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Importing and updating rates

Updated
Audience Logistics provider
Task Managing freight rates
Application eCargo Web

A rate card is used to specify freight rates for different scenarios. Rate cards can be created or updated by importing data in a CSV (comma separated values) file.

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How to update a rate card

When a rate card is imported, eCargo rebuilds the rate card using only the data provided in the file.

Because of this, the recommended process for updating rates is:

  1. Download the existing rate card(s)
  2. Make the required changes in the CSV
  3. Ensure all existing rates are still included
  4. Re-import the updated file

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Important: How imports work

When updating rates via the import feature, the entire rate card must be included in the file.

The import process recreates the rate card, rather than updating individual rows.

  • If a rate card contains both KG and M3 rates, both must be included in the import file—even if you are only changing one of them
  • Any rates not included in the import will be removed from the rate card

This applies to other aspects of the rate card (units, products, tiers, etc.)

How rate expiry and effective dates work

Replacing rates with new effective dates

When importing rates with a new effective date range:

  • eCargo will automatically expire any existing rates for the same rate card when the new rates become effective
  • You do not need to include previous date ranges in the import

If an existing rate has no ‘Effective to date’, it will remain active until a new rate card with a later ‘Effective from date’ is imported and takes effect.

Expiring rates without replacing them

To expire a rate without introducing a new one:

  1. Download the rate card
  2. Set the ‘Effective to date’ to the desired expiry date
  3. Re-import the rate card

Changing effective dates on an existing rate card

The ‘Effective from’ and ‘Effective to’ date range of an existing rate card cannot be changed via import.

This is because rate cards are part of a sequence over time. Changing the dates of an existing rate card would impact the validity of earlier and later rate cards, potentially creating gaps or overlaps in the timeline.

To avoid this, eCargo does not allow existing rate card date ranges to be modified.

To change the date range, you must:

  1. Delete the existing rate card in eCargo
  2. Import a new rate card with the correct effective dates

Formatting a rate card

File format

Rate cards must be in a .csv (comma separated values) format. CSVs can be created in Excel - just be sure to save the file with a .csv extension.

To obtain a sample rate file you can either download existing rates from the Find rate cards page, or download the rates csv template file from the Import rate cards page.

You should also make sure that there are no spaces before or after values, as these will be interpreted as part of the data.

Text is encoded using windows-1252 (the format preferred by Excel).

Column formatting

The first row in your rate card CSV is made up of the column headers, as seen in the table below.

Values such as customer, carrier, zones and products must exactly match those configured in eCargo.

All columns must be present, even if not used. Leave unused values blank.
Column Format Notes
Rate card type Rate card type name Either 'Customer' or 'Supplier'.
Charge type Charge type name Charge type as seen when viewing rates. For example 'Road Charges - New Zealand'.
Customer Business name The freight job owner.
Carrier Business name The name of a carrier as seen when viewing rates in eCargo. Optional.
Supplier Business name The name of a supplier as seen when viewing rates in eCargo.
From zone Zone name The name as it appears in the 'Zone mappings' page in eCargo.
To zone Zone name The name as it appears in the 'Zone mappings' page in eCargo.
Rate product Product name The name of the product as seen when viewing rates in eCargo. Related to the consignment item.
Effective from date (including) Date (DD/MM/YYYY or D/M/YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD) The rates will take effect at midnight in the morning of this date.
Effective to date (including) The rates will not apply after midnight at the end of this date. Leave blank to never expire.
Minimum Decimal (monetary, 4 d.p.) The customer will be charged at least this value for the entire load.
Maximum The customer will be charged no more than this value for the entire load.
Unit of measure Unit of measure code The unit of measure as seen when viewing rates in eCargo. For example: KG.
Charge per Number (quantity, no decimals) How many units of measure the rate is charged per - this is usually just 1. If you charge by each 100kg, for example, this would be 100 instead. You can only have one 'charge per' per group of tiers.
Tier from (including) Decimal (quantity, 4 d.p.) The lower limit of this tier (e.g. enter 3.5 if you want the rate to apply for 3.5+ of the specified unit of measure). Leave blank if there is no lower limit.
Tier to (excluding) The upper limit of this tier. Leave blank if there is no upper limit.
Rate Decimal (monetary, 4 d.p.) The charge per unit for quantities in this tier.
Currency Currency code The currency the rates are expressed in (e.g. a standard currency code like NZD).
Sold to Business name Used by specific customers only. Refers to the sold-to business on the consignment.
Order line rate product Order line rate product name Used by specific customers only. Refers to the product type of the order line items.

Rates explained

Each row in the CSV represents a rate, and groups of rows together form a rate card based on shared attributes. Rate cards define how charges are applied based on:
  • customer / supplier / carrier
  • zones (from/to)
  • products
  • units of measure
  • date ranges

These fields together define a rate group. Rates in the same group are evaluated together and share properties such as minimum/maximum charges and tiers.

Minimum and maximum charges

You can specify a minimum or maximum if it applies to all the rates in the same group. Rates are in the same group if they have the same 'Rate table type', 'Charge type', 'Customer', 'Supplier', 'From zone', 'To zone', 'Order line rate product', 'Carrier' and 'Sold to'.

An example of two rates in the same group:

Rate table type Charge type Customer Supplier From zone To zone ... Minimum Maximum Unit of Measure
Customer Road charges Bob's Burgers Ted's Trucking Cambridge Hamilton ... 100 1000 KG
Customer Road charges Bob's Burgers Ted's Trucking Cambridge Hamilton ... 100 1000 M3

Tiers (breaks)

Breaks (referred to as tiers in the CSV) are used to specify a range of quantities which you want the rate to be charged for.

If a job's quantity is outside of the tier, an error will be shown on the invoices dashboard. It can be useful to set the higher limit as the error will alert you if a large number has been entered accidentally.

To indicate no lower or higher limit, leave the respective lower or higher tier blank.

For a flat rate for all quantities, leave both lower and higher tiers blank. 

Groups of breaks/tiers

You can group breaks by giving them the same 'Rate table type', 'Charge type', 'Customer', 'Supplier', 'From zone', 'To zone', 'Order line rate product', 'Carrier', 'Sold to' and 'Unit of measure' 

Sets of breaks/tiers

You can create sets of tiers to cover all quantities that you could expect to occur. There should be no gap or overlap between the tiers. You can use multiple rows to do this, for example:

Break from (inclusive) Break to (exclusive) Rate Minimum Maximum Unit of Measure
  40 10     KG
40 80 8     KG
80   6     KG

Note: you can only have one set of breaks per group.

Flat rates

If you want to set a flat rate for all quantities (rather than have the charge calculated by multiplying the rate and the quantity), set the Minimum and Maximum to be the same value.

A flat rate can be set for jobs that have the same 'Rate table type', 'Charge type', 'Customer', 'Supplier', 'From zone', 'To zone', 'Order line rate product', 'Carrier', 'Sold to' and 'Unit of measure'.

Zero rates

To specify a rate with no charge, set the Rate value to 0.

 

< Freight rates introduction Fuel surcharges >

 

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