How Shipping Costs Work in Artelo

Artelo calculates shipping at the order level. It selects one product as the order’s base shipment, then adds a smaller charge for every additional product unit.

This means shipping is not calculated independently for every line item. It also means a multi-print product, such as a “Set of 5 Art Prints,” can produce a different shipping charge from five individually ordered art prints, even though both orders contain five physical prints.

For most US destinations, Artelo follows three steps:

In simplified form:

For the product that supplies the base charge, one unit is already included.

Therefore, a line with quantity five contributes four additional units. Every unit on the other product lines is considered additional.

Unframed-print base shipping is determined by the print’s smallest dimension.

For example, a 16 × 20 print has a smallest dimension of 16 inches, so its standard base shipping charge is $4.91.

The paper type, such as matte poster, fine art, or photo paper, does not normally change this standard shipping estimate.

Artelo uses a separate rate for every remaining ordered unit after the base unit.

A 16 × 20 print therefore costs $1.00 for each additional ordered unit.

Artelo distinguishes between:

A “Set of 5 Art Prints” contains five designs, but a customer ordering one set creates a product line with a quantity of one.

For standard domestic unframed shipping, Artelo uses the ordered quantity, not the set’s internal design count, to determine additional-unit charges.

Example: one set of five 16 × 20 matte posters

Example: five individual 16 × 20 matte posters

The order containing five individual prints therefore costs $4.00 more to ship.

Five separate individual-print lines produce the same $8.91 result as one individual-print line with quantity five. Artelo still selects one base unit and counts the other four as additional units.

When an order contains products with different base rates, Artelo starts with the highest base rate.

Suppose an order contains:

The calculation is:

Only one product receives a base charge. All remaining units use their respective additional-unit rates.

Framed-product base shipping depends on more information than unframed shipping, including:

If an order contains at least one framed item, Artelo normally applies a 5% framed-shipping adjustment to the final domestic shipping calculation.

This adjustment can be skipped when an account-specific shipping price supplies the order’s base charge.

Artelo uses domestic override rates for the following destinations:

For unframed products, these base rates use the product’s largest dimension:

A 16 × 20 print has a largest dimension of 20 inches, so its override base is $9.10.
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That produces the following comparison:

The difference remains $4.00 because the additional-unit rate is unchanged.

International orders without account-specific shipping pricing use a package-based calculation rather than the domestic base-plus-additional-unit calculation.

Artelo calculates international shipping as follows:

Orders with a billable weight exceeding the configured 70-pound limit are divided into separate shipping-rate segments of up to 70 pounds each.

Some Artelo accounts have negotiated or custom shipping prices. These prices can be matched using the complete product configuration, including:

A custom price can replace the standard base estimate. Therefore, the exact charge shown on a real order may differ from the public rate-table examples in this article.

Artelo’s standard domestic shipping model is based on one base shipment plus smaller charges for additional ordered units.

The most important distinction is that a multi-print set is one ordered unit. A set containing five prints does not automatically create four additional shipping units. By contrast, an individual print ordered with quantity five does.

For standard 16 × 20 unframed matte posters shipping within the contiguous US: