Order fulfillment is the workflow of processing, managing, and shipping customer orders from your Shopify store. This involves setting up your shipping configuration, managing incoming orders, and getting packages to customers.

Configuring shipping settings

Before you can fulfill orders, you need to set up your shipping and fulfillment settings, including shipping rates, shipping profiles, and fulfillment locations. These settings determine how shipping costs are calculated at checkout and which locations can fulfill orders.

Processing customer orders

After customers place orders, you can manage orders from the Orders page in your Shopify admin. This includes capturing payments, reviewing order details, printing shipping documents, and preparing items for fulfillment. You can also edit orders, issue refunds, or cancel orders when needed.

Fulfilling orders

After you prepare an order, you fulfill it by picking, packing, and shipping items to your customer. You can fulfill orders yourself, use a third-party app, or use a fulfillment service such as Shopify Fulfillment Network.

You can also buy and print shipping labels directly from your Shopify admin through integrated shipping carriers. Shipping labels help you streamline your fulfillment process, provide tracking information to customers, and save time by avoiding trips to the post office or shipping provider.

Setting up shipping and order fulfillment

You can configure your shipping and fulfillment settings from the Shipping and delivery page in your Shopify admin. These settings determine how shipping costs are calculated, what delivery options are available to customers at checkout, and which locations fulfill orders.

Setting up shipping rates and packages

Create shipping rates that display to customers at checkout. You can set up flat rates for predictable pricing, use carrier-calculated rates for real-time accuracy, or offer free shipping based on order value. Shipping profiles let you create different rates for specific products, such as oversized items or products that ship from different locations. Set up the packages that you use for shipping, including dimensions and weights, so carriers can calculate accurate costs and handle your shipments correctly.

Configuring locations and order routing

Configure the locations where you store inventory and fulfill orders from. Order routing determines which location fulfills each order based on rules you set, such as proximity to the customer or available inventory. You can also set up fulfillment services to handle storage and shipping on your behalf.

Offering delivery methods

Apart from standard shipping, you can offer local delivery for nearby customers or let customers pick up orders in store. You can also set up pickup points through third-party networks for customers who prefer collecting packages from convenient locations. Shop Promise can highlight fast delivery options at checkout to increase conversion.

Managing delivery timeline and notifications

Set processing times to indicate when orders will ship, and configure delivery dates to display estimated arrival times at checkout. Configure the notifications that customers and staff receive throughout the order lifecycle, including order confirmations, shipping updates, and delivery notifications. Set up your order status page so customers can track their orders after purchase. You can also use Planet to offer carbon-neutral shipping by offsetting emissions from deliveries.

Locations

You can add and manage locations where you store or sell products, such as warehouses, retail stores, or pop-ups. A location is any physical place where you sell products, fulfill orders, or stock inventory. Some apps, including dropshipping apps and third-party logistics services, can also be considered locations.

Locations let you do the following:

• Track inventory separately at each physical location
• Fulfill orders from the location closest to your customer
• Process in-person sales at retail locations using Shopify POS
• Integrate with apps for dropshipping or third-party fulfillment

After you add locations, you can configure order fulfillment to control how orders are assigned to locations, and then assign inventory to those locations. You can use order routing rules to automatically assign online orders based on inventory availability and proximity.

The maximum number of locations depends on your store's Shopify subscription plan. If you make sales from physical locations using the Shopify POS app, then you can add a location to your POS device to track your inventory accurately.

Setting up and managing shipping profiles

A shipping profile is a set of shipping rules for specific products and locations. To have the same shipping rates for all your products, you only need to set up a general shipping profile. If you want to have different shipping rates for specific products, then you can create additional custom shipping profiles.

The following diagram displays the shipping settings for a store that uses a custom shipping profile for two specific products, and a general shipping profile for the rest of its products. Each shipping profile has different shipping zones and rates for the locations that it includes.

Considerations for setting up shipping profiles

Before you set up your shipping profiles, review the following considerations:

• Make sure that you're familiar with shipping zones and shipping rates. Each location in each profile can have its own shipping zones and rates.
• Some apps that manage fulfillment, such as on-demand custom printing apps, are automatically added as a location to your shipping profile and can alter your shipping settings setup.
• If your order contains products from different shipping profiles or locations, then separate shipping rates for each product are combined to provide your customer with a single shipping rate at checkout. A combined shipping rate at checkout can lead to higher shipping costs for your customers.
• If your order contains products shipping from different locations within the same location group that charges a flat rate, then a single flat rate fee is applied.
• You can add a product or a product variant to only one shipping profile at a time. If you add a product or a product variant to a second shipping profile, then it's automatically removed from the first shipping profile.
• If your staff members or a collaborator requires access to your shipping profiles, then you need to give them the Products and Manage settings staff permissions.

Set up your general shipping profile

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the General shipping rates shipping profile.

3. In the Shipping origins section, make any changes to your locations. For more information, refer to Managing your fulfillment locations.

4. For each shipping zone that you want in your shipping profile, complete the following steps:

   1. In the Shipping zones section, click Create zone.
   2. Name the shipping zone.
   3. Select the countries or regions that are part of the zone, and then click Done.
   4. For each shipping rate you want in the zone, click Add rate, choose the rate's details, and then click Done.

5. Click Save.

Create a custom shipping profile

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click Create new profile.

3. Enter a name for the profile.

4. In the Products section, click Add products, and then add products to the shipping profile.

5. In the Shipping origins section, make any changes to your locations. For more information, refer to Managing your fulfillment locations.

6. For each shipping zone that you want in your shipping profile, complete the following steps:

   1. In the Shipping zones section, click Create zone.
   2. Name the shipping zone.
   3. Select the countries or regions that are part of the zone, and then click Done.
   4. For each shipping rate you want in the zone, click Add rate, choose the rate's details, and then click Done.

7. Click Save.

Edit a shipping profile

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click a shipping profile that you want to edit.

3. Make any adjustments to your shipping profile.

4. Click Save.

Delete a custom shipping profile

You can delete a custom shipping profile, but you can't delete the general shipping profile.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click a custom shipping profile that you want to delete.

3. Click Delete profile, and then click Delete profile to confirm.

Managing fulfillment locations in shipping profiles

When you create a new shipping profile, all your locations that can fulfill orders online are added to the profile in the same location group. Any locations that can fulfill online orders become possible fulfillment locations for the products in your profile and all share the same rates and zones. Locations that don't fulfill online orders aren't displayed in your shipping profiles.

You can do the following actions to manage your locations in your shipping profiles:

• Set different rates depending on which location fulfills an order by grouping locations. This lets different location groups have different shipping zones and rates.
• Remove a location from a location group so that no rates apply to the location. Locations that aren't included in a location group are listed in the Not shipping from section.
• Create a new location and add it to an existing location group or create a new set of zones and rates in its own location group.

Considerations for managing locations in shipping profiles

Before you manage your locations in shipping profiles, review the following considerations:

• Locations that you deactivate are displayed with the Inactive label in your shipping profile. You can add zones and rates to these locations, but they aren't used at checkout until you activate them.
• If an order requires fulfillment from different location groups, such as shipping from the New York and Kansas locations, then shipping rates of products are combined.

Understanding location groups

A location group is a collection of fulfillment locations created within a shipping profile. You can create different shipping zones and rates for each location group, which provides control over which locations items can ship from and the rates that you're charging for different regions. A shipping profile can include multiple location groups, each with its own specific rates and shipping zones.

For example, suppose that you have three shipping origin locations:

• New York (worldwide shipping)
• Kansas City (United States-only shipping)
• London (worldwide shipping)

In this example, you can create two location groups:

• Location group 1: New York and London location with worldwide shipping zones. A single flat rate shipping charge is applied to an order even when both locations are required to fulfill an order.
• Location group 2: Kansas City location with United States-only shipping zones.

If an order requires fulfillment from different location groups, such as shipping from the New York and Kansas locations, then shipping rates of products are added together. Learn more about combined rates within a single shipping profile with different location groups.

Create a new location group

You can create a new location group in your shipping profile to specify the shipping zones and rates for locations in that group.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to edit.

3. Create a new location group:

   • If the location belongs to a location group already, then take the following actions:
     1. In the location group, click Show details.
     2. Next to the location that you want to change, click Manage.
     3. Select the Create new rates option, and then click Done.
   • If the location is in the Not shipping from section, then do the following:
     1. Next to the location that you want to change, click Add rates.
     2. Select the Create new rates option, and then click Done.

4. Add any zones and rates, and then click Save.

Remove a location from a location group

If you remove the last location from a location group, then the shipping zones and rates associated with the location group are deleted.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to update.

3. In Shipping origins section, click Show details.

4. For each location that you want remove, click Manage, select the Remove rates option, and then click Done.

5. Click Save.

Add a location to an existing location group

If you create a new location after a shipping profile is created, then it is automatically added to all shipping profiles in the Not shipping from section.

If you want to change which set of zones and rates a location offers, then you can add that location to an existing location group so that it shares the same shipping zones and rates.

For example, suppose that you have a shipping profile for your line of t-shirts that is fulfilled out of a warehouse in Los Angeles. You recently expanded your business to a warehouse in San Francisco, and so you add it as a location in your Shopify admin. If you want to offer the same shipping options as your Los Angeles warehouse, then you can add your San Francisco location to the same group as Los Angeles.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to update.

3. Next to the profile that you want to change, click one of the following:

   • If the location has zones and rates already, then click Manage.
   • If the location is in the Not shipping from section, then click Add rates.

4. In Use same rates as, choose the location group that you want to add the location to, and then click Done.

Calculating shipping rates from different shipping profiles

If you create multiple shipping profiles or have multiple locations within profiles, then some orders might contain products from different profiles or locations. When this happens, the separate shipping rates for each product are combined and a single shipping rate is displayed to your customer at checkout.

If you have an order that requires shipping from multiple locations within the same location group, then a single flat rate is charged. For example, if you have a location group that has a flat rate of $5 USD, and two locations are required to fulfill an order, then the customer is charged $5 USD for shipping.

