This container specifies the shipping rate tables that are to be applied to this listing. Shipping rate tables enable sellers to tailor the flat shipping rates offered for an item to fit the shipping destination. They can specify a shipping rate for a large
base region, then define alternative rates or surcharges for shipping to other
extended regions within the base region.
Prerequisites for applying shipping rate tables:
- The shipping type for the listing must be Flat.
- The seller must have previously configured a shipping rate table in My eBay site preferences.
In a domestic shipping rate table, sellers can specify an alternative shipping rate for each shipping service category, for each of several extended domestic regions within their country. For example, in the US the shipping categories are Economy, Standard, Expedited and One-day. The extended regions are Alaska and Hawaii, US Protectorates, and Army/Fleet Post Offices.
In an international shipping rate table, sellers can specify an alternative shipping rate for each shipping service category, for each country in a given base region. The international rate table has nine base regions: Africa, Asia, Central America and Caribbean, Europe, Middle East, North America, Oceania, Southeast Asia, and South America. You can use the GetUser call to determine if the seller has configured a shipping rate table. If the domestic shipping rate table is available for this seller, the
User.SellerInfo.DomesticRateTable field will be
true. If the international shipping rate table is available for this seller, the
User.SellerInfo.InternationalTable field will be
true.
Note: You can use RateTableDetails to apply a shipping rate table to a listing or remove it from a listing. However, the details of a shipping rate table configuration can only be viewed and modified on the eBay website, not by using the API. Sellers use a dropdown list to specify the alternative shipping rate applied by the rate table as one of the following:
- A flat amount per item
- A flat surcharge (domestic rate tables only)
- A surcharge by weight
This selection applies to the entire table; there is no mixing and matching by region or shipping category.
If you are applying a shipping rate table that specifies a surcharge by weight, you must specify the item weight in the
ShippingDetails.CalculatedShippingRate container's
WeightMajor and
WeightMinor fields, even though this is a flat rate listing. Do not use any other fields in the
CalculatedShippingRate container because those are not supported in this scenario.
Note: There is currently no way to determine through the API whether a seller's rate table specifies a surcharge by weight, so your application must make it clear to the seller that item weight must be supplied if the seller has specified a surcharge by weight. If the required weight values are not supplied, a default weight of one unit (1 lb or 1 kg, depending on locale) is used as the basis for the surcharge. This container is returned from the GetItem family of calls only for the seller who listed the item.
You can find more information about using shipping rate tables in the Shipping chapter of the Trading API User's Guide.