Shopify shipping is an essential part of your ecommerce setup. Shopify has put extra emphasis on order fulfillment to make it as easy as possible for online merchants. Shopify allows you to order and print multiple shipping labels at once, making it easier to process orders and ship them out faster.
It is important to understand Shopify shipping so that you can maximize your shopping experience. The following guide will help you understand how to set up Shopify shipping.
Shipping carriers:
These companies or services are responsible for delivering orders to your customers. You can pick up the products ordered from your warehouse or drop them off at sellers to deliver them to the customer.
You can choose from a variety of shipping carriers depending on the location of your company. Shopify defaults the following carriers:
For automatic calculation of shipping charges, the carrier-calculated Shipping, also known as “real-time rate”, is used by using address, package weight, and dimensions.
Types of shipping rates:
Shipping costs are additional charges that will be charged to ship an item to the buyer. During checkout, your customers will see the shipping cost. It is dependent on product weight, dimensions, distance, among other factors.
It’s up to the customer whether to charge them for shipping or give them free shipping. Customers are attracted to free shipping and tend to buy more.
There are 3 main types of shipping rates:
Flat shipping rates
It is an standard shipping price that you can choose to add on the checkout, regardless of other factors. The flat rate can be set for every order. This will allow sellers to decide what the customer should pay at checkout.
Price-based shipping rates can be offered. This will allow you to set minimum and maximum cart value for your flat shipping fee. If you wish to set different prices for orders over and under $30, you can choose to have a flat price of $5 and a flat rate of $10 for orders above that price.
You can also do the same with weight-based Shipping Rates. You can set different flat rates to determine minimum and maximum cart weight.
No shipping charges
This is the best way for your product to sell, since most customers don’t want to pay additional shipping. You can make any flat shipping cost into free shipping by setting your Shipping cost at $0.
There are 3 main types of shipping rates:
Flat shipping rates
It is a standard shipping price that you can choose to add on to the checkout, regardless of other factors. The flat rate can be set for every order. This will allow sellers to decide what the customer should pay at checkout.
Price-based shipping rates can be offered. This will allow you to set minimum and maximum cart value for your flat shipping fee. If you wish to set different prices for orders over and under $30, you can choose to have a flat price of $5 and a flat rate of $10 for orders above that price.
You can also do the same with weight-based Shipping Rates. You can set different flat rates to determine minimum and maximum cart weight.
No shipping charges
This is the best way for your product to sell, since most customers don’t want to pay additional shipping. You can make any flat shipping cost into free shipping by setting your Shipping cost at $0.
To get free shipping, you can set a minimum order amount. If you wish to offer free shipping on orders above 100$, then you can set a flat rate based on price to 0$ for orders greater than 100$.
There are also certain apps that can be downloaded from the Shopify app store, such as the Shipping bar. This shows customers how much time is left to receive free shipping. If your customer purchases a product with a cart value of $85 but a minimum of $100 for free shipping, then he will be informed during checkout that $15 of his cart value remains to receive free shipping.
You can also offer free shipping by simply adding the shipping cost to the product’s price. You can cut costs by including shipping charges to the product price.
Shipping rates calculated:
These are the shipping prices that are calculated and shared by carriers such as UPS, FedEx (USPS), FedEx (DHL), Canada Post (Canada Post), etc. During checkout, the customer will be notified.
The cart details are shared with carriers so that they can share shipping costs. This will ensure that your customers receive the exact shipping costs per order.
Shipping labels
Shipping labels are identification labels that identify the owner of the package. This label includes information that helps shippers deliver the order to the correct person. The following information is generally found on shipping labels:
- Name, address, and number of the recipient
- The address of the sender
- A barcode
Carriers can track the shipment’s progress by using the barcode. The barcode is scanned at every stage of delivery until the package reaches its destination.
Shipping labels may also include additional information such as
- The order number of the shipment
- A tracking number
- The date that the order was shipped
- Type of shipping service purchased
- Information about the shipping carrier
The delivery speed you choose will also affect the shipping cost. A shipping label promising delivery in 2 days will cost more than one that takes 7-10 business days.