Combining weight-based and price-based shipping rates

Price-based shipping rates and weight-based shipping rates are combined differently. Price-based shipping rates apply to the total price of the cart. Weight-based shipping rates combine the weights of the individual products in the cart, with your store default package weight added to each product's weight.

For example, suppose you have a store default package weight of 1 lb. A customer places an order for two products that requires weight-based shipping rates to be combined. The first product weighs 3 lb and the second weighs 5 lb. The weight that is used to determine the weight-based shipping rate for each product is the product weight plus the store default package weight.

For the first product, whichever shipping rate applies to a 4 lb shipment is used (3 lb + 1 lb). For the second product, whichever shipping rate applies for a 6 lb shipment (5 lb + 1 lb) is used. The two rates from each product are then combined to provide the shipping rate that the customer selects at checkout.

Naming your shipping rates

Shipping rates with the same name are added together and displayed to your customer at checkout, even those in different shipping profiles. If all of your rates have different names, then the cheapest options are added together and displayed to your customer at checkout with the name Shipping.

For example, suppose that you have two shipping profiles: one for shirts and one for pants. They each offer a standard mail service and an expedited mail service. If the standard and expedited mail services have the same name in both shipping profiles, then a customer who places an order with pants and shirts are displayed with both shipping options at checkout.

If the rates aren't named the same in both profiles, then only the cheapest options are added together and shown to the customer at checkout as Shipping.

Combined rates for products in different profiles

For example, suppose that you have a shipping profile for a shirt that charges $3 USD shipping worldwide and a shipping profile for pants that charges $5 USD shipping worldwide. If a customer orders both the shirts and pants, then the customer would get a shipping rate of $8 USD in their checkout.

Combined rates when only one location can fulfill the order

Rates are added together only if there is no option to have a single rate from one shipping profile or location. If all items can come from one location but there is more than one location that carries these items, then fulfillment priority picks which location fulfills the order.

If multiple fulfillment locations are involved in a single line item, such as 1 unit from US warehouse and 1 unit from Canada warehouse, and both locations are in the same location group, then the rate from the location with the highest priority is chosen. The other location's rate is free.

Flat rates within a single shipping profile (same location group)

If a single location can’t fulfill an order, but the order can be fulfilled from multiple locations within the same location group that is applying a flat rate, then the flat rate shipping charge is applied only once for all locations.

For example, suppose the New York and Michigan warehouses are in the same location group 1, and you set a flat rate shipping charge of $5 USD. Your customer orders 2 different shirts, 1 in stock in New York location, and the other in the Michigan location.

The New York and Michigan warehouses, which are both in location group 1, are needed to fulfill the two shirts. Your customer is charged a single flat shipping rate of $5 USD for standard shipping or $8 USD for expedited shipping that includes both shipments.

Combined rates within a single shipping profile (different location groups)

If a single location can't fulfill an order, then the shipping rates of all products are added together, unless the products are in the same location group within a profile and are applying a flat rate.

In the table below, suppose a shirt costs $30 USD and that the US and Canada warehouses are in different location groups.

An order of two shirts costs 60 USD. Because the shipping rates are based on price, the rates that apply to orders of 60 USD from each profile are combined.

Shipping rates

You can configure shipping rates that display at checkout to charge customers for delivery. Shipping rates determine how much customers pay for shipping based on their location, order weight, product type, and delivery speed. You can set up flat rates that charge a fixed amount or carrier-calculated rates that use live pricing from shipping carriers, such as UPS or FedEx.

You can set up shipping rates by creating shipping zones to group countries or regions together, then adding rate types to each zone. If you sell products with different shipping requirements, then shipping profiles let you create separate rate structures for specific products.

After you set up your rates, you can configure free shipping to offer promotions, set up backup shipping rates that display when carrier-calculated rates fail to load, or add transit time to display estimated delivery dates. If you have your own carrier accounts with negotiated rates, then you can also activate third-party carrier-calculated shipping.

If rates aren't displaying correctly, then refer to troubleshooting shipping rates.

Understanding shipping rates

Shipping rates are what you charge your customer in addition to the cost of the products that they order. The cost of any shipping rates are added to a customer's order at checkout.

You can set up one or more shipping rates for your customers to choose from.

When you create shipping rates, you can also specify any restrictions or rules around which shipping methods are available based on the contents of the customer's cart.

Flat shipping rates

Flat shipping rates are specific shipping amounts that you charge a customer based on their order.

For example, if you want to charge $5 USD for shipping each time a customer places an order, then you would set up a $5 USD flat shipping rate.

The benefit to flat shipping rates is that you have control over precisely what a customer is charged at checkout.

General rates

General rates provide a flat rate shipping cost regardless of what is in the cart.

For example, if you want customers to be able to choose between regular shipping costing $5 USD or expedited shipping costing $15, then you would set up two general flat rates, one for each option.

These two rates then display as options in your checkout for any customer's order.

Price-based rates

Price-based rates let you set minimum and maximum cart values for your flat shipping rates.

For example, suppose that you want to charge different rates for orders below and over $50 USD. Using priced-based rates, you can set a flat shipping rate of $4 USD for orders under $50 USD, and a flat shipping rate of $10 USD for orders over $50 USD.

Using the example above, a customer with a cart valued at $35 USD would have only the $4 USD shipping option displayed at checkout.

Review the following table that displays example price-based rates (all prices are in USD):

Weight-based rates

Weight-based rates let you set the minimum and maximum weights that qualify an order for your flat shipping rates.

For example, suppose that you want to charge different rates for orders below and over 5 kg. Using weight-based rates, you can set a flat shipping rate of $7 USD for orders under 5 kg, and a flat shipping rate of $15 USD for orders over 5 kg. Using this example, a customer with a cart that has a combined weight of 7 kg gets only the $15 USD shipping option displayed at checkout.

If an order doesn't match any shipping rates defined in Settings > Shipping and Delivery, then the order is assigned to the next higher available weight based shipping rate. For example, if there is a 2 kg order and a shipping rate only for 4 kg orders, then the customer is displayed the 4 kg shipping rate at checkout instead of an error message.

Review the following table that displays example weight-based rates (all prices are in USD):

Free shipping rates

Any flat shipping rate can be made into a free shipping rate by setting the shipping cost to $0 USD. For example, if you want to offer free shipping on all orders, then you can create a general flat shipping rate with a cost of $0 USD.

Instead, if you wanted to offer free shipping on orders over $100, then set up a priced-based flat rate of $0 USD for orders over $100.

Calculated shipping rates

Calculated shipping rates are shipping costs that are provided by any shipping carriers or apps that you add to your store.

When a customer reaches checkout, their cart information is sent to the shipping carrier or app, and they return what you should charge for shipping.

The benefit of carrier-calculated shipping rates is that you can pass on the exact cost of shipping an order directly to the customer.

Calculated shipping rates from shipping carriers

Depending on your store's Shopify subscription plan and location, there are certain shipping carriers that you might be able to add directly to your shipping settings.

Shipping carriers can use any of the following factors when determining how much to charge for shipping:

• shipping origin
• shipping destination
• weight of the shipment
• value of the shipment
• dimensions of the shipment box
• dimensional weight
• requested speed of delivery

For example, suppose that a customer from Washington D.C., United States reaches the checkout with a 1 kg order. Your store is located in Ottawa, Canada and your default box size is 5" x 7" x 7" weighing 0.375 kg. If you connect your Shopify account with Canada Post, then Canada Post calculates the possible shipping options for your customer based on the order criteria, and provides them at checkout for the customer to choose from.

Calculated shipping rates from apps

Apps can also provide calculated rates when the carrier that you ship through uses an app to integrate with Shopify, or you need a more advanced shipping setup.

To view all available shipping apps, visit the Shopify App Store.

Local delivery method rates

You can set up pickup in store and local delivery options for customers who are close to your business.

Local delivery

If your business offers delivery, then you can create a local delivery method for your customers to choose at checkout. You can set a delivery fee and minimum order amount.

Specify the availability of your delivery by listing postal codes or choosing a radius around your business location. If a customer's address has a listed postal code or is within the radius that you set, then they will have the option to choose local delivery as a shipping option at checkout.

For more information, refer to Setting up local delivery for online orders.

Pickup in store

You can give your customers the option to come to your business to pick up their order. This is a good way to let customers save on shipping costs, and lets you create a more branded experience for your customers. You can provide pickup instructions and let customers know when they can expect their order to be available.

For more information, refer to Setting up pickup for online orders.

Customer experience choosing shipping rates

The shipping settings that you use affect what displays to your customers at checkout.

After you've set up your shipping rates, you can place a test order using your own checkout and view the options that your customers have to make sure that your rates are appearing correctly.

As soon as your customers reach checkout and enter a shipping address, their shipping methods are displayed. Although you can create many shipping options, each customer is offered only those applicable to their order. The cheapest option displays as the default.

If your customer leaves the checkout page to change the contents of their order, then their shipping rates might change. Most shipping rates are calculated based on an order's weight, so any significant changes to an order's contents can make the original shipping rate inaccurate. When your customer returns to the checkout process after changing their order, they're redirected back to the same step of the checkout process. They won't receive the new, recalculated shipping rate until they're ready to complete their purchase.

Customers who enter a shipping address in a region that isn't included in your shipping zones receive a notice that there is no shipping rate available for their region:

Checking out with PayPal Express

If your customers are checking out by using PayPal Express, then they're first taken to the PayPal page to enter their credit card information and billing address. After this step, they’re offered the available shipping methods.

You might want to inform your customers that they will encounter this intermediate step if they’re using PayPal Express. An easy way to do this is to create an information page and link it to the footer of your store.

Creating a shipping strategy

Shipping your products to your customers costs money, and determining who pays for this cost impacts both your profits and a customer's likelihood to place an order. While your Shopify store comes with a set of shipping rates that are based on your store's location and insights from established merchants, adjusting these rates to best suit you and your customers will help your business succeed.

