If you are not getting rates, there could be several reasons. One of the most common is mistyped data in the previous sections. Here are some checks to make to make sure you are seeing rates...
Fulfilment rules are affecting the rates displayed
The fulfilment rules and actions configured on your 7bridges account will affect which providers, accounts and shipping methods are available at the 'shipping method' step in the booking flow. See this article to understand more which fulfilment rules have been applied to a shipment booking.
Product information is invalid or missing
Things like:
- Negative product value which is not allowed
- Missing description
- Missing customs references for a shipment across borders
- Zero product weight
These can all be fixed in the Packaging step by clicking the pencil icon next to the product in question and then amending the information.
Package dimensions are too large
If your package dimensions exceed the limit set by some logistics providers, they may not accept the booking.
Invalid origin or destination address
A mistyped or incorrect address can cause errors. Make sure your postcode matches your city and street address, and that it actually exists.
Here are some examples of common errors:
- If the postcode is mistyped or mismatches the country/state, find the correct address on Google Maps
- The address may have the wrong information in the fields e.g. the Postal code and city swapped around
- If you are shipping to Jersey but the country is the United Kingdom: Jersey counts as a separate country so you must select Jersey from the countries in the search bar.
- If you are shipping from Monaco and don't get rates, try selecting Monaco as a city and France as a country.
- If you include the state identifier in the postcode for a United States address, DHL, FedEx, and USPS may not return rates, or they may show expensive rates e.g. 'FL 33323' vs. '33323'.
- Some postcode require a specific whitespace format, e.g. "421 65" in Sweden. Often these will be space sensitive, so "421 65" is a valid Swedish postcode, but "42165" is not.
- The logistics provider system is down
Sometimes the systems of the logistics provider go down. Either ship with a different carrier or give it 15 minutes and they should show again. (This is quite a common occurrence with TNT, so if you can see e.g. UPS rates but not TNT rates then often just waiting for a while and trying again will resolve it.)
The logistics provider doesn't ship to this location
Some carriers don't ship to certain locations, so you may get no rates back from the system.
Shipping to a PO Box
- Some carriers don't deliver to PO boxes, such as DHL in Europe.
- In the US, only USPS is allowed to deliver to a PO box.
- If possible, ask the customer for a different address. You can try putting the PO box number in the company field, but there is a risk of a delayed shipment if the carrier doesn't pick it up.
Providers are not configured for that shipment type
You may be trying to book a shipment from and to locations that are not covered by the providers configured on the platform. We can check this for you if you are still seeing no rates after checking all of the above.
A tip...
If you have corrected something after reviewing the above then sometimes the system needs a little nudge to fetch new rates. To do this, simply add a zero at the end of the package weight field (e.g. 1.25 becomes 1.250). This will then force the system to fetch new rates and can help unblock shipment bookings.