How to Configure Free Shipping for Specific Items on NetSuite Sales Orders

NetSuite offers several methods to configure free shipping for specific items. The recommended approach involves leveraging SuitePromotions, which provides dedicated shipping promotion capabilities, or utilizing the 'Free Shipping Items' subtab available on shipping item records. While older methods might have involved setting a SHIPPING COST of $0.00 on an item record for a 'By Item' shipping item, NetSuite now emphasizes accurate shipping rates at checkout and robust integrations with carriers like FedEx and UPS, making such manual estimates less common and often unnecessary for integrated shipping.Typically, the Shipping Method on a Sales Order is configured at the header level under the Shipping Tab, applying to all items. However, scenarios often arise where specific items within an order, such as Item B in a list of Item A, Item B, and Item C, require free shipping. NetSuite now allows for setting a default shipping method directly on the item record, providing greater flexibility.When Multiple Shipping Routes is enabled, it allows for selecting different shipping methods for individual line items on a sales order. With 'Enable Item Line Shipping' checked on the Sales Order, the shipping method can be set at the line item level. While historically this required manual selection for each line, NetSuite's current capabilities allow for setting a default shipping method on the item record, which can streamline this process.NetSuite's primary and recommended promotion engine is SuitePromotions, which offers robust capabilities for various promotional scenarios, including dedicated shipping promotions. While SuitePromotions is the modern standard, older functionalities like 'Advanced Promotions' (available via a bundle) can still be utilized for specific item-based promotions, particularly in environments where SuitePromotions may not be fully configured for shipping discounts or for legacy setups.To offer free shipping on specific items using the Advanced Promotions bundle, follow these steps after installation:

1. Enable Plug-In:

   1. Navigate to: Customization > Plug-Ins > Manage Plug-Ins2. Check Item Specific Promotion.

2. Create Promotion:

   1. Navigate to: Lists > Marketing > Promotions > New2. Select Item Based Promotion.3. On the Promotion Record, enter the Promotion Name.