Before you start selling products, decide which shipping strategy you want to use and how much you want to charge for shipping. There are three main strategies for offering shipping rates to customers at checkout:

• flat rate shipping
• free shipping
• carrier-calculated shipping

You can also offer pickup in store and local delivery for customers that are located close to your store location.

Overview of shipping strategies

In most cases, you want to balance your own shipping and handling costs with maintaining attractive prices for your customers.

Review the following table to learn more about different shipping strategies, and their benefits and drawbacks:

Flat rate shipping

You can use flat rate shipping strategy to offer consistent and predictable shipping costs to your customers at checkout. You can offer a single flat price for all products or set price-based or weight-based conditions that display a specific shipping cost at checkout.

When you use this strategy, you need to calculate your shipping fees yourself. To avoid charging too much or too little for shipping, you need to consider the average price for shipping a package. An example of a flat rate can be charging $5 USD for all domestic shipments.

Flat rate shipping is predictable and sets clear expectations for your customers. You can add a table with your flat shipping rates to your shipping and delivery page where your customers can check shipping costs before they reach the checkout.

You can also activate transit time and processing time for your flat shipping rates and show expected delivery dates at checkout.

Free shipping

Free shipping usually has a positive impact on your cart conversion. You can use free shipping as a marketing tool and advertise it in your online store with a free shipping banner.

You can combine free shipping with a flat rate shipping strategy. You can offer free shipping based on the cart value and increase your total order value. For example, you can offer free shipping for orders that are over a $50 USD value.

However, shipping is never actually free and you need to include a portion of your shipping fees into your products' prices. To account for this, you can calculate the average cost to ship your product, and then add the buffer into your product prices. For more information, refer to Create free shipping rates.

Carrier-calculated shipping

Carrier-calculated shipping lets you charge exact shipping costs at checkout. If your business is still new and you have limited resources, then passing along the exact shipping cost can be an easy way to protect your profit margin.

Calculated shipping rates are calculated only at checkout and the shipping costs depend on many factors, such as origin and destination country, product weight and size, and delivery time. You can't surface your shipping costs before checkout. This can lead to unexpected shipping costs at checkout and cause your customers to abandon the purchase.

To use calculated shipping, you need to provide accurate weights of your products and packages.

Setting up shipping zones

A shipping zone is a group of countries or regions that have the same shipping rates. For example, if your business has a warehouse in Germany that ships to anywhere in Europe for the same flat rate, then you can create a shipping zone that includes all the European countries and charge that same shipping fee to all your European customers.

Customers can order products from your store only when the country or region where they want the order shipped is included in one of your shipping zones, and also included in an active market.

Add a shipping zone

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to add shipping zones to.

3. Next to the group of locations where you want to add a shipping zone, click Add shipping zone.

4. Enter a name for the shipping zone.

5. Select the countries and regions that you want to be in the zone.

6. Click Done.

7. Add any rates that you want for the zone, and then click Save.

For more information on setting shipping rates, refer to Setting up shipping rates.

Edit a zone

Within a group of locations in a shipping profile, a country or region can only exist in one shipping zone. You must remove a country or region from one shipping zone before adding it to another.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to edit.

3. Next to the zone that you want to edit, click the ... button.

4. In the drop-down menu, click Edit zone.

5. Make any changes, and then click Done.

6. Click Save.

Delete a zone

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to edit.

3. Next to the zone that you want to delete, click the ... button.

4. In the drop-down menu, click Delete.

5. Click Save.

Creating shipping zones based on postcode or zip code

There are apps that you can use to organize your shipping zones according to postal codes or zip codes. Visit the app store to find out what's available.

Setting up flat shipping rates

Flat shipping rates charge a specific amount for shipping at checkout. You can create flat shipping rates for any order within a shipping zone, or only for orders whose weight or price is within a certain range. For example, in a shipping zone for Europe, you could set a flat rate of $10, and another flat rate of $5 for orders that are over $50.

Create flat shipping rates

When combining price-based shipping rates, Shopify combines rates that apply to the total price of the cart. When combining weight-based shipping rates, Shopify combines rates that apply to the weights of the individual products, with your store default package weight added to each product. Learn more about combined shipping rates.

For example, suppose that you have a shipping rate called Discounted shipping for $5 in two different profiles. This rate is available on orders over $50. If an order contains a combination of products from both profiles and has a total of $55, then the checkout displays the Discounted shipping rate at a cost of $10.

Instead, suppose that you have a shipping rate called Discounted shipping in two different profiles that gives cheaper shipping on orders over 5 kg. To receive this rate, customers would need to order 5 kg of products from the first shipping profile and 5 kg of products from the second shipping profile to qualify for the Discounted shipping rate.

When you create shipping rates, a preview is provided so that you know exactly what is displayed to your customers at checkout.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to add shipping rates to.

3. Next to the zone that you want to add a rate to, click Add rate.

4. Select a transit time, or select a custom flat rate to name the rate.

5. Optional: If a custom flat rate is selected, then enter a delivery description such as Tracked shipping or Ships next day. For optimal display, use 25 characters or fewer for your delivery description.

6. Enter the shipping rate.

7. Optional: Add weight-based or price-based conditions.

8. Review the checkout preview to ensure that your shipping rate is displayed as expected.

9. Click Done, and then click Save.

You can also set up price-based or weight-based conditions for your shipping rates.

Create shipping rates in local currencies

You can create flat shipping rates in local currencies for customers from different markets. An example could be offering a $10 USD flat rate shipping for customers in the United States, but offering €15 EUR flat rate shipping for customers in Europe.

To offer flat rate shipping in local currencies, all countries within a shipping zone need to share the same currency, and local currencies need to be activated for their market. For example, if you have a Europe market that contains France, Germany, and Sweden, then you should have one shipping zone that contains France and Germany (where the currency is the euro) and another shipping zone that contains Sweden (where the currency is the Swedish krona). You need to activate local currencies in your international sales tools settings before you can set up shipping rates in local currencies.

When you create shipping rates, a preview is provided so that you know exactly what is displayed to your customers at checkout.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to add shipping rates to.

3. For the zone that you want to add the rate to, click Add rate.

4. Select a transit time, or select a custom flat rate to name the rate.

5. Optional: If a custom flat rate is selected, then enter a delivery description such as Tracked shipping or Ships next day. For optimal display, use 25 characters or fewer for your delivery description.

6. Enter the shipping rate, and then select the local currency for the country or region.

7. Optional: Add weight-based or price-based conditions.

8. Review the checkout preview to ensure that your shipping rate is displayed as expected.

9. Click Done, and then click Save.

You can also set up price-based or weight-based conditions for your shipping rates.

Creating free shipping rates

You can add free shipping rates to any shipping zone, so customers don't pay anything for shipping at checkout. You can set up free shipping to be the only shipping rate on your store, or offer free shipping when specific criteria are met. These criteria can be based on orders over a certain value or on orders over a certain weight.

Offering free shipping is a common business and marketing practice, because it reassures customers that they won't be charged a surprise high shipping fee when they place their orders.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to edit.

3. For each shipping zone, add the free shipping rate:

   1. Click Add rate.
   2. Enter the name for the rate.
   3. Make sure that the value of the Price field is 0.

4. Click Done, and then click Save.

Free shipping over a certain value

To offer free shipping on orders over a certain value, such as 50 USD, 75 EUR, or 8000 JPY, you need add a price-based condition to your free shipping rate.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to edit.

3. Add the shipping rate to each shipping zone where you want the free shipping rate:

   1. Click Add rate.
   2. Enter the name for the rate.
   3. Make sure that the value of the Price field is 0.
   4. Click Add conditions.
   5. Select Based on order price.
   6. Enter a minimum price.
   7. Click Done.

4. Click Save.

Free shipping over a certain weight

To offer free shipping on orders that are over a certain weight, such as 10 lb or 50 kg, you need add a weight-based condition to your free shipping rate.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to edit.

3. Add the shipping rate to each shipping zone where you want the free shipping rate:

   1. Click Add rate.
   2. Enter the name for the rate.
   3. Make sure that the value of the Price field is 0.
   4. Click Add conditions.
   5. Select Based on item weight.
   6. Enter a minimum weight.
   7. Click Done.

4. Click Save.

Free shipping for specific products

You can add a free shipping rate that applies only to certain products. Before you start, you need to create a custom shipping profile with products on which you want to offer free shipping.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to edit.

3. Next to the zone where you want to add a free shipping rate, click Add rate.

4. Enter the name for the rate.

5. Make sure that the value of the Price field is 0.

6. Optional: Add weight-based or value-based conditions.

   1. Click Add conditions.
   2. Select whether to base the condition on order weight or value.
   3. Enter the minimum and maximum value for the condition.

7. Click Done, and then click Save.

Free shipping for specific customers

You can offer free shipping to specific customers by creating a free shipping discount. Customers who are eligible for the discount can enter the discount code during checkout, and then free shipping is applied to their order.

If you want the customer to receive both a monetary discount and a free shipping discount, then create a draft order for your customer.

Edit a shipping rate

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to edit.

3. Next to the rate that you want to edit, click the ... button.

4. In the drop-down menu, click Edit rate.

5. Make any changes, and then click Done.

6. Click Save.

Delete a shipping rate

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to edit.

3. Next to the rate that you want to delete, click the ... button.

4. In the drop-down menu, click Delete.

5. Click Save.

Setting up carrier-calculated shipping rates

Calculated shipping rates are determined at checkout by a third-party shipping service based on the details of the order. This helps you charge your customers the exact amount that a shipping carrier, such as UPS or FedEx, will charge you when you purchase a shipping label.

When you add carrier-calculated shipping rates, you also need to enter accurate weights for each of your products so that you can provide accurate shipping rates to your customers at checkout.

Carrier-calculated shipping rates often display expected transit time next to the shipping rate at checkout, but they don't include your processing time. You can display delivery dates at checkout that include your processing time and transit time. To learn more, refer to Setting up delivery dates.