Shipping profiles
Shipping profiles allow sellers to create shipping rules based on product so they can provide accurate shipping prices. Shipping profiles allow you to determine shipping rates for specific products and then charge different amounts depending on distance.
Your store might sell two types of products, such as “A” or “B”. The shipping costs for category “A” will be higher than those for category “B”, as it is more fragile. To offer a fair shipping price, create a shipping profile in category “A” to determine the shipping cost and then assign a shipping price.
What is the Shipping Profile?
Shopify stores come with a default shipping profile. This is known as a general profile. This default shipping profile includes general shipping rates. This profile and rate is often sufficient for small businesses that have limited shipping requirements. Sellers tend to create multiple profiles to provide accurate shipping prices.
You can use the general shipping profile to set default shipping settings. The general shipping profile automatically includes products that have been added to the profile or those which are not part of any specific profile.
How to set up shipping on Shopify
To set up Shopify shipping correctly, follow these simple steps provided by a Shopify developer company.
Add shipping locations
Shipping location is the address from which all orders will be shipped. Important to remember that your default shipping address is the one you entered when creating your Shopify store. If you have different shipping addresses than the one you entered when setting up your Shopify store, or any fulfilment services on your behalf, make sure to include them.
Different location restrictions are allowed depending on Shopify’s plan. See below.
- Shopify Lite – 3 Shipping Locations
- Basic Shopify – 4 Shipping Locations
- Shopify – 5 Shipping Locations
- Advanced Shopify – 8 Shipping Locations
- Shopify Plus – 20 shipping locations (but you can contact Shopify Plus if you require over 20 shipping locations)
Here are some quick steps to add shipping locations
- Select “Settings” from your Shopify dashboard, then choose “Location” from the drop-down menu.
- Click the “Add location” button.
- Enter the address and name of the shipping address.
- You can “Fulfill online orders from this address” by ticking the box below the name of the location.
Register Shipping Profiles
Shopify stores come with one shipping profile that defaults to general rates. A simple shipping setup will usually suffice to create a general shipping rate. However, stores with multiple locations will need to create shipping profiles. This allows for easier shipment management and reduces costs.
Create a custom shipping profile in just a few steps
- Select “Settings” from your Shopify dashboard, then choose “Shipping & Deliver” from that list.
- Scroll down to Custom Shipping Rates, and then click “Create a New Profile”.
- Use the search bar to create a profile and then add products to the “Products” section.
- Make any necessary changes to your location.
- Follow the below steps for each shipping zone of your shipment profile:
- Click “Create Shipping Zone” in the “Shipping To” section.
- Next, give the shipping zone a name. Then choose the countries and regions that will be included in the zone. To create the zone, click “Done”.
- For every shipping rate within the zone, click “Add Price”. To confirm shipping rates, click “Done”.
- Click Save.
Set Shipping Zones
Shipping zones are a group of countries and regions that all fall under the same shipping rates. This means that a German warehouse can be used to create a shipping area for all EU countries. All customers within the zone will have the same shipping rates.
To ensure that your customers can receive orders from these countries, you will need to set up shipping.
Here are some quick steps to create a shipping zone
- Select “Settings” from your Shopify dashboard, then choose “Shipping & Deliver” from that list.
- Scroll down to the shipping profile and click “Manage rates”.
- Click “Create Shipping Zone” next to the list of locations where you will be adding a shipping area.
- Enter a shipping zone name.
- Below, select the countries and regions that you want to include in this zone. To create the zone, click “Done”.
- Click “Save” to add any rate you wish for the zone.
Get shipping rates
Here’s how to set Shopify shipping rates. Remember to set up your shipping zones and shipping profiles before setting your shipping rates. This allows you to set individual rates for each profile.
There are four types of shipping rates you can choose from: flat shipping rates; calculated shipping rates; mark-up or discounted calculated rates; and free shipping rates
What’s a Flat Shipping Charge?
