Order fees in 3PL Billing support tag-based filtering, multiple fees per billing profile, and percentage calculations with different discount handling modes. Knowing how each of these behaviors works helps you configure fees that charge correctly and troubleshoot unexpected charges.
For setup steps, see How to Set Up Order Fees in 3PL Billing.
Table of Contents
- How Order Tag Matching Works in 3PL Billing
- Multiple Order Fees on the Same 3PL Billing Profile
- How Percentage Order Fees Are Calculated in 3PL Billing
How Order Tag Matching Works in 3PL Billing
When ShipHero processes an order, it evaluates each order fee in the billing profile against the order's tags. The table below shows how matching is determined.
| Condition | Result |
|---|---|
| Fee has no tags configured | Fee applies to all orders regardless of tags. |
| Fee has tags configured, order has no tags | Fee is skipped — no match. |
| Fee has tags configured, order has tags | Fee applies if at least one of the order's tags matches any of the fee's configured tags. This is an OR match — not AND. |
Tag matching is case-insensitive. "VIP", "vip", and "Vip" are treated as the same tag.
Because matching is OR-based, multiple fees can fire independently on the same order. For example, if an order has tags "VIP" and "FRAGILE" and your billing profile has one fee configured for "FRAGILE" and another for "VIP", both fees trigger on that order.
Multiple Order Fees on the Same 3PL Billing Profile
A billing profile can hold multiple order fees as long as each targets a different tag or order profile. ShipHero blocks fees that would conflict with an existing fee on the same profile.
| Scenario | Allowed? |
|---|---|
| Two fees targeting different tags | Yes — treated as distinct fees. |
| Two fees targeting the same tag | No — blocked with error: "Invalid fee, conflicts with existing fee(s) '[fee name].'" |
| Two default fees of the same type | No — only one default per fee type is allowed per profile. |
| Non-default fee with no tags or order profile | No — a non-default order fee must specify at least one tag or order profile to be valid. |
How Percentage Order Fees Are Calculated in 3PL Billing
A percentage order fee charges a flat base rate plus a percentage of the order subtotal. The final charge is always at least the flat base rate — the percentage component cannot bring the total below that minimum.
How ShipHero calculates the subtotal depends on your account's configuration mode.
| Mode | How the Subtotal Is Calculated | Discounts Reflected? |
|---|---|---|
| Legacy (default) | Sums raw line item prices for shipped items. | No |
| Order total price mode | Uses the order's total price, prorated by the fraction of items shipped. | Yes — if discounts are already applied to the order total. |
| Build kits mode | Similar to legacy but correctly handles build kit component pricing. | No |
The default mode does not apply discounts to the percentage calculation. If your clients expect discounts to be reflected in their billing, confirm with your account manager whether order total price mode is enabled on your account.
Important
The calculation mode is set at the account level and cannot be changed per billing profile. Contact ShipHero Support or your account manager to confirm which mode your account uses.