Before you create any shipping rates, make sure to get familiar with shipping zones and shipping profiles. Shipping zones are a group of countries or regions that you create for your shipping rates and shipping profiles let you set up shipping rates for specific products and locations.

Requirements for setting up carrier-calculated shipping rates

Carrier-calculated rates are available to stores in the following scenarios:

• If you're in the United States, then you can display carrier-calculated rates from USPS, DHL, and UPS.
• If you're in Canada, then you can display carrier-calculated rates from Canada Post and Purolator.
• If you're in the United Kingdom, then you can display carrier-calculated rates from DPD UK, Yodel, and Royal Mail.
• If you're in Italy, then you can display carrier-calculated rates from BRT.
• If you're in Germany, then you can display carrier-calculated rates from DHL Paket.
• If you're in Spain, then you can display carrier-calculated rates from Seur.
• If you're in Australia, then you can display carrier-calculated rates from Australia Post.
• If the carrier-calculated shipping feature is on your store's Shopify subscription plan, then you can add carrier-calculated rates from your own carrier account for USPS, FedEx, UPS, and Canada Post, as well as rates from shipping apps. Before you can add your own rates from any shipping carriers, you need to add your carrier accounts to your shipping settings in Shopify. Learn about third-party carrier-calculated shipping rates.

Create calculated shipping rates

Mark up or discount calculated rates

You can adjust calculated shipping rates to mark up or discount the rates that are displayed to your customers at checkout. For example, if the rate is too high to attract customers, then you could discount it by a certain percentage to increase sales. Instead, if for example the rate is too low to cover your packaging and handling costs, then you can increase it.

You can mark up calculated shipping rates by an additional flat fee or by a percentage of the total shipping rate. If you adjust a calculated shipping rate to include both an additional flat fee and a percentage markup, then the percentage is calculated before the flat fee is added. For example, a $5.00 USD rate with 50% markup and a $1.00 USD flat fee costs the customer $8.50, not $9.00.

If you want to offer discounted shipping, then enter a negative value. For example, -5% or $-2.50.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to edit.

3. Next to the rate that you want to adjust, click , and then click Edit rate.

4. In the Handling fee section, set the rate adjustments.

5. Click Done, then click Save.

Edit a shipping rate

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to edit.

3. Next to the rate that you want to edit, click .

4. In the drop-down menu, click Edit rate.

5. Make any changes, and then click Done.

6. Click Save.

Delete a shipping rate

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to edit.

3. Next to the rate that you want to delete, click .

4. In the drop-down menu, click Delete.

5. Click Save.

Third-party shipping carrier accounts and availability

To use carrier-calculated shipping (CCS) in Shopify, you need a Shopify plan that includes this feature and an account with a supported shipping carrier. Connecting your carrier account lets you display real-time shipping rates from that carrier at checkout.

Plan availability

The availability of third-party carrier-calculated shipping depends on your store's plan.

Supported carrier accounts

You can connect accounts from the following carriers to display carrier-calculated rates at checkout:

Setting up transit time for your flat shipping rates

You can add transit time to your flat shipping rates to display transit time to your customers at checkout. Transit time is the time frame from when your shipping carrier collects the shipment from you, to when the shipment arrives at your customer's address.

Transit time can help your customers to understand the value of selecting faster and more expensive shipping options and help you make sales with customers who want their products quickly.

Considerations for setting up transit time

Before you add transit time to your shipping rates, review the following considerations:

• Transit time is available to fulfillment locations in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
• Transit time works only with stores that use the latest version of shipping settings.
• Transit time doesn't account for order processing time. For more information about processing time, refer to Understanding and reducing processing time.
• Transit time for combined shipping rates is displayed at checkout only when shipping rates from different profiles have transit time. The slowest transit time is displayed.
• You can configure transit time only for flat shipping rates. Transit time is automatically included in carrier-calculated shipping rates.
• Your shipping zones can't have a mix of domestic and international countries. For example, if your store is located in the United States and you also ship to France, then you need to set up one shipping zone for the United States and another for France. You can't have both countries in one zone.
• Transit time works with shipping profiles that have multiple locations only if all locations in the profile are in the same country.
• Set up your apps and locations before you set up transit time. Apps that manage fulfillment, such as Printful, are automatically added as a location to your shipping profile and can deactivate transit time for your existing shipping rates.

Understanding transit time and delivery descriptions

Transit time is a predefined option that displays calculated delivery dates to customers at checkout. You can only select from the available transit time options, such as Standard, Express, or Economy, when setting up flat shipping rates.

Delivery descriptions are custom text that you can add to any flat shipping rate to provide additional information to customers.

If you need to provide specific delivery information to customers, then you can add a custom delivery description to your flat shipping rate, but this won't display calculated delivery dates in the way that transit time does.

Add transit time to your shipping rate

When you add transit time to a shipping rate, the transit time is displayed underneath the shipping rate name that customers can choose at checkout. For example, an Express (1 to 2 business days) shipping option can be displayed to your customers at checkout.

Add transit time to a new shipping rate

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to add a transit time to.

3. Verify that the Shipping origins section contains only one location. If you want to set up a transit time for more locations, then you need to add separate rates for the other locations.

4. Make sure that your shipping zone contains only one of the eligible countries and its regions, such as France and French provinces.

5. Click Add rate for the shipping zone that you want to add a rate to.

6. Click the Shipping rate drop-down menu, and then select a transit time from the predefined options.

7. Optional: Add weight-based or price-based conditions.

   1. Click Add conditional pricing.
   2. Select whether to base the condition on the item weight or the order price.
   3. Enter the minimum and maximum values for the condition.

8. Add a price for your rate.

9. Click Done, and then click Save.

Add transit time to an existing shipping rate

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to add a transit time to.

3. Verify that the Shipping origins section contains only one location. If you want to set up a transit time for more locations, then you need to add separate rates for the other locations.

4. Make sure that your shipping zone contains only one of the eligible countries and its regions, such as France and French provinces.

5. Click … for the shipping rate that you want to add a transit time to, and then click Edit rate.

6. Click the Shipping rate drop-down menu, and then select a transit time from the predefined options.

7. Click Done, and then click Save.

Services that match transit time

Transit time is based on available shipping carrier options in each country.

United States

Setting up backup shipping rates

If your shipping rates are calculated by a third party service, such as a shipping carrier or shipping app, then occasionally the third party can experience downtime or can't return shipping rates fast enough. When this happens, shipping rates won't display at the checkout and your customers can't complete their order.

If no rates are returned from the third party, or an error occurs when retrieving rates, then your backup shipping rates are displayed to customers. As a result, your customers can still checkout and continue their order, instead of having to abandon their order due to unavailable shipping rates.

Considerations for backup shipping rates

Shopify-powered backup shipping rates are activated in your Shopify store by default for all delivery profiles and shipping zones that contain third-party shipping rates. If the default backup rates don't meet your business needs, then you can customize the backup shipping rates using order value or item weight conditions. Backup shipping rates are mandatory when you're relying on a third party to calculate shipping rates at checkout.

When an order uses a backup shipping rate, a banner displays on the order's page in your Shopify admin and indicates that a backup rate was used, and which third party failed to provide any shipping rates.

Shopify-powered backup shipping rates

To ensure your backup rates are accurate and complete, the Shopify-powered backup shipping rates include Shopify supported carriers as well as country-specific backup rates.

Shopify supported carrier backup shipping rates

In shipping zones where Shopify supported carriers are available, rates are displayed as backup shipping rates at checkout. You can calculate and preview shipping rates by using the shipping calculator. You can purchase the corresponding label through Shopify.

Backup rates work for the following Shopify supported carriers by default and display the most economic service available in a given context at checkout.

Learn more about how to purchase a shipping label.

Country-Specific backup shipping rates

In shipping zones where shipping label rates aren't available, country-specific rates display as your backup shipping rates.

The following criteria can determine which backup rates show in your checkout:

• your fulfillment location's address and priority
• your customer's shipping address
• the default currency of your store
• the item weight
• the total order value

Country-specific backup rates are based on historical data with the goal to provide accurate rates at checkout.

If Shopify-powered backup rates don't meet your business needs, then you can set custom backup rates using order value or item weight conditions.

Customize backup shipping rates

A Shopify-powered backup rate will be added to every delivery profile and shipping zone for which a calculated shipping rate has been configured. You can customize the backup rates by following these steps.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to add backup rates to.

3. Within the shipping zone that you want to add backup rates to, next to a carrier or app rate, click the ... button and select Edit backup rate.

4. Use Shopify default backup rates is selected by default. These rates will either be shipping label rates or country-specific rates, depending on the shipping zone. To customize your backup rates, choose one of the following and set your conditions:

   1. Define custom backup rates by order value: set your conditions based on order value.
   2. Define custom backup rates by item weight: set your conditions based on item weight.

5. Click Done.

6. Click Save to save your backup rates.

Access backup rates history

To access the 30-day rolling history of your backup rate usage, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery and then click a shipping profile. Within any shipping zone, click or tap the checkmarked shield icon next to the name of the shipping rate provider:

Backup rates history displays the number of orders and sales recovered when backup rates were accepted. Backup rates history doesn't display how often backup rates were displayed to your customers.

Troubleshooting and testing shipping rates

For your shipping rates to display to customers at checkout, the checkout details must match the conditions of the shipping rates that you set. There are many factors that can affect whether the checkout matches a shipping rate, such as product details, market settings, locations, shipping profiles, packaging, and carrier accounts.

If checkout details don't match the conditions of the shipping rates that you set, then an error message might display, including the following examples or variations of them:

• Your order cannot be shipped to the selected address. Enter a different address
• Shipping not available. Your order cannot be shipped to the selected address. Review your address to ensure it's correct and try again, or select a different address

In this section, you can find some of the common things to check so that you can test why your shipping rates might not display as you expect.

