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Fix Box Definitions When They’re Too Small for An Item

Adjust packing box dimensions to ensure accurate order shipments and prevent issues with item fitting

Overview

Table of Contents

You have defined dimensions for your products and shipping boxes. All boxes are available for all products. Sometimes, an order is packed into a smaller box than it should be. You might know it needs a medium box, but the order is packed into a small one.

Example

In this example, these boxes are defined:

  • Small: 5″ x 5″ x 5″
  • Medium: 7″ x 7″ x 7″
  • Large: 10″ x 10″ x 10″

There are two 2″ x 2″ x 2″ products in the cart. The order is packed into the small box because the dimensions suggest it fits. However, due to irregular shapes or the need for extra packing materials, the order should actually use the medium box.

Solution

There are two approaches to address this, depending on the characteristics of most of your products.

Option 1: Most of My Products Need Extra Packing or Are Oddly Shaped 😊

Set the default box packing tolerance in your ShipperHQ dashboard. Navigate to Advanced Features -> Dimensional Packing -> Settings -> Advanced -> Default Box Tolerance. Start at 20% and adjust from there.

Option 2: A Few of My Products Need Extra Packing or Are Oddly Shaped 💡

If you're using Magento, utilize the ship_box_tolerance product attribute to set tolerance at the product level. For other platforms, either pad the dimensions of those specific products or use the method from Option 1.