Articles on: Shipping

Shipping: Global Settings

Configure advanced shipping settings to ensure customers complete their selections and maintain fresh session data. Set up validation rules and selection expiry for shipping orders.



Table of Contents




What Global Shipping Settings Do?


Advanced shipping settings are global configuration options that control how the shipping calendar validates and manages customer selections.


What this feature does:

  • Ensures customers select a shipping date/time before checkout
  • Expires old selections to maintain accuracy with cut-off times and preparation times
  • Applies validation rules across the shopping session

What this feature does NOT do:

  • Does not control shipping rates or pricing
  • Does not manage or update inventory levels (managed in Shopify)
  • Does not configure shipping availability schedules



Cart and Checkout Validation


Validate Selections


What it does:

  • Makes date and time selection mandatory before the customer can proceed to checkout.
  • Prevents checkout without a shipping date/time selection.
  • Applies to all fulfillment methods (Shipping, Delivery, Pickup).


When to use:

  • When you require customers to always select a shipping date
  • When shipping date selection is essential for your fulfillment process
  • To prevent orders without shipping slot information


Configuration:

  1. Go to Bird Settings > Validations
  2. Toggle Validate Selections to ON
  3. Click Save


Shows Bird Settings > Validations page with Validate Selections toggle


Result: Customers must select a shipping date/time (if calendar is enabled) before proceeding to checkout. The checkout button will be disabled until a valid selection is made.



Enable Selections Expiry


What it does:

  • Invalidates customer selections after a set period (1-24 hours).
  • Forces customers to reselect shipping date/time after expiry period.
  • Useful for ensuring that time-sensitive rules (like cut-off times) are correctly applied if a customer leaves a cart for several hours.


When to use:

  • When you have cut-off times that could be missed if carts sit idle
  • When preparation time rules need to stay current
  • To prevent stale selections that no longer meet availability criteria


Configuration:

  1. Go to Bird Settings > Validations
  2. Check Enable selections expiry
  3. Choose the expiry window (1-24 hours)
  4. Click Save


How it works:

  • Customer selects shipping date at 10:00 AM Monday
  • Expiry is set to 4 hours
  • If customer returns at 3:00 PM Monday (after 5 hours), their selection is cleared
  • Customer must reselect shipping date based on current availability


Note: The expiry timer starts from when the selection was made, not from when the cart was created.



Common Questions


Do these settings apply only to shipping?


No. Both "Validate Selections" and "Enable selections expiry" are global settings that apply to all fulfillment methods (Shipping, Delivery, and Pickup).


When you enable these settings:

  • Shipping orders require date/time selection
  • Delivery orders require date/time selection
  • Pickup orders require date/time selection


Why should I enable selection validation?


Enable validation if:

  • You need shipping date information for every order
  • You want to prevent customers from checking out without selecting a date
  • Your fulfillment process depends on knowing the shipping date upfront


Don't enable validation if:

  • You use "No Date & Time" calendar mode (validation conflicts with this)
  • You want to allow customers to checkout without selecting a specific shipping date
  • Your shipping is flexible and doesn't require advance scheduling



Troubleshooting


Issue: Customers can't proceed to checkout even with a valid date


Possible causes:


  1. Selection has expired
  • Solution: Increase expiry window or disable expiry if not needed
  • Check: Look at when the selection was made vs current time


  1. Calendar mode is "No Date & Time"
  • Solution: Disable "Validate Selections" if using "No Date & Time" mode
  • These settings are incompatible


  1. Widget not properly initialized
  • Solution: Check that widget is properly installed in theme
  • Verify widget appears on cart page



Quick Reference


Settings Location: Bird Settings > Validations


Validate Selections:

  • Makes date/time selection required before checkout
  • Applies to all fulfillment methods
  • Prevents checkout without selection


Enable Selections Expiry:

  • Clears selections after specified time (1-24 hours)
  • Applies to all fulfillment methods
  • Ensures selections stay current with cut-off times


Note: Validation and expiry settings are global and affect Shipping, Delivery, and Pickup fulfillment methods.





Updated on: 02/14/2026

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