General troubleshooting checklist

To resolve some of the most common shipping rate issues, confirm that the following settings are correct:

• Products are in the appropriate shipping profiles. For example, if you have two custom shipping profiles called Heavy and Fragile, then make sure that heavy products are in the Heavy profile and fragile products are in the Fragile profile.
• The shipping profiles have the appropriate shipping origin locations and zones set for fulfillment.
• There are shipping rates assigned for the shipping zone that includes the customer's shipping address.
• There are shipping rates set up that should apply to the checkout, based on all the items in the cart.
  • If using manual rates, then check that there is at least one rate for the total weight, price, or flat rate conditions of the customer's cart.
  • If using carrier-calculated rates, then check that there is at least one rate for the fulfillment location address, customer shipping address, and default box size.
• If you've made recent changes to any settings, then confirm that those changes have been saved successfully. If your changes haven't saved, then make your changes again and click Save.

Check your product settings

Products in the cart affect which shipping rates display during checkout. The checkout won't return shipping rates for products marked as digital products or services because they don't require physical shipment.

In your Shopify admin, go to Products and check your products to confirm the following settings are correct for the products in the customer's cart:

• Physical products have been set as Physical product.
• Physical products have an assigned Shipping weight, and the weight units (lb, oz, kg) are correct.
• Products have available inventory stocked at locations that fulfill the product (unless the option to Continue selling when out of stock is checked).
• If you're using shipping labels to display rates at checkout, then there must be available stock at a physical location, not an app or custom fulfillment location.

Check your locations settings

Your checkout uses the locations that you've set up for your store as shipping origins for fulfillment. This can impact which shipping rates display in your checkout.

In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Locations and then confirm that the following settings are correct for each location:

• The location is active and has a valid address. App locations don't have a physical address, so carrier-calculated shipping rates can't use them to calculate shipping rates.
• In the Fulfillment section, the Inventory at this location is available to fulfill online orders option is activated.

Troubleshoot dropshipping app location shipping rates

If you're using a dropshipping app and products are displaying as out of stock on your online store, then your app location might be missing shipping rates. Some dropshipping apps create an app location when you install them, but don't automatically configure shipping rates for that location.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to update.

3. In the Not shipping from this location section, find your dropshipping app location.

4. Click Add rates.

5. Choose one of the following rates options for your dropshipping app location:

   • To create custom shipping rates when you know the shipping costs that your dropshipping supplier charges, click Create new rate, and then configure rates for your app location.
   • To apply your existing shipping rates from another location, click Use rates from another location. If you select this option, then review your supplier's shipping costs to confirm that your rates are accurate.

6. Click Save.

After you add shipping rates to your dropshipping app's location, verify that your products display as in stock on your online store.

Check your market settings

Market settings affect how shipping rates display for customers based on the country that the order is shipping to. You can only add shipping and delivery settings when a country belongs to a market. Learn more about Shipping zones and markets.

In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Markets and then confirm the following settings are correct:

• The customer's country is included in an existing market.
• Click Manage > Shipping for the customer's market, and then confirm that their country has rates assigned in the shipping profiles it's included in.

Check your shipping settings

If your shipping strategy includes multiple types of shipping rates, then review your shipping settings to confirm that everything has been set up correctly.

Check your shipping profiles

If you've updated to the latest version of shipping settings, then you might have multiple custom shipping profiles to consider when shipping rates are generated during checkout.

In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery and then confirm that the following settings are correct for each shipping profile:

• Products are assigned to the correct shipping profile.
• Shipping origins are assigned to the correct shipping profiles.
• Shipping zones are assigned to the correct shipping origins within the shipping profile.
• Shipping rates are assigned to the correct shipping zones within each shipping origin.

Considerations for weight-based rates

If you use weight-based shipping rates, then ensure that there's a weight-based rate that applies to the total weight of the cart. To determine the total weight of the cart, add the weight of all the products in the cart and the weight of the default package.

Considerations for price-based rates

The checkout determines shipping rates based on the total value of the cart after applying discounts, but before applying taxes. If you use price-based shipping rates, then ensure that there's a price-based rate that includes that cart value.

Confirm the currency of the shipping rates is correct. When creating shipping rates, the checkout bases the shipping rate currency on the store currency, and it doesn't automatically update if you change your store currency. To update the shipping currency to the store currency, delete the affected shipping rates and then recreate them.

Considerations for carrier-calculated rates

If the carrier-calculated service isn't calculating the rates you expect for a cart, then check that the weights and package dimensions are correct for the products that are in the cart.

Additionally, you should confirm the following information:

• All addresses are valid addresses in the carrier service, including both your shipping origin location and the customer's shipping destination. You can verify the addresses with Google.
• The default package being used to generate rates must be within the minimum and maximum requirements for the carrier services you're offering. Make sure that the package isn't too large or too heavy for the correct rates to generate. Each carrier and service type has different requirements.
• If the default box is set to a carrier package, then only that carrier's rates display. For example, the USPS Priority Mail flat rate box will only work for Priority Mail options, so if Priority Mail rates aren't active, then no rates will display during checkout.

Considerations for third-party app rates

If you use a third-party app to calculate shipping rates, then contact the app developer for help.

To ensure that your customers can complete checkout when carrier-calculated shipping rates or third-party app shipping rates aren't available, ensure that you set up backup shipping rates.

Troubleshoot third-party app shipping profiles

Delivery methods

You can offer local delivery methods as alternatives to standard shipping for customers located close to your business. These methods reduce delivery times and provide more flexible options for nearby customers:

• Set up local delivery to deliver orders directly to customers' addresses within a set distance or specific postal codes.
• Offer pickup in store so customers can collect orders at your retail locations.
• If your store is in France, Italy, Spain, or the UK, then you can activate pickup points to ship orders to third-party pickup locations such as post offices or parcel lockers.

You might use local delivery when you want to fulfill orders for nearby customers without shipping carriers, pickup in store when you have retail locations customers can visit, or pickup points when you want to offer convenient collection locations in supported countries.

Setting up local delivery for online orders

You can set up the option for local customers to have their orders delivered. If an eligible customer's address is in your delivery area, then the customer has the local delivery as an option at checkout.

To set up local delivery, you need to activate the local delivery option for each location that you offer delivery from. You can offer delivery within a set distance from your location, or for certain postal codes.

After you set up local delivery in your Shipping settings, learn how to fulfill local delivery orders. You can choose to have you or your staff deliver orders, or use a third-party delivery service.

Checkout experience

After you activate the local delivery option, eligible customers have local delivery as a shipping option at checkout.

Customers have local delivery as an option only if they meet the following requirements:

• All physical products in the cart are eligible for delivery from one location.
• The delivery location has the inventory available to fulfill the entire order.
• The customer isn't a B2B customer, as B2B checkouts don't support local delivery. However, B2B draft orders do support local delivery provided that local delivery is preselected by you as the shipping method when creating the draft order.
• The customer's delivery address can be verified by Google. At checkout, customers can use the dropdown menu of suggested addresses to select a verified address.
• The customer's address must be one of the following:
  • within the designated delivery radius and the same province or state
  • within the designated postal codes and in the same country
• The customer doesn't choose an accelerated checkout method other than Shop Pay in the first step of the checkout. If the customer pays using Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, or PayPal, then the local delivery option isn't available.

A customer can't choose to have some items shipped and some items delivered on the same order. Instead, the customer should place two separate orders.

Your customers can include delivery instructions at checkout and are required to leave a phone number so you can contact them.

Before setting up local delivery

You need to complete the following before you can offer local delivery:

• Add each location that you want to offer delivery from.
• Stock inventory at each delivery location.
• Using any third-party shipping apps might conflict with the new Shopify's local delivery method. Third-party apps are those that aren't made by Shopify.
• Ensure that each person who is preparing items for delivery or marking orders as delivery has access to your Shopify admin.
• Let each delivery location fulfill online orders.

Set up the local delivery option

You set up local delivery for each location that you want to offer delivery from. You can offer delivery within a distance radius, or you can offer delivery to select postal codes.

To use a delivery radius, your business location must be verified. Review and modify your location's address to make sure that it's accurate.

If you choose a delivery radius, then you can choose to include neighboring states, provinces, or regions by enabling Include neighboring states or regions. For example, suppose that your business is located in the southeast corner of California, 10 miles west from Arizona. If you set your delivery radius to be 20 miles and activate Include neighboring states or regions, then your delivery radius will extend 10 miles into Arizona. If this setting isn't activated, then local delivery won't be available for customers in Arizona.

The delivery radius won't extend into other countries, even with Include neighboring states or regions activated.

After you set up local delivery, you can start fulfilling local delivery orders.

Steps

Add conditional pricing

You can add price-based rules to determine how much to charge for local delivery. You can set up to 3 additional rules to give your local delivery option more flexibility.

For example, suppose that you had a minimum order value of $5 USD. You could set the following rules:

• orders starting at $5 USD = $5 USD delivery charge
• orders starting at $10 USD = $3 USD delivery charge
• orders starting at $20 USD = free delivery

The final rule in your set of conditions has no maximum order value limit.

Steps:

Add delivery zones

By default, when you set up the local delivery option, you create a delivery area or zone. You can add up to 9 additional delivery zones based on distance radius or sets of postal codes. Each delivery zone can have a separate set of conditional prices.

If you're using a distance radius, then set the Delivery radius as the maximum distance for each zone.

For example, you might set the following zones:

If you have a customer located within 8 km, then they will be charged $10.00. Although both zones 2 and 3 apply to a customer located within 8 km, the delivery price for Zone 2 is less than Zone 3, so the customer is charged the delivery price for Zone 2.

If you have a customer whose order is less than $20, then they aren't eligible for local delivery because zones 1, 2, and 3 all have a minimum order price of $20.00.

Steps:

Order confirmation

For the Order confirmation email template, you can add local delivery-related content by wrapping the content in the following Liquid variable: {% if delivery_instructions != blank %}; Delivery instructions: {{delivery_instructions}} {% endif %} This variable displays the content of the Delivery information field in your local delivery settings.

