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How To: FFL Shipping Restrictions

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Overview

This document will outline how to fully setup FFL (Federal Firearms License) Shipping Restrictions using the Locations module.

You will be able to flag products within your BigCommerce store as "restricted" and force your customers to have these items shipped to an FFL dealer. Your customers will be able to search your configured FFL dealers by zip code within the Checkout and even have an interactive map at hand for ease of use.

More general information can be found on our Locations FAQ page.

 

Configuration Steps

  1. Install Ebizio Checkout Application
  2. Complete Ebizio Checkout Onboarding
  3. Create Product Groups
  4. Create Location Group
  5. Subscribe to Locations Module
  6. Configure Locations Module

 

1. Install Ebizio Checkout Application

Login to your BigCommerce store using Owner Level Account or a User with application install permissions.

In a new tab, navigate to https://www.bigcommerce.com/apps/ebizio-checkout/ and click "GET THIS APP"

 

2. Complete Ebizio Checkout Onboarding

Please complete the in-app onboarding steps.

If needed, our Ebizio Checkout Onboarding Guide may be of assistance to you.

 

3. Create Product Groups

What Is a Product Group?

A Product Group is simply a collection of your BigCommerce products.

What Product Groups Do I Need To Create?

Configuring FFL Shipping Restrictions will require you to create two Product Groups:

  1. the first Product Group should target your restricted items, in other words this Product Group should contain all of the items that must be shipped to an FFL dealer.
  2. the second Product Group should target any items that must be shipped along with your FFL items. If you would like any cart containing an FFL item to ship fully to an FFL then you can simply check the "Include All Products in Store" box for this Product Group. If you would like to allow for split shipments where some but not all non-FFL items will be shipped along with your FFL items you may target just those here. Alternatively, you may target no items at all if you would like to have fully split shipments where only FFL items ship to the FFL dealer and all other items ship to your customer directly.

How To Create a Product Group

Navigate to the Ebizio Checkout app and click "Product Groups" within the sidebar.

Click "Add Product Group" then:

  • enter your desired Group Name, this can be anything at all and will not be seen by your users.
  • if you would like to target all products within your store, check the "Include All Products in Store" box.
  • click "Submit".

If you are not targeting all items within your store:

  • add the products that should be targeted by clicking the "Add Category", "Add Product" and/or "Add SKU" buttons.

We can now utilize our Product Groups later when configuring our Locations Module!

 

4. Create Location Group

What Is a Location Group?

A Location Group is simply a collection of your FFL Dealers and their address information.

How To Create a Google Maps API key?

A Google Maps API key is required for two purposes:

  1. to display an interactive Google Map within the Checkout for your customers to use when selecting an FFL dealer.
  2. so that the address data can be geolocated, allowing customers to search by zip code and find FFL Dealers with their desired radius.

Please navigate to Google's Maps JavaScript API page to get started with acquiring your API key.

Note that Billing will need to be enabled within your Google Project in order for the map to display properly within the Checkout.

Once you have your Google Maps API key created, please move onto the next step.

How To Create a Location Group

Navigate to the Ebizio Checkout App from your BigCommerce dashboard by going to "Apps" → "Ebizio Checkout".

Click the "Location Groups" link within the sidebar.

Within the "General Settings" view:

  • paste your Google Maps API key into the open input field.
  • click "Save Updates".

Within the "Location Groups" view:

  • click "Add Location Group".
  • enter any name (this will not ever be visible to your customers).
  • click "Submit".

Within the "Bulk Import" view:

  • click one of the "Downloads" to the lower right:
    • one is a sample CSV so that you may populate all of your own FFL dealer data.
    • the other is a CSV containing all ATF FFL locations as of the listed date.
  • modify and/or populate the downloaded CSV as needed.
  • choose your Location Group from the "Location Group" dropdown.
  • click "Choose File" and select your downloaded and modified CSV file.
  • click "Upload Files".
  • a background process will handle geolocating and adding the FFL locations to your Location Group. You may navigate to the "Bulk Import Files" view to check on the status of this processing.

 

5. Subscribe to Locations Module

Navigate to the Ebizio Checkout App from your BigCommerce dashboard by going to "Apps" → "Ebizio Checkout".

Click the "Locations" link within the sidebar.

Click "Subscribe Now" and then "Submit".

 

6. Configure Locations Module

Navigate to the Ebizio Checkout App from your BigCommerce dashboard by going to "Apps" → "Ebizio Checkout".

Click the "Locations" link within the sidebar.

Within the "General Settings" view:

  • check the "Enable Locations" checkbox.
  • select your restricted products group within the "Product Group" dropdown.
  • select your "ship with" products group within the "'Ship With' Product Group" dropdown.
  • select your location group within the "Location Group" dropdown.
  • all other configuration points within this view are optional:
    • modify the google maps radius options as needed.
    • modify the google maps starting latitude and longitude as needed.
    • modify the google maps marker images as needed.
  • click "Save Updates".

Within the "Checkout Display" view:

  • all configuration points within this view are optional:
    • modify the language defaults as needed.
  • click "Save Updates".

We can now go to our BigCommerce Storefront and test things!

Once adding products that are restricted to the cart, navigate to the Checkout and through to the Shipping step. You should see your new FFL Shipping Restrictions content!

Additional information about this Ebizio Checkout Module can be found on our Locations FAQ page.

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