delivered free when its products come to at least this, after discounts, such as €150. It works on orders in your main currency.
  • Delivery time in days, such as 3 to 5, shown to shoppers

At checkout, the shopper sees the rates of the zone their delivery country belongs to. A country in no zone, when there is no zone for the rest of the world, can only collect in store. A rate with no price in the cart's currency stops checkout with "Shipping has no price in SEK", so add a price for every currency you sell in.

Collection in store

Switch on Collection in store for a location under Locations, and shoppers in any country can choose to pick up their order there for free. See Stock and locations.

Live rates from a carrier

Connect a carrier under Shipping and taxes › Carriers and labels to show its live prices at checkout next to your own rates.

• Sendcloud: in your Sendcloud account, open Settings › Integrations, add a Sendcloud API integration and copy its public and secret key into Commerce Orbit. Sendcloud then gives prices and labels from the carriers you use with it, such as PostNord, DHL, DPD, Bring and UPS, at the prices of your own Sendcloud contract. Sendcloud prices are in euros, so its rates show on carts in euros only.
• Sandbox carrier: made-up Northwilds Post prices, pickup points and sample labels, for trying it all out. Nothing is posted.

Then switch on Live rates for each zone where you want them, choose which shipping methods to offer, and add a percentage or a packing fee to the carrier's price if you like. The packing fee is in your main currency. Shoppers see the methods that suit the weight of the cart, cheapest first, below your own rates. The weight comes from each variant's weight; set Weight of an item without one for products without one.

If the carrier doesn't answer, checkout shows your own rates only, so it never stops a sale. A method that delivers to a parcel locker or pickup point asks the shopper to choose one near their address.

Disconnecting the carrier switches live rates off in every zone. See Send orders and add tracking for labels.

VAT

Under Settings, choose:

• The country you sell from, such as Norway or Germany
• Prices include VAT: on by default, as shoppers in Europe expect. Turn it off to set prices without VAT and add it at checkout.
• One Stop Shop: whether you are registered for the EU's One Stop Shop (OSS)

Each product has a tax class: Standard, Reduced or Zero.

Which rate an order gets

Commerce Orbit works it out from where the order goes: the delivery address, or your own country for collection in store.

A buyer counts as a business when they belong to a company, or type a VAT number at checkout. Commerce Orbit checks VAT numbers from other EU countries with the EU's VIES service before it applies the reverse charge: see VAT number checks.

Shipping gets the standard rate of the same country, or none when the order is reverse charged or exported.

Prices with VAT and exports

When your prices include VAT and an order is reverse charged or exported, Commerce Orbit takes your own country's VAT out of the price, so the buyer pays the price without VAT. The Storm shell jacket at €279 with 25% VAT costs €223.20 to a business in Germany with a German VAT number.

Invoices

Invoices and receipts show VAT by rate. Reverse charged orders say "Reverse charge: VAT to be accounted for by the recipient (Article 196, Directive 2006/112/EC)", One Stop Shop orders say VAT is charged at the rate of the country of delivery, and exports say no VAT is charged. See Invoices and receipts.

VAT number checks

With Check with VIES on, in EU VAT numbers under Shipping and taxes, the reverse charge only applies to a VAT number the EU's VIES service says is valid. The check happens at checkout, where the shopper sees the result under the VAT number, and when you save a company. The answer is kept with its consultation number, on the company and on the order, as your proof. A number VIES says isn't valid is charged VAT, like a consumer.

VIES is sometimes down for a country. Choose what happens then:

• Accept and flag it: the order gets the reverse charge, its history says the number wasn't checked, and your team gets a notification to check it before sending the order.
• Charge VAT: the order is charged VAT. Give the customer a corrected invoice once the number checks out.

Turn Check with VIES off only if you check VAT numbers yourself.

US sales tax

Commerce Orbit doesn't work out US sales tax itself. Orders delivered to the US are sold without sales tax, as an export, unless you use Stripe Tax:

1. In Stripe, set up Stripe Tax and add your US registrations: the states where you collect sales tax.
2. Give your Stripe key Write access to Tax calculations and Tax transactions, and Read access to Tax registrations. See Connect your Stripe account.
3. Turn on Stripe Tax in US sales tax under Shipping and taxes. The settings show the states your Stripe account is registered in.

Shoppers delivering to the US then fill in the state and ZIP code, and checkout adds the sales tax Stripe Tax works out for the address, on the products and the shipping. Stripe only charges it in states where you are registered. Every placed order is recorded in Stripe Tax with its order number, so Stripe's tax reports include it. Invoices show the sales tax by rate.

Rates

Commerce Orbit has the standard and reduced VAT rates of the 27 EU countries, Norway, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Iceland. Other countries count as 0%.

If a rate changes, or you need another reduced rate for your products, add your own rate for a country in the tax settings: a standard rate, a reduced rate, or both, from 0% to 40%. It replaces the built-in rate for every new order. Orders already placed keep the VAT they were charged.

Not there yet

Import schemes such as IOSS and VOEC, carriers other than Sendcloud and your own rates by weight aren't part of Commerce Orbit yet. Check with your accountant that these settings match how you are registered.