You can also include delivery information in the Order confirmation notification by filling out the appropriate section in your shipping and delivery settings.

If you need to reset a template to its default, then click Revert to default.

Setting up pickup in store for online orders

You can set up an in-store pickup option in your checkout to let your customers pick up their online orders at one of your retail locations.

You can also set up store transfers for your in-store pickup locations. Store transfers let you automatically transfer inventory from one location to your in-store pickup location when an item is out of stock.

If your store is on the Shopify Plus plan, then you can replace the default pickup in store feature with a custom app.

Requirements for setting up pickup in store

To set up pickup in store in your Shopify admin, you need to meet the following requirements:

• You need to have at least one location that fulfills online orders.
• Your store needs to have the latest version of checkout activated:
  • If your store is on the Shopify Plus plan, then you need to migrate to Shopify Extensions.
  • If your store isn't on the Shopify Plus plan, then you need to have the latest version of checkout in your store. Most stores already have the latest version of checkout.

Considerations for setting up pickup in store

Before you set up pickup in store, review the following considerations:

• A customer can't choose to have some items shipped and some items picked up on the same order. Instead, a customer needs to place two separate orders.
• If you use a theme that supports pickup availability, then the customer can view whether a product is available for pickup before they add it to their cart. This feature doesn't work with store transfers.

Set up pickup in store

You can set up pickup in store for your locations. You need to set up pickup in store for each location where customers can pick up their orders.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Pickup in store section, click Set up or the › icon.

3. Select a location for in-store pickup:

   • If you have a single location, then click a location where you want to set up pickup in store.
   • If you have multiple locations, then click Add location, and then click a location where you want to set up pickup in store.

4. In the Expected pickup date section, select a processing time for in-store pickup from the drop-down menu. This information is displayed to your customers.

5. Optional: To set up store transfer, complete the following tasks:

   1. In the Store transfers section, select the locations that you want to transfer inventory from when inventory is unavailable at the in-store pickup location.
   2. To set up a different processing time for orders that require a store transfer, select Set a different processing time at checkout when a store transfer is needed, and then select a processing time from the drop-down menu.

6. In the Ready for pickup notification section, enter pickup instructions for your customers. This field replaces any customizations that you have in the email_body variable in the Ready for pickup notification template.

7. Optional: In the Checkout preview section, preview how your in-store pickup option displays at checkout.

8. Click Save.

Set up store transfers

By default, pickup in store is available only when the entire order is in stock at the pickup location. If you have multiple locations, then you can set up store transfers that let you transfer inventory from one location to your in-store pickup location. You can also set up different processing times for orders that require a store transfer. The closest location with stock to the pickup location is prioritized.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Pickup in store section, click the › icon.

3. Click a location that you want to set up store transfers for.

4. In the Store transfers section, select the locations that you want to transfer inventory from when inventory is unavailable at the in-store pickup location.

5. Optional: To set up a different processing time for orders that require a store transfer, select Set a different processing time at checkout when a store transfer is needed, and then select a processing time from the drop-down menu.

6. Click Save.

Set up transfer exclusions

You can exclude specific product collections from store transfers. For example, if some of your products are too large to transfer to an in-store pickup location, then you can exclude these products from store transfers. You can exclude product collections, but not specific products.

Before you begin, create a collection for products that can't be transferred to an in-store pickup location. To avoid displaying your collection to customers, ensure that the collection isn't included in any sales channels.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Pickup in store section, click Set up or the › icon.

3. In the Transfer exclusions section, click Add collections.

4. Select any collections that you want to exclude from store transfers, and then click Done.

5. Click Save.

Activate a pickup service

If you want to use a custom app to manage in-store pickup, then you can activate a pickup service in your Shopify admin and replace the existing in-store pickup settings. Learn more about custom in-store pickup apps.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Pickup in store section, click Set up or the › icon.

3. In the Pickup service section, click Change.

4. Select a custom app that you want to use for your in-store pickup feature, and then click Save.

5. Click Choose pickup service.

Transfer items manually

If you can't fulfill an in-store pickup order and need to transfer items from somewhere else, or the automatically chosen location for a store transfer isn't possible, then you can manually change the location of an in-store pickup order. You can't change the pickup location chosen by the customer at checkout.

Steps

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

2. Click the in-store pickup order that you want to fulfill.

3. In the Unfulfilled section, click the ... button.

4. Click Change location.

5. Select the items to choose a new location for.

6. In the Change location section, select a new location.

7. Click Change location.

Fulfill an in-store pickup order

You can fulfill an in-store pickup order from your Shopify admin. If a product transfer is required for your in-store pickup order, then the Transfer required badge is displayed next to your in-store pickup location.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

2. Click the in-store pickup order that you want to fulfill.

3. Optional: If a transfer is required to move items to the in-store pickup location, then click Transfer to pickup location when you make the necessary preparations. You can undo this action only by transferring the items manually.

4. Click Ready for pickup.

5. Click Mark as ready for pickup.

After your customer picks up their order, click Mark as picked up to mark the order as fulfilled.

Checkout experience

After you activate pickup in store, your customers can choose between Ship and Pick up options in the Delivery section of your checkout. When they select the Pick up option, they can choose the location where they want to pick up their order. Customers can view pickup locations only in their country. If there are no pickup locations in their country, then There are no pickup locations available displays during checkout. They can change their country by clicking Change my location.

The processing time that you select in the in-store pickup settings is displayed at checkout.

Displaying pickup availability to your customers

Some themes let you display to customers whether a product is available for pickup in store. On each product page, a pickup availability section displays whether the product is available, and the estimated time frame for pickup.

After pickup in store is activated, the product page displays whether the product is available for pickup at one or more of your pickup in store locations. This information is displayed only for products that are stocked at least one pickup location and have the Physical product setting activated in the Shipping section of a product variant's details.

If you have pickup in store activated for only one location, then the location and pickup availability is displayed for that location. Customers can click View store information to learn more about the pickup location.

If you have pickup in store activated for more than one location, then the pickup availability section displays the location and pickup availability for one of your stores. Customers can click Check availability at other stores to check the product's availability at all of your locations that have pickup activated.

This feature is currently available in Dawn, the Horizon family of themes, and multiple paid themes in the Shopify Theme Store.

Turn off pickup in store

If you no longer want to offer pickup in store at your location, then you can turn it off.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Pickup in store section, click the › icon.

3. Click a location where you want to turn off pickup in store.

4. Click Turn off pickup in store.

5. In the dialog, click Turn off pickup in store.

Troubleshooting pickup in store

If you're experiencing issues with pickup in store, then review the following common issues and solutions.

Setting up shipping to pickup points

You can set up the option to ship orders to a pickup point instead of directly to a customer's address. Pickup points and how they work can vary from carrier to carrier, but are most often one of the following types of locations:

• Local post offices.
• Relay points, which are retail businesses that are a part of the carrier's pickup network and offer local parcel pickup.
• Specialized parcel stores. Some carriers have their own local parcel stores where you can drop off, pick up, or return packages.
• Self-service lockers that are located near shopping centers, parking lots, and metro stations. These lockers are available 24/7, so packages can be picked up at any time.

During checkout, your customers can choose a delivery method to ship to a pickup point, and then select the pickup point where they want their order delivered.

After the order is delivered to a pickup point, your customer receives an SMS or an email notification that their order is ready for pickup. Some pickup points are open 24/7, so your customers can pick up their packages any time they want.

Requirements for using pickup points

To use pickup points, your store needs to meet any of the following requirements:

• Your store and fulfillment locations are based in France, Italy, Spain, or the UK, and you're using any of the following carriers that support pickup points:
  • Evri
  • Colissimo
  • Correos
  • Mondial Relay
  • Poste Italiane
• Your store is on the Shopify Plus plan, and you're using a custom app with the Pickup Point Delivery Option Generator API. Developers using this API have their own requirements to create a custom app.

Considerations for setting up pickup points

Before activating pickup points, review the following considerations:

• Stores on the Shopify Plus plan that use custom apps with pickup points can't buy shipping labels. You're responsible for coordinating the delivery of the order to the pickup point location. Developers can make your custom app retrieve the pickup point for an order.
• A pickup point order that's completed with a carrier that supports pickup points can't be edited after the order is placed. However, a pickup point order completed using a custom app with pickup points can be edited, with the option to edit the pickup point address. Developers can make your custom app edit the selected pickup point.

Checkout experience

If you activate pickup points, then eligible customers have pickup points as a shipping option at checkout. Using a map or list of pickup points, customers can select the pickup point where want their shipment to be delivered.

After they select a pickup point, relevant information about the pickup point is displayed, such as opening hours, address details, pickup point name, and price.

If a pickup point is full, then it won't be displayed to customers at checkout until there is room for new shipments.

Your customers need to meet the following requirements to have pickup points as an option during checkout:

• All physical products in the cart are eligible for shipping from one location.
• The fulfillment location has the inventory available to fulfill the entire order.
• An accelerated checkout method isn't chosen by the customer in the first step of the checkout. If your customer pays using Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, or PayPal, then shipping to pickup points isn't available.
• The customer cannot be completing checkout as a B2B customer.

Set up shipping to pickup points

You can set up shipping to pickup points for each of your store's eligible locations.

Steps:

Shipments and packages

You can configure packaging and shipping settings to ensure accurate shipping costs and streamline your fulfillment process:

• Set up package types and dimensions to help carriers calculate correct rates based on size and weight.
• Configure package weights to calculate accurate shipping costs at checkout and ensure timely delivery.
• Use barcodes to streamline fulfillment by scanning items during picking and packing.
• Review shipping carriers that integrate with Shopify or connect your own carrier accounts.

You might configure package settings when you need accurate rate calculations, use barcodes when managing large order volumes, or connect carrier accounts to display real-time shipping rates at checkout.

Understanding shipment packaging and weights

When you're fulfilling an order, you need to choose a package that matches the package type that you want to use.

