In Warehance, Shipping Methods and Shipping Profiles work together to decide which carriers and services are used when you rate shop and purchase labels. Shipping Methods came first: every unique shipping option that arrives on an imported order becomes its own method, each with its own carrier configuration. Shipping Profiles were introduced as a better way to manage that configuration in one place — you define your carriers and services once on a profile, then link any number of methods to it. This article explains what each one does, how they differ, and how to upgrade your account from per-method carrier mappings to profile-based management.
Why this matters: if you ever change carriers — for example, replacing an older FedEx connection with a new native FedEx connection — accounts using per-method mappings have to update every single shipping method by hand. Accounts using Shipping Profiles update one profile, and every linked method follows automatically.
What Is a Shipping Method?
A shipping method represents a shipping option on an order — the thing your customer (or your client's store) chose at checkout, like "Free Shipping," "Standard," or "2-Day Express."
You can find them under Shipments → Shipping Methods in the left sidebar.
Key things to know about shipping methods:
- They are created automatically. When an order imports from a store with a shipping option name Warehance hasn't seen before for that client, a new shipping method is created with that exact name. Orders with no shipping option fall back to a default method (e.g., Acme Default Shipping Method).
- They start unmapped. A newly created method has no carriers or services enabled, so it appears under the Unmapped tab until it's configured (or linked to a profile).
- They are per-client. The same checkout option across two clients creates two separate methods.
- They can carry their own carrier configuration. Each method can have its own set of enabled carriers and services, its own Priority, and its own Max Delivery Days.
Because methods are created from raw order data, busy accounts accumulate a lot of them — it's common to see dozens or hundreds of methods, each needing carrier configuration. That's exactly the problem Shipping Profiles solve.
What Is a Shipping Profile?
A shipping profile is a reusable carrier configuration that lives at the organization level. Instead of choosing carriers and services on each method, you choose them once on a profile, then link methods to it.
You can find them under Shipments → Shipping Profiles in the left sidebar.
A profile holds:
- Name — e.g., Standard Ground, Expedited, Overnight.
- Priority — a number used for preference; higher = more preferred.
- Max Delivery Days — an optional cap used for rate filtering. Rates that can't deliver within this window are excluded during rate shopping.
- Client access — either All clients (default) or Selected clients, so you can restrict a profile to specific clients if needed.
- Carrier Mappings — the carriers and the specific services (e.g., FedEx Ground, USPS Priority Mail) that are eligible for rate shopping.
- Linked Methods — a list of every shipping method currently linked to the profile.
When an order ships using a method that's linked to a profile (with Use profile's carrier configuration enabled), rate shopping quotes the profile's enabled carriers and services and selects the best qualifying rate — typically the cheapest option that meets the delivery-day requirement.
How They're Different
| Shipping Method | Shipping Profile | |
|---|---|---|
| Represents | A checkout/shipping option on orders | A reusable carrier configuration |
| Created | Automatically from imported orders (or manually) | Manually, by you |
| Scope | Per client | Organization-wide (optionally restricted to selected clients) |
| Carrier config | Its own, unless linked to a profile | Defined once, shared by all linked methods |
| Typical count | Dozens to hundreds | A handful (usually one per service level) |
| Changing carriers | Edit every affected method | Edit the profile once |
The mental model: methods describe what the customer asked for; profiles describe how you fulfill it. You'll always have many methods, because stores generate them — but you only need a few profiles, usually one per service level you offer (e.g., Economy, Standard, Expedited, Overnight).
How Carrier Selection Is Resolved on an Order
When Warehance rate shops an order, it looks for carrier configuration in this order:
- Order-level profile override — a specific order can be pointed at a profile from the order's Shipping info section (Shipping Profile field). When set, rate shopping and label purchase use this profile's carriers/services and ignore the shipping method entirely.
- The method's linked profile — if the order's shipping method is linked to a profile and Use profile's carrier configuration is checked, the profile's carriers, Priority, and Max Delivery Days are used.
- The method's own configuration — otherwise, the method's own carrier mappings are used.
A method can be linked to a profile for organization purposes while still using its own carrier settings — just leave Use profile's carrier configuration unchecked. In the profile's Linked Methods tab, these show as Using Own instead of Using Profile.
Why Upgrade to Shipping Profiles?
1. One change instead of hundreds. If you swap, add, or remove a carrier connection — like replacing a legacy FedEx integration with the new native FedEx connection — you update the profile's Carrier Mappings once. Every linked method immediately rate shops against the new connection. Without profiles, each method holds its own reference to the old connection and must be edited individually.
2. New methods are trivial to configure. When a store sends a new shipping option and Warehance auto-creates an unmapped method, you don't rebuild carrier settings — you select it and assign it to the right profile in a few clicks.
