Best for: BigCommerce owners, operators, and implementation leads
Begin with current availability
Begin by joining the BigCommerce pilot waitlist. If the application is accepted and readiness is verified, the team defines a selected sample, confirms how information will be exchanged, reviews the requested connections, and agrees on the evidence needed for a decision.
An accepted pilot runs beside the merchant's current operation for up to 30 days. It evaluates selected carts and records recommendations without changing the shopper experience. Any live use requires a separate merchant approval and a verified scope.
Prepare the smallest useful sample
A useful pilot does not need the whole catalog. Start with a representative group that covers the operating decisions the merchant actually wants to test.
| Input | What to prepare |
|---|---|
| Selected products | A small set of important, high-variance, or operationally difficult products and variants. |
| Representative carts | Examples that include nearby and distant destinations, single- and multi-line orders, and parcel, LTL, palletized, or mixed scenarios where relevant. |
| Ship-from context | The approved origin or origins and the operating rule used to choose among them. |
| Product economics | The positive product-cost fields and the merchant-selected contribution-margin boundary used for the pilot. |
| Shipping attributes | The dimensions, weights, handling requirements, and known service constraints available for the selected sample. |
| Packout evidence | Reviewed examples of how the products actually leave the floor, including available final measurements or photos. |
| Available actuals | Recent shipment outcomes, invoices, or variance examples that can support a useful comparison, if the merchant is authorized to share them securely. |
Step 1: Define the pilot scope
- Name the operating questionDecide whether the pilot is testing catalog readiness, parcel-versus-LTL decisions, all-in offer headroom, packout variance, final-bill variance, or a defined combination.
- Choose the sampleList the products, carts, destinations, shipment modes, and available actuals included in the review.
- Write the exclusionsCall out checkout paths, promotions, carriers, categories, destinations, or data that are not part of the pilot.
- Assign ownersIdentify the merchant owner for catalog data, warehouse review, margin rules, technical connection, and final approval.
- Set the review dateChoose when the team will compare evidence and decide to approve, revise, extend within the agreed limit, or stop.
Step 2: Approve the BigCommerce connection
If the pilot is accepted and readiness is verified, Ship Safe Offers provides the tenant-specific connection path and the exact permissions requested. A merchant owner or authorized administrator should review those permissions before approving the connection.
- Use an authorized accountThe person approving access must have the right to connect the store and should follow the merchant's own change-control process.
- Review the requested scopeConfirm that the requested BigCommerce permissions match the written pilot scope. Ask before approving anything that is unclear.
- Keep credentials privateNever email a store password, API key, carrier credential, or access token. Use only the connection method supplied for the approved pilot.
- Record the changeKeep the connection date, approver, scope, and support owner with the pilot record.
Step 3: Connect only the approved shipping inputs
Current carrier or rate information may be included when it is necessary for the agreed pilot. The connection method, fields, and provider responsibilities depend on the merchant's systems and the approved scope.
- Confirm each ship-from originDocument the physical origin used by the selected orders and how the operation chooses among multiple locations.
- List the shipment modesIdentify parcel, LTL, palletized, mixed, custom, or merchant-approved rate sources included in the sample.
- Confirm service requirementsRecord known residential, liftgate, appointment, handling, delivery-area, or other requirements that materially affect the selected scenarios.
- Use the secure connection pathProvide credentials or private rate information only through the approved server-side method, never through the public site or a shared document.
- Document fallback behaviorAgree on what the pilot should record when a required source is unavailable. The protected recommendation should be withheld rather than guessed.
Step 4: Review catalog and packout readiness
Review the selected products with both the catalog owner and the warehouse team. The catalog supplies the declared product information; the operation supplies the reality of how the item is protected, combined, boxed, palletized, measured, weighed, and handed off.
| Check | Ready when |
|---|---|
| Product cost | A known positive value is available from the approved merchant source. |
| Dimensions and weight | The selected shipping attributes are present and their source is understood. |
| Packout evidence | The warehouse has reviewed an example or approved operating pattern that reflects real practice. |
| Shipment requirements | Special handling, palletization, delivery service, and known accessorial exposure are identified where relevant. |
| Pilot eligibility | The product, origin, destination type, shipment mode, and checkout path are inside the written scope. |
Step 5: Approve the merchant rules
Before shadow decisions are reviewed, the merchant should document the business rules being tested. The selected contribution-margin floor is based on the listed inputs and is not a guarantee of profit or final carrier cost.
- Protected margin floorThe contribution-margin boundary used to evaluate eligible recommendations for the selected sample.
- Included costsThe product, payment, shipping, handling, reserve, or other approved inputs that belong in the pilot decision.
- Reserve treatmentHow uncertainty or expected variance will be represented during review.
- Eligibility and exclusionsThe exact products, paths, destinations, modes, and promotion interactions that may or may not receive a recommendation.
- Presentation limitsThe customer-facing form, minimum display rule, and offer limits to test if a later live scope is considered.
Step 6: Run and review shadow mode
Run the selected sample beside the current operation for the agreed period, up to 30 days. The shopper experience remains unchanged while the team reviews recommendations, withheld decisions, packout evidence, and available final-bill comparisons.
- Check decision coverageConfirm how many selected scenarios had enough trusted information for review and which inputs blocked the rest.
- Read the withhold reasonsDecide whether each no-offer result reflects a missing input, unavailable source, scope boundary, or genuinely limited headroom.
- Compare representative actualsWhere evidence is available, compare the planned shipment with the final packout, service, invoice, and material variance.
- Review merchant controlsConfirm that the selected floor, included costs, reserve treatment, and eligibility rules match the written plan.
- Record disagreementsPreserve examples the warehouse, finance, or implementation team wants to challenge. A useful pilot makes disagreement visible.
Step 7: Make a documented activation decision
Shadow mode does not automatically become live. The merchant and Ship Safe Offers review the evidence and choose one of four outcomes: approve a narrow live scope, revise and re-test, continue only within the agreed pilot limit, or stop.
| Review | Evidence to confirm |
|---|---|
| Scope | The exact products, destinations, shipment modes, checkout paths, and promotion interactions allowed live. |
| Connections | The required store and rate sources are available and their fallback behavior has been observed. |
| Catalog and packout | The selected products have trusted inputs and warehouse-reviewed operating evidence. |
| Merchant controls | The approved floor, cost treatment, eligibility, offer limits, and named owners are documented. |
| Storefront QA | A controlled test covers eligible, excluded, changed-cart, changed-address, and unavailable-source cases for the approved paths. |
| Pause and support | The responsible people know the configured pause or stop path, escalation route, and rollback owner. |
Know how to pause, disconnect, delete, and get support
- Pause or narrowUse the configured pilot or live control where available, and contact the named support owner before widening the scope again.
- DisconnectFollow the tenant-specific connection instructions and the written pilot or order-form terms. Do not assume a marketplace uninstall flow applies.
- Request deletionSend a verified request under the Account and Data Deletion policy. The policy explains the 30-day handling target and legal-retention exceptions.
- Report an issuePreserve the store, time, affected path, and non-sensitive example identifier. Do not send credentials, private rates, or customer data through ordinary email.
- Get helpEmail help@shipsafeoffers.com. Ship Safe Offers aims to acknowledge new requests within one business day during the published support window.