You can save your preferred package types on the Shipping and delivery settings page or on an order's Fulfillment page in your Shopify admin. Most carriers charge by size and weight, so it's important to keep your packaging small. When you're ready to buy a shipping label for your shipment, the store default package or a suggested package will be pre-selected for you, which you can change if you want to use a different saved package.

Supported package types

You can use the following package types to ship your products with shipping labels.

Box

A corrugated cardboard box. Package shipment limits are set by the carrier. Girth is the measurement around the middle of the package, and is calculated as 2x width + 2x height. Length is measured on the longest side of the package. To learn more about maximum package requirements for specific carriers, refer to Shopify supported carriers.

Soft pack

A padded envelope, bubble mailer, or plastic (Tyvek or Poly) sleeve. Packages thicker than 3/4 inches don't qualify for USPS First Class Mail rates.

Envelope

A large, flat envelope no thicker than 3/4 inches.

Flat rate

Flat rate packaging is offered by most carriers. These packages are not priced by size or weight, but rather a pre-determined package size and shipping speed that you've chosen from your carrier's available options.

If your store is based in the United States, then you can use USPS flat rate packaging. You can also request a free USPS shipping kit to get you started. The Domestic Flat Rate Variety Pack includes small (1), medium (2), and large (1) boxes, which you can use to ship both domestic and international orders.

If your store is based in Canada, then visit Canada Post's packaging best practices guide for more packaging tips.

Carrier packages

Carrier packages are shipping packages available from the carrier with markings indicating that they qualify for special rates or services. These packages can be acquired from the carriers directly. If you use a package that matches the dimensions, but the package isn't provided by the carrier, then your package doesn't qualify for special rates or services.

USPS carrier packages

USPS offers the following selection of Priority Mail Flat Rate packages:

• USPS flat rate box - small (8.6 x 5.4 x 1.6 in)
• USPS flat rate box - medium (11 x 8.5 x 5.5 in)
• USPS flat rate box - medium shallow (11.9 x 3.4 x 13.6 in)
• USPS flat rate box - large (12 x 12 x 5.5 in)
• USPS flat rate envelope (12.5 x 9.5 x 0.5 in)

USPS flat rate packaging is available only to stores based in the United States.

Flat rate pricing is determined by the packaging that you choose. The weight limit is 70 lb for domestic shipments and 4 lb for international shipments when using flat rate carrier packaging through USPS. You're charged for the price of the flat rate box or envelope and not the weight of the package or the distance that it has to travel.

UPS carrier packages

UPS offers the following selection of Express packaging:

• PAK (17 × 13 × 1 in, 8.55 oz)
• Express Envelope (12.5 × 9.5 × 1 in, 1.45 oz)
• Express Envelope Legal (15 × 9.5 × 1 in, 1.45 oz)
• Express Box Small (13 × 11 × 2 in, 5.75 oz)
• Express Box Medium (16 × 11 × 3 in, 8.11 oz)
• Express Box Large (18 × 13 × 3 in, 9.7 oz)
  • Weight limit is 30lbs

The Express envelopes and boxes ship with UPS Next Day Air, UPS 2nd Day Air, and International services. Other UPS services aren't available when using these packages.

Free packaging materials

Many carriers offer free packaging to use with specific shipping rates. Although there is no cost for the packaging, you might need to create a free account with the carrier so that they can send the packaging to you. The following Shopify supported carriers offer free packaging:

• USPS
• UPS
• DHL Express

Common product weights

You need to include accurate weights for your products so that your customers are charged the correct amount for shipping. Accurate product weights also ensure that you're charged correctly for the USPS, DHL Express, and Canada Post labels you purchase through Shopify.

Until you get a scale for accurate measurements, you can use the following general guidelines:

After you add weights to your products, make sure that your packaging weights and dimensions are also accurate. Most carrier-provided packaging displays dimensions on the box. Learn more about adding a package.

Dimensional weight

Your default package dimensions are sent to your shipping carrier along with your order's weight to calculate shipping rates for your customer. Dimensional weight is determined by the carrier based on the height, width, and depth of your packages. Dimensional weight applies to some shipping services when a package's total length x width x depth exceeds 1 cubic foot (1728 cubic inches).

If your dimensional weight is larger than your order's weight, then your customer is charged for the dimensional weight of their order. If you think that the generated rates are too high or too low, then you can adjust your calculated rates to increase or decrease your shipping rates as needed.

Dimensional weight calculations vary between carriers. Consult the carrier you're using for details about their dimensional weight policies.

The following carriers have dimensional weight policies:

• FedEx
• UPS
• Canada Post
• Australia Post
• USPS

Carriers without dimensional weight policies:

• Royal Mail

To set up a package for calculating shipping rates at checkout, refer to Managing your store default package.

Setting up packages

You can add packages in your Shipping and delivery settings of your Shopify admin for easy selection when buying shipping labels, and assign a package to products and variants. You can also select a store default package that's used to calculate shipping rates at checkout when using weight-based or carrier-calculated rates. Setting up packages can help you get accurate shipping rates at checkout and speed up the label-buying process.

When you buy a shipping label and a suggested package isn't available, then your store default package is selected automatically for you.

Add a custom package

You can add a custom package with custom dimensions and weight.

Steps:

Store default package

The store default package is used to determine the shipping rate to charge your customers during checkout when using weight-based or carrier-calculated shipping rates. The store default package is used for products and variants that don't have a package assigned. In your Shipping and delivery settings, the store default package is indicated with the Store default label.

If you have weight-based rates, then the weight of this package is added to the weight of the products being shipped to determine which weight-based rate to charge.

The shipping box dimensions advertised by your shipping carrier might refer to the inside of the packaging. You need to measure and use the outside dimensions of your shipping boxes when creating packages because the outside dimensions are used to calculate the shipping cost.

For example, suppose you have a default package weight of .1825 kg and you have the following weight-based shipping rates:

• 0 to 4.99 kg = $3.00 USD shipping rate
• 5 to 9.99 kg = $5.00 USD shipping rate
• 10 to 19.99 kg = $10.00 USD shipping rate

Suppose a customer purchases products that weigh a total of 4.9 kg. When the customer reaches your checkout, the default package weight of .1825 kg is added to the weight of the products. Because the products and default package have a combined weight of 5.0825 kg, the customer would be charged the $5.00 USD shipping rate instead of the $3.00 USD shipping rate.

Change your store default package

You can have only one store default package that's used to calculate shipping rates at checkout. The store default package is used for products and variants that don't have a package assigned. If you have only one package in your store, then it's used to calculate shipping rates. When you add a new package, you can change your store default package.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Packages section, click … next to the package that you want to set as your default package.

3. Click Set as default.

Assign a package to a product variant

You can assign a package to your products and product variants. This can help you improve shipping rate accuracy at checkout and avoid excess shipping costs.

The package that you select for a product variant overrides your store default package for this specific product variant. This override works only for single item orders. If your order has multiple items, then your store default package is used to calculated rates at checkout.

You can assign an existing package or create a new package. You can also manage your existing packages.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products.

2. Click a product that you want to assign a package for.

3. Optional: If your product has variants, then in the Variants section click a variant that you want to assign a package for.

4. In the Shipping section, make sure that the Physical product setting is activated.

5. From the Package drop-down menu, select a package for your product.

6. Optional: To create a new package, from the Package drop-down menu, click Add new package.

7. Click Save.

Add a carrier package

You can add a carrier package from USPS, or UPS. Carrier packages have predetermined dimensions. Learn more about carrier packages.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Packages section, click Add package.

3. Click Carrier package.

4. Select USPS package or UPS package.

5. Select a package type.

6. Optional: If you want to change the store default package to this package, then select Use as default package.

7. Click Add package.

Suggested packages

When you buy shipping labels, a Suggested package might be automatically selected. The Suggested package is based on the package that you've selected for similar orders previously. A Suggested package is available for more orders after you purchase more shipping labels.

Edit a package

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Packages section, click … > Edit next to the package that you want to edit.

3. Make any adjustments to your package's type, size, or weight.

4. Click Save.

Delete a package

If you no longer need a package in your shipping settings, then you can delete it. You can't delete your store default package.

To delete your store default package, you first need to set another package as your store default package.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Packages section, click … > Edit next to the package that you want to delete.

3. Click Delete.

4. Click Delete package.

Understanding shipping carriers

Shipping carriers are the services that deliver your customers' orders. Most shipping carriers let you drop off packages to them, and others let you schedule pickups from your own location. Most carriers can also pick up from any warehouse or fulfillment service that you use.

Shopify partners with a variety of shipping carriers and has integrations with many of the major carriers.

Shipping carriers that integrate with Shopify

The number of shipping carriers that are available to you depends on where your business is located and whether your Shopify subscription plan has the carrier-calculated shipping feature. Some carriers provide reduced rates that are available to all Shopify merchants and let you buy shipping labels directly in your Shopify admin.

Depending on your fulfillment locations, you can purchase labels from the following carriers through Shopify's carrier accounts:

Third-party shipping carriers

If you have your own account with an eligible shipping carrier, then you can connect your third-party carrier account to your Shopify admin, and then display carrier-calculated shipping rates to your customers at checkout.

Review the following table to learn more about the carrier accounts that you can connect to your Shopify admin:

Some shipping carriers have apps that can provide calculated rates in your checkout. For more information, visit the Shopify App Store.

Understanding barcodes

Barcodes are scannable symbols that are made of lines, spaces, characters, and digits. Barcodes are used to identify and track products at different stages of the supply chain, such as in fulfillment centers to track inventory, on invoices to assist in accounting, or as a part of purchase process in retail stores.

Barcode terminology

Review the following table to learn about barcode common terminology:

When to use barcodes

Barcodes are useful when third-party services help manage your products, or you have an extensive fulfillment or inventory tracking process. Check the following scenarios when barcodes might be required for your products:

• when selling products in online marketplaces
• when selling products wholesale to retail stores
• when products go through a warehouse, distribution center, or a fulfillment service

Barcode benefits

Many industries and businesses use barcodes in their workflows, because barcodes provide multiple benefits.

