Shipping Policies Glossary

Shipping Policies are a requirement for all Sellers on Discogs starting November 1, 2020. 

Below you can find a glossary of commonly referenced terms to help solidify your understanding of Shipping Policies and everything related to it. More helpful information about setting up your Shipping Policies or editing and correcting them can be found here: 


 

Shipping Policy Glossary

Shipping Policy Editor

The settings page on Discogs where you enter your Shipping Policies.

Shipping Policy

One collection of shipping settings and shipping methods (see below) to a particular country, region or group of countries. (For example, you can set up a single policy for Europe or Asia).

Shipping Method

A single service type (see below) within a shipping policy. The main elements of a shipping method include details and restrictions about the shipping service, which format(s) the method applies to and the costs per item(s) or weight range.

Complete Policy

A complete policy has at least one shipping method where ‘All my items’ is selected, the value for ‘Order subtotal’ is 0 and with the final rate range ending in ‘and up’ to cover any order size. More details and examples of complete shipping policies can be found here.

Incomplete Policy

If your Shipping Policies do not contain at least one complete shipping method, as detailed above, the policy will be considered incomplete and this policy will be inactive, meaning your items will show as unavailable to buyers in this country or group of countries. A red banner will indicate which policies are incomplete.

Service Type

When setting up a method, you can select from three service types: Economy, Standard, and Express. This will be displayed to the buyer alongside the service name defined by you (see below) in the Ships From pop-over with all your shipping rates, as well as when the buyer checks out.

Service Name

This is a free text field where you can label your shipping method with the name of the service provider or details about the particular method (e.g. USPS, DHL, Media Mail, Royal Mail First Class, etc.).

Format Selection

The option to set your shipping method to apply to one or more formats: Vinyl (Large), Vinyl (Small), CD, Cassette, DVD/Blu-ray. The “All my items” selection ensures the shipping method is applied to all these and more. Note: A complete shipping policy must contain at least one method with “All my items” selected.

Weight and Quantity Selector

Set your shipping method ranges and rates to apply by either weight (grams) or quantity (number of items).

Ships From pop-over

View a seller’s Shipping Policies (or your own) by clicking “Ships From” at the top of a seller profile. By default, you’ll see the seller’s shipping rates to your country; you can see rates to any location by selecting a country from the menu.

Local Pickup

The option allows buyers to pay for their order and pick it up in your store or your location. This is a checkbox that applies alongside any additional methods.

Note: A shipping method only offering local pickup will be considered incomplete. Unfortunately, local pickup cannot be offered exclusively with no postal options.

Free Shipping

The option to offer buyers free shipping over a certain order value. It can be adjusted by each policy for a country or region. Here’s more information on how free shipping is displayed in the Marketplace.

And Up

A setting in the shipping method to be used in combination with “Flat rate” or “Per additional” (see below) to cover all order sizes. Having a method ending with “And up” is required for the policy to be complete.

Flat Rate

A setting in the shipping method used in combination with “And up” to apply a fixed rate for shipping of orders over a certain quantity or weight range.

Per Additional

A setting in the shipping method used in combination with “And up” to apply an incremental rate for each additional item or weight added to an order over a certain quantity or weight range.

Shipping Rates

This is what you choose to charge for shipping. Rates can include postal service tariffs as well as packaging materials, additional insurance, track and trace, and any other incidentals you choose to offset.

                                                                                                                                                  

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