Flat shipping rates are a flat fee that customers pay at checkout for shipping. A flat shipping rate can be set for orders that fall within a specific shipping zone. You can also limit it to orders that have a particular price or weight. If Europe is selected as your shipping zone, you can create a flat rate for orders up to PS50 and another flat rate for orders above PS50.
How to set up flat shipping rates on Shopify
- Select “Settings” from your Shopify dashboard, then choose “Shipping & Deliver” from that list.
- Scroll down to the shipping profile and add the shipping rate. Click “Manage rates”.
- Click “Add Rate” next to the area you want to add a rate.
- You get an additional non-mandatory Option to “Add Conditions” If you require it, the amount can be determined based on your weight or the price. This option can be used:
- Click to “Add Conditions”.
- You can choose to have a price- or weight-based condition.
- Please enter the minimum and maximum values for your chosen condition.
- Click “Done” and then click “Save “.
What’s a Calculated Shipping Charge?
An order detail and a third-party shipping company calculates the shipping cost. This allows merchants to charge customers the exact same shipping rate as their shipping carrier for purchasing a shipping label.
How to Calculate Shipping Rates for Shopify
- Select “Settings” from your Shopify dashboard, then choose “Shipping & Deliver” from that list.
- Scroll down to the shipping profile and add the shipping rate. Click “Manage rates”.
- Click “Add Rate” next to the area you will be adding a rate.
- You can check the “User carriers or apps to calculate rates” option.
- From the drop-down menu, select the shipping service that you want to add calculated rates to.
- At checkout, choose the shipping method you want to offer your customers. You can then choose to add the additional non-mandatory If you wish, there are options below:
- You can choose to offer new services automatically when the shipping service introduces them.
- If applicable, add handling fees to the calculation rate.
- Click to “Save”.
What’s a mark-up or discount calculated shipping rate?
To mark-up or reduce the shipping costs at checkout, you can adjust the calculated shipping rates. You can offer a percentage discount to increase your customer base. You could also raise the shipping rate to minimize losses. You can mark up shipping rates by charging a flat fee, or by increasing a percentage.
How to set up Shopify’s Discount Calculated Shipping Rates or Mark-Up
- Select “Settings” from your Shopify dashboard, then choose “Shipping & Deliver” from that list.
- Scroll down to the shipping profile and click “Manage rates“.
- Scroll down to the rate that you wish to adjust, then click the… dropdown menu and click “Editrate”.
- To adjust rates, go to the Section “Handling Fee”.
- Click “Done” and then click “Save “.
What’s a Free Shipping Rate?
Customers are not charged shipping fees, as the name implies. Free shipping can be added to any order. It can be for all orders or just orders above a certain amount.
How to set up Shopify’s free shipping rates
- Select “Settings” from your Shopify dashboard, then choose “Shipping & Deliver” from that list.
- Scroll down to the shipping profile and add the shipping rate. Click “Manage rates”.
- Click “Add Rate” next to the zone where you want to add a free shipping charge. Make sure the cost field value equals “0”.
- You get an additional non-mandatory Option to “Add Conditions” If you require it, the amount can be determined based on your weight or on your price. This option can be used:
- Click to “Add Conditions”.
- You can choose to have a price- or weight-based condition.
- Please enter the minimum and maximum values for your chosen condition.
- Click Save.
Essential Shipping Terms
When you set up Shopify shipping, it is helpful to be familiar with the key terms. Below are some key terms.
- Shipping companies – Shippers are the companies that fulfill your orders. They pick up orders at your chosen location or drop them off at a designated place for delivery to your customers.
- Shipping Rates – Customers must pay an additional charge at checkout in order to have their order shipped. It is based on factors such as distance, weight, dimensions, etc.
- Shipping Labels – Shipment labels are tags that identify the recipient of the package. These labels also contain information that assists shipping carriers in delivering the package to the correct person at the correct address using the appropriate service.
- Shipping Profiles – Shipping Profiles allow merchants to set up product-based shipping rules that will accurately calculate shipping costs. If you have fragile products, you can create separate shipping profiles for them. This allows you to charge extra for additional care during transit.
