Overview
The Exclusive Methods feature allows you set certain fulfillment methods as "Exclusive" and limit which Customer Groups can select those methods when checking out on your site.
This is primarily valuable for clients wishing to offer Flat Rate or partial shipping discounts to specific Groups of customers that they can access in checkout, such as providing club members Flat Rate Ground Shipping for orders they might place on your site between club shipments.
IMPORTANT: Even without activating Exclusive Methods, a given Fulfillment Method's Rate Table allows you to manage state or format parameters for when the method will show or not show to a specific customer, regardless of their Group.
NOTE: If you have any questions about how to best use our tools to accomplish your goals around shipping method access and discounts for your customers, please reach out to our Client Experience team at [email protected] or through our chat widget.
Fulfillment Method statuses
By default, Offset only shows two statuses for each fulfillment method:
Standard
Available to all customers in checkout, assuming their shipping address and cart contents apply
Admin-only
Not available for customers to select in checkout, but available for you to select when building an admin order or editing an existing order
Toggling on the Exclusive Methods feature unlocks a third option:
Exclusive
Hidden from customers in checkout by default, but you can enable specific groups to be able to access it when checking out on your site.
Enabling Exclusive Fulfillment Methods
Toggle on the feature from your Fulfillment Methods and Rates settings page underneath the main Methods list, which will reveal a Groups grid
Click the Save Changes button
Set the status of the Fulfillment Method you wish to make exclusive to "exclusive"
In the Exclusive Methods grid, toggle which Group/s you would like to be able to access Exclusive Methods
Using the red checkboxes, select which methods you would like them to be able to access and turn off access to any methods you would like them to not be able to access.
NOTE: When you allow a Group to access specific Exclusive Methods, we also allow you to un-select access to any Standard Methods for that Group. This allows you to offer them a "Flat Rate FedEx Ground" method, and hide the standard "FedEx Ground" method that other customers get so they don't see both when checking out.
Sorting Your Exclusive Methods
If you want certain Exclusive Methods to show at the first method to be selected in checkout by customers in the Groups that can access them, you'll want to sort them above Standard Methods.
Edge Cases For Customers in Multiple Groups
If your customer is in a Group that has access to Exclusive Methods and one that doesn't (such as a Mailing List group) we'll only show them the methods that the Exclusive Method dictates they access in checkout.
If you customer is in two groups that have access to Exclusive Methods, they'll see all methods that are selected in both.