Right now I have setup a FBM template with Standard shipping (free ship) to ship items under 1 pound (Picture attached). Even though I have all the states regions checked off it puts California as a separate section for me (Shipping from California) Is that normal?
Also I want to enable AHT and SSA in order to get the full protection under the new OTDR policy. When setting up a template and on the SSA option page do I just choose USPS Ground Advantage as the only option or can I also choose UPS Ground and UPS Ground Saver as well in case those options might be cheaper when buying shipping? Also on the section with “Shipping Services Priority” ( I believe this section pops up when I choose another service like UPS instead of only choosing USPS) which of the 4 options should I select? Or do I just leave the template with one carrier USPS Ground Advantage and not worry about any other carrier services thus this section will be not show up?
If you ship USPS Ground Advantage (less than 1lb) for all of your items, then we suggest to select only USPS Ground Advantage (less than 1lb). In doing so, all of your standard orders will be estimated using USPS Ground Advantage (less than 1lb). We do not suggest selecting USPS Priority or the Shipping Services Priority at all (remove the one you selected above).
Also, do not enable economy, 2 day shipping, 1 day shipping or same day. These types of shipping will not have OTDR protection.
We did a tutorial on setting up the template for SSA for use with AHT. It might help you.
Thank you for your feedback. So will my ship from state (California) will always be separated from the other 47 states like it is in my current template? The current template that I made only has Standard Shipping and no other options there.
Not sure about CA but we have all lower 48 together (our state use to be separate when we had to pay sales tax on our state orders … now that Amazon does the marketplace tax … our state is with the rest).
I can tell you that, when setting up my existing, regular (that is, non-SSA) FBM templates, there are instances where I try to group my state with a second (nearby) state, and it will not allow me to do so. I happen to ship from California as well (but I do not think this happens because there’s something special about California). For example, there have been instances where I’ve tried to group California with Northern Nevada, and it will not allow me to do so, it splits them up on two lines. That’s just one of several examples I have seen.
In my experience, it seems to at least partially relate to the transit time options Amazon allows you to choose for different states on templates. For example, some regions or states include 2-3 days or perhaps 1-2 days in the dropdown menu, but those options may not exist for farther away locations. I presume the choices offered depend on whether you are setting up standard or expedited shipping and especially your ship-from location.
