Selling Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) products on Wish

To expand product variety on Wish and support merchants who sell larger items such as furniture and large electronics, we are rolling out a pilot program that allows merchants to sell Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) products on the Wish platform. This article walks Wish merchants through the details around listing and selling LTL products. 

Please note that currently, only select merchants based in the United States have access to the features below; we are looking to expand the functionality to allow more merchants to sell LTL products in the coming months. If you are also interested in selling LTL products on the Wish platform, please contact your Account Manager.

 

What is considered an LTL product?

Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) products are typically large piece items that need to be loaded onto pallets and transported using freight carriers. They are usually products that cannot be shipped via standard small parcel shipping channels or carriers due to their size, and require special shipping and handling processes. Products that are typically considered LTL include, but are not limited to, furniture (couches, beds, table sets) and large electronics (large TVs).

 

What are the benefits of selling LTL products on Wish?

As we roll out the functionality for select merchants to sell LTL products on Wish, merchants are able to unlock additional sales opportunities and attract Wish customers interested in large parcel items, which were previously not available on Wish.

In addition, to boost the sales of LTL products, Wish may promote such items to high-potential customers, in prominent locations, and in relevant search results on the Wish app and wish.com to help boost product impressions and sales for merchants.

Lastly, in order to facilitate timely communications between merchants, carriers, and customers for LTL order delivery, Wish will verify the customer’s phone number prior to them placing an order on an LTL product.

We understand that merchants selling LTL products have specific needs and operations to ensure the smooth delivery of their large parcel items to the customers. As part of the pilot launch of the LTL program, we aim to best support merchants in the following areas:

• Merchants may directly interact with their customers to resolve refund requests on LTL orders, reducing customer refund frauds.
• Fulfillment policy and timeline are tailored towards shipping LTL orders, which is a process different from shipping small parcel items (see below for more details).
• Wish will proactively educate potential customers before and after they place an LTL order on when and how to receive an LTL order delivery to prevent customer confusion from the start.
• Merchants are able to contact customers via phone regarding LTL orders directly.
• In the case where fulfillment and deliveries of LTL orders cannot be confirmed via the tracking number provided, merchants are able to validate tracking status via additional channels, so the orders receive payment eligibility in a timely manner (see below for more details).

 

Add an LTL product

Merchants with access to selling LTL products on Wish can add LTL products manually, via CSV, and via API.

Add LTL products manually:

1. In the Merchant Dashboard, navigate to Products > Add New Product. 

2. On this page, fill in all the relevant product information, and in the “Optional Information” section, enter “Yes” in the “Is LTL” field:

3. Next, after adding the product, navigate to Products > View All Products page, locate the newly-added product and click the link under “Country Shipping Price” column. Merchants are then directed to the Edit International Shipping Options page for this particular product. Please navigate to the “Customize Shipping Options” section to input “Max Delivery Days” for this product and corresponding destination countries. This estimate will serve as a reference for customers to know when to expect to be contacted by the shipping carrier regarding delivery.

 

Add LTL products via CSV:

1. In the Merchant Dashboard, navigate to Products > Add/Edit Products with CSV. Download the template CSV file and input “Yes” in the optional column, “Is LTL” for any LTL products.

2. Be sure to fill out the column “TTD by Country” to provide a shipping time estimate for your customers. This estimate will serve as a reference for customers to know when to expect to be contacted by the shipping carrier regarding delivery. Once all relevant fields are completed, you can upload the CSV file to finish adding the LTL product.

Add LTL products via API:

Merchants can use /api/v3/products and input values to relevant parameters:

1. Flag “is_ltl” as “True.”
2. Input your estimated shipping time range to “shipping_time.”

Learn more about using these endpoints in API - Create a product.

 

Receive an LTL order

When you receive an LTL order from a customer, the order will be clearly labeled as an LTL order, so that you can easily distinguish it from other orders. Note that you may receive orders from customers around the globe for your LTL products, but only the ones from US-based customers will be considered LTL orders and marked as “Less-Than-Truckload” (as shown below).

1. In the Merchant Dashboard, navigate to Orders > Unfulfilled Orders to locate your unfulfilled orders. An LTL order will be marked with a “Less-Than-Truckload” flag under the “Product” column:

2. Under the column “Days to Fulfill”, you will see that LTL orders have up to 14 calendar days to be marked as “shipped.” Note that this is different from the fulfillment requirement outlined in the Merchant Policy, Fulfillment, which currently applies to non-LTL orders.

If you primarily use API to fulfill orders, you may distinguish LTL orders from the rest by referring to the “is_ltl” attribute from the output of the order object.

 

Ship an LTL Order

Merchants are encouraged to ship an LTL order within 5 calendar days after receiving the order, and have up to 14 calendar days to mark the LTL order as “shipped.” An LTL order not marked as “shipped” within 14 calendar days after the order’s released time will be considered late fulfillment and will be auto-refunded.

You can fulfill an LTL order manually or via CSV on Merchant Dashboard, or via API. Please refer to this article for more details on how to fulfill an order.

 

Confirm fulfillment and delivery of an untracked LTL order

If LTL orders cannot be confirmed fulfilled via the carrier tracking (potentially due to carriers not yet being added to our system or invalid tracking number), merchants will be able to confirm fulfillment and/or delivery using the following additional avenues:

1. File a tracking dispute to demonstrate confirm fulfillment and restore payment eligibility

Merchants can file a tracking dispute by first navigating to Orders > History and locating the “Shipment Details” column for the order in question. Under the “Shipment Details” column, click on the tracking number to access the “Tracking Details” page and then click “Open a Tracking Dispute” to file a tracking dispute and demonstrate confirm fulfillment this way:

Regardless of whether the order has been delivered or not, filing a tracking dispute is a necessary step to restore payment eligibility for your LTL order.

2. Confirm delivery via the Merchant Dashboard manually

Merchants can navigate to Orders > History, locate the order in question, and then navigate to the “Actions” dropdown menu to the right. Under “Actions”, select “Upload Delivery Confirmation”:

Note: The Delivery Confirmation of an LTL order manually uploaded per process above must be in the form of a delivery receipt or a carrier tracking link that indicates the delivery of the order.

3. Confirm delivery via API: 

Merchants can use /api/v3/orders to provide delivery confirmation. Learn more about this endpoint at API - Update an LTL order.

 

Note that:

• You have 90 calendar days after marking the order as “shipped” to upload proof of delivery confirmation per step 2 and 3 above.
• Completing step 2 or 3 above alone cannot restore the order's payment eligibility. Merchants need to file a tracking dispute to do so.