LabelFlow Markups: Markup Rules

A markup is the difference between what the carrier charges you and what the merchant pays you for a label. Set one base markup per carrier for everyone, then give individual merchants their own override rate — percent or fixed — and every quote and label purchase follows the same two-step rule.

In LabelFlow you resell shipping labels: the carrier charges you one price, and the merchant who buys the label pays you another. The gap between the two is set on one page — LabelFlow → Markups & Rates (/labelflow/markups) — with two levels of rules. The carrier base markup applies to every merchant; a merchant rate override applies to one merchant only and wins over the base. Both levels use the same two ways of counting: a percent of the carrier cost, or a fixed amount added on top. Set the rules once, and quoting on a shipment and buying a label from it both price the same way.

How a merchant’s price is worked out#

• First look for that merchant’s own override for the carrier. If one exists, it alone decides the price — the base markup is not added on top.
• No override? The carrier base markup applies. No rule at either level? The merchant pays exactly the carrier cost, and the profit on that label is 0.
• Percent: charged = carrier cost × (1 + percent ÷ 100). Example: cost $10 with a 20% markup charges the merchant $12. Fixed: charged = carrier cost + the fixed amount. Example: cost $10 with a $2 fixed markup also charges $12 — the same result at this price, but the fixed one stays $2 no matter how heavy or expensive the shipment gets.

Percent vs fixed: a worked example#

Step 1: Set the carrier base markup#

1. Open LabelFlow → Markups & Rates. The top card, “Carrier base markup”, lists the five carriers: UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL and Other.
2. On the carrier’s row, choose the markup type: Percent (%) or Fixed ($).
3. Type the value (0 or more) and click Save on that row. Each row saves on its own — changing UPS does not touch FedEx.
4. A carrier you have never set starts at Percent 0% — merchants pay the carrier cost until you set a real markup.

The base markup is the rate every merchant gets by default, so it is the one to set carefully first. You can see it at work before any label is bought: on a quoted shipment in LabelFlow → Shipments, each rate option shows its cost and its charged amount side by side, priced with exactly these rules.

Step 2: Give one merchant their own rate (an override)#

1. On the same page, go to the lower card, “Merchant rate overrides”, and click New override.
2. Pick the merchant and the carrier the override is for — an override covers one merchant and one carrier; set up another one if the same merchant needs a special rate on a second carrier.
3. Choose Percent (%) or Fixed ($) and type the value, then Save. The override appears in the table with its effective rate (shown as a percent or a money amount).

Removing an override, and what changes afterwards#

• Click Delete on the override’s row and confirm. The merchant immediately falls back to the carrier base markup for that carrier — nothing else needs to be set.
• Rule changes only price new quotes and new labels. A label that was already bought keeps the charged amount it was bought at — its row in LabelFlow → Labels never changes.
• To check which rule priced a real shipment, open it in LabelFlow → Shipments: the Rate options table has a Markup source column that says whether the merchant rate or the carrier rate was used.

Docklify features used in this article#

• Carrier base markup (one rule per carrier, percent or fixed) — LabelFlow → Markups & Rates → Carrier base markup card (/labelflow/markups)
• Merchant rate overrides (one merchant + one carrier, with delete-to-fallback) — LabelFlow → Markups & Rates → Merchant rate overrides card (/labelflow/markups)
• Rate options on a quoted shipment, cost vs charged — LabelFlow → Shipments (/labelflow/shipments)
• Markup source on a shipment’s rate options — LabelFlow → Shipments → open a shipment (/labelflow/shipments)
• Per-label profit record (charged minus carrier cost) — LabelFlow → Labels (/labelflow/labels)