Usage

Create a rule

1. Open Settings > Shipping & payment rules and click + > Add shipping rule or Add payment rule.
2. On the General tab:
   • Name: only you see it.
   • Status: Active or Disabled.
   • Applies to: shipping methods or payment methods.
   • Action: Hide the selected methods when the conditions match, or Always show them (an exception that overrides hide rules with a higher priority number).
   • Tick the methods. Use the filter box in long lists.
   • Check the conditions against (Multi-Vendor, shipping rules): the vendor’s package or the whole cart.
   • Priority: lower numbers are checked first.
   • Message to the customer (optional): for example Cash on delivery is not available for orders over $500. [method] is replaced with the method name. Switch the language in the top right corner to translate it.
3. On the Conditions tab choose Apply the rule when: All conditions match / Any condition matches, then add conditions from the Add condition list. A rule without conditions applies to every order.
4. Click Save.

How a method is decided

For every shipping or payment method the active rules that list it are checked one by one: marketplace rules first (Multi-Vendor), then by priority (lowest number first), then by creation order. The first rule whose conditions match decides:

• Hide: the method is removed from checkout and the rule’s message is shown;
• Always show: the method stays, and later rules are not checked.

If no rule matches, the method is shown as usual. Core restrictions (user groups, weight limits, the “Payment dependencies” add-on, payments by country) still apply first; the add-on can only remove methods, never add one that core hides.

Conditions

Condition	Shipping	Payment	Notes
Subtotal	yes	yes	Sum of the product prices before order discounts, shipping and taxes, in the primary currency. From/to are inclusive; leave one empty.
Order total		yes	Total with shipping, taxes and discounts, without the payment surcharge.
Weight	yes	yes	Total product weight.
Number of items	yes	yes	Total quantity.
Products	yes	yes	The order contains at least one of / none of / only the selected products.
Categories	yes	yes	Same operators. A parent category includes its subcategories.
Product features	yes	yes	Variants of select-type features (for example a brand).
Restriction tags	yes	yes	Tags from the product editor, comma-separated.
Vendors	yes	yes	Multi-Vendor only (marketplace rules).
Customer user groups	yes	yes	Is one of / is not one of. Includes the built-in Guest and Registered groups.
Shipping country	yes	yes
Shipping state or region	yes	yes
Shipping zip/postal code	yes	yes	One pattern per line: exact code, * (any characters, e.g. SW1*), ? (one character) or a numeric range 10000-19999.
Selected shipping method		yes	The method the customer chose (any package in a multi-vendor order).
Day of the week	yes	yes	Store time zone.
Time of day	yes	yes	Store time zone; 22:00 to 06:00 spans midnight.
Date range	yes	yes	Both days included.

Examples

• No cash on delivery over $500: payment rule, Hide, method “Cash on delivery”, condition Subtotal from 500, message Cash on delivery is not available for orders over $500.
• …except for the wholesale group: a second payment rule with priority -1, action Always show, method “Cash on delivery”, condition Customer user groups is one of “Wholesale”.
• No freight for hazardous goods: tag the products hazardous; shipping rule, Hide, method “Freight”, condition Restriction tags at least one of hazardous.
• Express only on weekdays before 2 pm: shipping rule, Hide, “Express”, match Any condition, Day of the week is one of Saturday and Sunday, Time of day from 14:00 to 23:59.
• No COD with pickup: payment rule, Hide, “Cash on delivery”, Selected shipping method is one of “Store pickup”.

What the customer sees

Hidden methods are not listed. If the rule has a message, it is shown in a note under the shipping methods (per vendor package in Multi-Vendor) or under the payment methods. If a hidden method was selected, CS-Cart selects the first available one. If every shipping method of a package is hidden, CS-Cart shows its usual “no shipping options” text and the order cannot be placed.

When an order is placed, the add-on checks the chosen shipping and payment methods again on the server. A hidden method is refused with the rule’s message (or “The payment method … is not available for this order”), so a modified request cannot bypass a rule.

Rule list

The list shows each rule’s methods, a short summary of its conditions, the action, the priority and the status. Use the status menu to switch a rule on or off, the gear menu to edit, clone (the copy is disabled) or delete, and the sidebar to search. Tick several rules to activate, disable or delete them together.

Vendor rules (Multi-Vendor)

With Vendors can create rules for their shipping on, vendors open Shipping restrictions in the vendor panel. Vendor rules:

• target only the shipping methods available to the vendor (their own and the marketplace methods enabled for them);
• always look at the vendor’s own package, so they never affect other vendors;
• are checked after the marketplace rules, so a marketplace “Always show” rule wins.

The marketplace administrator sees all rules with the vendor name and can edit them.

CS-Cart Ultimate

Rules created with All stores selected apply to every storefront. Rules created while a storefront is selected apply only to that storefront.

Next steps

• Configuration
• Developer notes
• FAQ