# Customers, taxes, shipping & payment

> Who pays what, how it's taxed, how it ships and how it's paid — the commerce setup.

Source: CBX documentation, version 3.x (released). Canonical page: https://docs.configbox.at/docs/admin-guide/commerce/. Last updated 2026-08-01.

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> **Audience:** store admins · **Scope:** the commercial rules around the configurator · **Last reviewed:** 2026-07-20

**TL;DR** — Four questions decide every checkout: **who** is buying (customer group → B2B/B2C
mode, permissions, discounts), **in what currency**, **how it's taxed** (tax class × the
customer's place), and **how it ships and gets paid** (country → zone → shipping methods;
group/country → payment methods). Each has its own screen; this page explains how they interlock.

> **Platform note (Magento 2):** this whole system does **not apply** on Magento-hosted stores —
> customers, currencies, taxes, shipping and payment are set up in Magento, and the CBX
> screens described here are hidden there. See [CBX on Magento 2](https://docs.configbox.at/docs/admin-guide/magento2/).

## Articles

1. **[Set up customer groups](https://docs.configbox.at/docs/admin-guide/commerce/set-up-customer-groups)** — B2B/B2C, buy-vs-quote permissions,
   volume discounts.
2. **[Manage currencies](https://docs.configbox.at/docs/admin-guide/commerce/manage-currencies)** — base vs default, multipliers, adding a
   currency.
3. **[Set up taxes](https://docs.configbox.at/docs/admin-guide/commerce/set-up-taxes)** — tax classes, place-based overrides, the EU VAT flags.
4. **[Set up shipping](https://docs.configbox.at/docs/admin-guide/commerce/set-up-shipping)** — shippers, zones, weight-band methods.
5. **[Set up payment methods](https://docs.configbox.at/docs/admin-guide/commerce/set-up-payment-methods)** — providers, surcharges, availability
   limits.

## Customer groups — the policy hub

**Settings → Customer Groups** (also embedded in the Settings screen). A customer belongs to one
group (guests get the default group set in **Settings**); the group decides:

- **Tax display mode** — **B2C** (tax-inclusive prices) or **B2B** (net prices).
- **Permissions** — whether the group sees prices at all, can check out, can save carts, can
  request quotations (and whether quote PDFs download or come attached to the email). This is how
  you run "consumers buy, trade requests quotes" setups.
- **Volume discounts** — up to five tiers ("from €X net order value: Y% off"), separately for
  regular and recurring totals; the highest qualifying tier applies automatically in the cart.

![The customer groups list](./img/customer-groups.jpeg)

## Currencies

**Base** currency is what you author every price in; other currencies convert via their
**multiplier**. **Default** is what visitors see first. Symbol, code and active flag per currency.

![Currencies](./img/currencies.jpeg)

## Taxes and geography

**Tax Classes** (embedded in Settings) hold a name and a **default rate**; products, shipping and
payment surcharges reference a class. The **Countries** screens (Countries → States → Counties →
Cities) can override any class's rate per place — the most specific place wins. Countries also
carry the **VAT free** and **EU VAT area** flags that drive B2B reverse-charge handling for valid
VAT IDs.

![Countries](./img/countries.jpeg)

## Shipping

Three pieces under **Shipping**: **Shippers** (the carrier names), **Shipping Zones** (country
groups like "EU", "Domestic"), and **Shipping Methods** — the actual options offered at checkout,
each tied to a zone, a **cart-weight band** (min/max), a price, a delivery-time text and a tax
class. The customer's country picks the zone; the cart weight picks the band. Shipping can be
disabled store-wide in **Settings** for digital/service products.

![Shipping methods](./img/shipping-methods.jpeg)

## Payment methods

Each method names its payment provider and its configuration, an optional **surcharge** (fixed
and/or percentage, clamped by min/max, taxed per its tax class), and can be restricted to certain
**customer groups** and **countries** — only methods valid for the buyer are offered.

![Payment methods](./img/payment-methods.jpeg)

## How it combines at checkout

1. The customer's **group** sets pricing mode, permissions and discounts.
2. Their **currency** converts all amounts.
3. Each line's **tax class** rate resolves by their place (city → county → state → country →
   default), with VAT-free/EU rules applied.
4. Their **country → zone** plus cart **weight** select the shipping options.
5. Their **group + country** select the payment options; the chosen one adds its surcharge.