Glossary of important terms

Term	Meaning	Example
Carrier Method	A shipping option shown at checkout. While setting up a carrier method, you may need to include price, ETA, DIM factor, and surcharges.	"Express Delivery (2-4 days)" with base rate, min charge, extra fees.
Base Rate	The price per billable weight (BW).	$2 per kg.
Min Charge	Minimum shipping fee the customer must pay, even if the calculated rate is lower.	If BW x base rate = $7 but min charge = $10 → customer pays $10. => This ensures you never lose profit on small or lightweight orders.
DIM Factor	A number set by the shipping carrier to convert a package's volume into a weight value. It reflects how much space a package takes up relative to its actual weight.	Typically, 5000 is used for air freight and 6000 for ground shipping.
Dimensional Weight (DW)	A way for shipping carriers to charge based on how much space a package takes up, not just how heavy it is. Carriers use this to charge fairly for large, lightweight boxes that take up a lot of space but weigh little.	Formula: DW = (L × W × H) ÷ DIM. E.g., Big but light box = DW 6kg even if AW is 3kg.
Actual Weight (AW)	Real physical weight of the product.	A shirt weighs 0.2 kg.
Billable Weight (BW)	The weight used for charging → max(DW, AW).	AW 3kg, DW 6kg → BW = 6kg.
Surcharge	Extra fee added to shipping (fuel, oversize, handling, etc.).	Fuel surcharge: +$3.
Product Dimensions	Length, width, height, weight used to calculate DW.	Candle box: 20 x 15 x 15 cm.
Fallback Dimensions	Default dimensions used when a product has no size data.	All missing products default to 20 x 20 x 10 cm.
Desired Delivery Date	Date selected by customer during checkout.	Customer chooses "Deliver on Friday 12 Feb".
Excluded Dates	Dates that cannot be selected for delivery.	Public holidays or warehouse closure dates.
Batch	A group of orders combined to ship together.	All Sydney orders for Friday → Batch "SYD-FRI".
Batch Rule	Rules that decide how orders are grouped into a batch.	"Group orders with same delivery date + location."
Batch Priority	Determines which rule is applied first (lower number = higher priority).	Priority 1 rule beats priority 5 rule.
Batch Threshold	The limit that triggers a batch to become "ready".	Max 20 orders or 50kg total weight.
Collecting	Batch is gathering orders but not ready yet.	Batch has 12 orders but needs 20 to complete.
Ready to Dispatch	Batch meets all criteria and is ready for shipping.	Batch hits 20 orders → moves to Ready.
Force Release	Manually mark a Collecting batch as Ready even if it's not full.	End of day: release early with only 12 orders.
Dispatched	Batch has been handed over to the shipping carrier.	Courier picked up all orders.
Delivered	All orders in the batch have been delivered.	Batch lifecycle ends.
Cancelled (Batch)	Batch is invalid or no longer needed.	Wrong rule or customer canceled orders.
on_hold (Order Status)	Order is added to a batch, regardless of its previous status. This prevents fulfillment actions while batching is in progress.	Prevents fulfillment before batching finishes.