3. Consistency. Every method linked to a profile rate shops with identical rules, so "Standard" behaves the same no matter which store or checkout string produced the method.
4. Client access control. Profiles can be limited to Selected clients, which lets 3PLs offer different carrier pools to different clients without duplicating configuration.
5. Cleaner audits. Each profile's Linked Methods tab shows exactly which methods use it and whether each is Using Profile or Using Own configuration.
How to Upgrade from Shipping Methods to Shipping Profiles
The upgrade is non-destructive: linking methods to a profile simply redirects where their carrier configuration comes from. You can do it a few methods at a time if you prefer.
1. Audit your existing shipping methods
Step 1: Go to Shipments → Shipping Methods.
Step 2: Review the table. The Status column shows whether each method is Mapped or Unmapped, the Shipping Profile column shows any existing profile link, and Unfulfilled Orders (30 days) and Last Shipment show which methods are actually in use.
Step 3: Group your active methods by how they should ship. Most accounts end up with a small set of service levels — for example, everything that should go cheapest-ground versus everything that should go 2-day. Each group becomes one profile.
Methods with no recent shipments and no unfulfilled orders are good candidates for cleanup. Select them and use Bulk Archive to get them out of the way — archiving is reversible via Bulk Unarchive.
2. Create a shipping profile for each service level
Step 1: Go to Shipments → Shipping Profiles and click Create.
Step 2: In the Create Shipping Profile modal, enter a Name (e.g., Standard Ground), a Priority (higher = more preferred), and optionally Max Delivery Days.
Step 3: Under Available to, keep All clients (default) unless this profile should only be usable by specific clients — in that case choose Selected clients and pick them in the Clients dropdown.
Step 4: Click Create.
3. Configure the profile's carriers and services
Step 1: Open the new profile and go to the Carrier Mappings tab.
Step 2: In the left column, select a carrier connection (use the Search carriers... box if you have many).
Step 3: In the right column, check each service that should be eligible for rate shopping — or use Select All. Repeat for each carrier you want in this profile.
Step 4: Click Save Changes.
Only check the services that genuinely fit the profile's service level. During rate shopping, Warehance quotes the enabled services and picks the best qualifying rate, so enabling an overnight service on a "Standard" profile means it can be selected if it happens to be cheapest and qualifies.
4. Bulk-assign your methods to the profile
Step 1: Go back to Shipments → Shipping Methods.
Step 2: Use the checkboxes to select every method that belongs to this service level.
Step 3: Click Assign to Profile.
Step 4: In the Assign to Shipping Profile modal, choose the profile in the Shipping Profile dropdown.
Step 5: Leave Use profile's carrier configuration checked — this is what makes the methods inherit the profile's carrier settings for rate shopping.
Step 6: Click Assign. Repeat steps 2–6 for each profile.
5. Verify the migration
Step 1: On the Shipping Methods table, confirm the assigned methods now show the profile name in the Shipping Profile column with the Using profile config tag.
Step 2: Open each profile's Linked Methods tab and confirm each method shows Mapped: Yes and Configuration: Using Profile.
Step 3: Spot-check an unshipped order on one of the migrated methods and confirm the rates returned come from the profile's carriers.
When you open a migrated method, its carrier section will display Using Shipping Profile Configuration — carrier settings are now managed by the linked profile. To change carriers, edit the profile, or uncheck Use profile's carrier configuration to give that one method its own settings again.
Alternative Method: Link One Method at a Time
If you'd rather not bulk-assign, you can link methods individually:
- Open the method from Shipments → Shipping Methods.
- In the Shipping Profile dropdown, choose a profile instead of None (Use own configuration).
- Check Use profile's carrier configuration.
- Click Save Changes.
Example: Swapping a FedEx Connection
Here's the payoff. Suppose you're replacing an older FedEx connection with a new native FedEx connection:
Step 1: Add the new FedEx connection under your carriers.
Step 2: Open each shipping profile (you likely have only a handful), go to Carrier Mappings, enable the new FedEx connection and check the services you use, and uncheck the old connection's services.
Step 3: Click Save Changes.
That's the entire migration — every linked method across every client now rate shops against the new connection. Without profiles, this same swap requires opening every FedEx-mapped shipping method and repeating the carrier change on each one.
Tips and Best Practices
- Keep profiles to service levels, not stores. Economy, Standard, Expedited, Overnight is a typical set. Methods from any store map into them.
- Set Max Delivery Days on the profile. It keeps slow-but-cheap services from winning rate shopping on time-sensitive profiles.
- Watch the Unmapped tab. New store shipping options keep generating unmapped methods over time; assigning them to a profile takes seconds.
- Use the order-level override sparingly. The Shipping Profile field on an order is great for exceptions, but day-to-day routing should flow through methods and their linked profiles.
- Archive stale methods. A short, current methods list makes the Assign to Profile workflow much faster.