Review the following benefits of using barcodes:

Common barcode types

Review the following table to learn about common barcode types:

If you want to learn more about barcodes, then refer to either the GS1 Barcode Chart for Canada or the GS1 Barcode Chart for the US.

Barcode placement and printing best practices

How you print and place a barcode on a product can impact the ability of scanners to read your barcode.

Barcode printing methods

Depending on your product, barcodes can be printed in different methods. Review the following table to learn more about barcode printing methods:

Barcode printing guidelines

Review the following general guidelines on how to correctly print barcodes, so that your barcodes are the correct size and they aren't cut off or misaligned on the labels that you print:

• If you print your barcodes, then use a resolution of 300 DPI or higher, so that barcode scanners can scan it.
• Before you print a large batch of barcodes, print a single test sheet and then verify that the barcodes work correctly.
• Print the barcode number below the symbol, so the product is still identifiable from the number if the barcode is damaged.
• Make sure that the barcode is at least 1.5 inches wide x 1 inch tall. Review the recommended size of the GS1 standards.
• Use black ink or another dark color when printing barcodes. Avoid using red or brown ink.
• Print unique barcodes for each product variant, so each variant can be identified within the supply chain.

Barcode placement guidelines

Review the following general guidelines on how to correctly place barcodes:

• Place barcodes flat on the product and don't fold them.
• Don't surround the barcode in tape or shrink wrap.
• Avoid placing stickers or text elements too close to your barcode.
• Don't truncate or cut off the top or the bottom of your barcode to make room for your label.
• Don't put multiple barcodes on your product.
• Don't put staples through a barcode.
• Don't position a barcode on the product in an area with inadequate space.
• Don't place barcodes on product edges.
• If your product is square, rectangular, circular, concave, or convex shaped, then consider using spot labels, hangtags, or carded sleeves.

If you want to learn more about best practices for barcode printing and label setup, then refer to GS1 guidelines for placing barcodes on products.

Processing time and delivery dates

You can set up processing time and display delivery dates at checkout to help customers know when to expect their orders. Processing time is the time between when a customer places an order and when you fulfill it. Displaying delivery dates helps encourage customers to complete purchases by giving them confidence in exactly when items will arrive.

You can display delivery dates using the following methods:

• Set up automated delivery dates that predict specific dates based on your shipping performance (available on Basic, Grow, Advanced, or Plus plans).
• Configure manual delivery dates that calculate date ranges based on processing time and transit time that you set.

After you choose a method, you can manage your processing time settings to control how delivery dates are calculated and displayed at checkout.

You might use automated delivery dates when you want performance-based predictions, or manual delivery dates when you prefer consistent date ranges based on your own timeframes.

Understanding processing time

Processing time is the time between when an order is placed by a customer and when the order is fulfilled by the business. Orders that require shipping are considered fulfilled when the business gives the shipment to a shipping carrier service.

Reviewing an order, printing shipping labels, packaging products, and handing over shipments to a shipping carrier all contribute to an order's processing time.

Depending on your business, you will have a different amount of control over your processing time. If you dropship, then your only control is over which suppliers you work with and how quickly you place your orders with them. If you ship products yourself, then you control everything from how quickly you package the product to when you drop off shipments to your shipping carriers.

Impact of processing times

Faster processing times can offer the following benefits:

• Less expensive shipping - You might have the option to choose slower shipping options and still have shipments arrive in reasonable timeframes.
• Higher customer satisfaction - When a customer receives an order quickly, it can increase their trust in your business and provide a positive experience. This can lead to a higher chance of the customer ordering from you again.
• Inventory moves faster - If you store your products in warehouses, then having your products spend less time on the shelves can reduce warehousing costs.
• A more efficient fulfillment process - By improving your processing time, you can make sure your employees are working efficiently and there are no unnecessary labour costs.

Slower processing times can cause the following problems:

• Support debt - Customers might contact you to get updates on their orders, and replying to them can take up a lot of time.
• Unmet expectations - Some customers might expect orders to arrive in only a few days. If a business doesn't meet their expectations, then a customer might not order from that business again.
• Higher costs - Inefficient processing times can lead to employees working longer hours and products taking up space on warehousing shelves, both of which costs a business more money.

Understand your processing times

When you understand each step that you take to process an order, you can often find ways to make your fulfillment process more efficient. Removing unnecessary steps, combining two steps into one, or having two tasks happen at the same time can help reduce your processing time.

Step 1 - Group your products

Consider the processing steps for each product that you sell. If any products share the same steps, then group them together.

For example, suppose that you sell T-shirts, hats, and jewelry. To process orders for hats and T-shirts, you might need only to place them in a padded envelope, print a shipping label, and deliver the envelope to your shipping carrier. However, to process orders for jewelry, you might need to do a final polish of the product, put it in a small jewelry box, decorate the box, place it in a delivery box, print a label, and then deliver it to your shipping carrier. In this scenario, you would have two groups of fulfillment processing.

Step 2 - Create a list of processing steps for each group of products

For each group of products, list each step that you take to process an order for a product in that group.

For example, suppose that you sell prints of your artwork and print them on demand through a local printing company. Your fulfillment process could be as follows:

1. Open the order email.
2. Review the print requested, then open your email client and start an email to the local printing company.
3. Upload the print file to the email, then send the email.
4. Wait for an email confirmation from the printing company that the print is ready.
5. Drive to the printing company, pay for the print, and then collect the print.
6. Drive home.
7. Package the print.
8. Purchase and print off the shipping label and attach it to the package.
9. Drive to the shipping carrier's drop-off location.
10. Drop off the package.

Step 3 - Give each step extra details

Add extra details to the steps, such as the following:

• The length of time each step takes
• Any extra actions needed from you
• Any extra materials required for the step

Step 4 - Create processing steps for orders that have products from different groups

For example, consider the hat, T-shirt, and jewelry store scenario from step 1. You would need a separate set of steps for orders that include packing both a hat and a piece of jewelry.

Improve your processing times

After you understand your steps to process an order, consider the following way to improve each process:

• Highlight any steps that can be prepared in advance. For example, preparing the box or moving stock from the stockroom to the shipping station.
• Automate any manual tasks as much as possible.
• If you use shipping labels, then purchase shipping labels in bulk.
• Find any steps that can happen at the same time. For example, if a step requires you to wait 15 minutes, then consider if a later step could be done during that time.
• Remove any unnecessary steps.

For example, you could improve the art print fulfillment process from step 2 in the following ways:

• Steps 1-3 could be combined - Upload all your prints to a cloud-based file storage service, such as Google Drive or Dropbox. Give your local printing company access to the prints. Set up your local printing company as a custom fulfillment service in your Shopify admin. Finally, adjust your Shopify settings to automatically fulfill orders.

  With this setup, when an order is placed in your store, your local printing company receives an email right away with all the details, and they can access the print through the cloud-based file storage service.

• Step 8 can happen during step 4 - While you wait for the email confirmation from your printing company, prepare the package by printing off the shipping label and attaching it to the package.

• Step 6 can be removed - If you prepare the package and label before picking up the print, then you can package the print as soon as you receive it, and then drive directly to the shipping carrier's drop-off location.

After you've made the changes above, your fulfillment process would be as follows:

1. Open the order email.
2. Purchase and print off the shipping label and attach it to the package.
3. Wait for an email confirmation from the printing company that the print is ready.
4. Drive to the printing company with the packaging, pay for the print, and then collect the print.
5. Finish packing the product.
6. Drive to the shipping carrier's drop-off location.
7. Drop off the package.

Refer to the following list to explore other ways to automate your processes:

• Automate order processing
• Productivity tools within the Shopify admin
• If This Then That (IFTTT)
• Zapier

Explore fulfillment center options

If processing orders yourself becomes too time consuming, then consider working with a fulfillment center. Fulfillment centers process and ship orders on your behalf, which frees up your time to focus on other areas of your business.

Consider exploring the following options:

• Shopify Fulfillment Network
• Researching local warehouses

Plan ahead

If you plan a sale or run a business that is heavily impacted by the time of year, then make sure that your business is prepared for a higher volume of orders.

Below are some ways that you can prepare:

• Make sure you have enough help.
• Prepare your products a few days before the events.
• Make sure you have enough shipping and packing materials, such as boxes, tape, mailers, printer paper, ink, and labels.
• Know the cut-off time of your main shipping carrier and plan around these times. For example, if your carrier doesn't accept shipments after 4:00 pm, then complete all your orders by 3:30 pm.

To help you plan for future events, make notes of things that you run out of or steps that took a long time. Consider whether more staff would have decreased your processing time, or if there are ways to automate any time-consuming manual tasks.

Managing processing time

Processing time is the time between when an order is placed by a customer and when the order is fulfilled by the business. Orders that require shipping are considered fulfilled when the business gives the shipment to a shipping carrier service. To display fast delivery dates at checkout, it's strongly recommended that you process orders within two business days.

The processing time is used to set the Fulfill by date that's displayed in the order index and order details page.

If you click Turn on Shop Promise, then automated delivery dates are displayed for eligible orders at checkout. You can activate Show fallback delivery dates for orders without a Shop Promise for orders that are ineligible for Shop Promise but that you still want to display a delivery date for.

If you click Turn off Shop Promise or you're ineligible, then you can activate Show manual delivery dates at checkout so that expected delivery dates are displayed at checkout.

Managing your processing time when Shop Promise is deactivated

Set up your processing time

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Expected delivery dates section, click Manual delivery dates.

3. Check Show manual delivery dates at checkout to display delivery dates to customers.

4. In the Order processing time drop-down menu, select one of the following processing times that applies to your business.

   • Same business day
   • Next business day
   • Two business days
   • Custom processing time
     • If you select Custom processing time, then you need to type your numeric value or use the up and down arrows to indicate your custom processing time.
     • The Custom processing time can be 3 to 40 business days, or 1 to 8 weeks.

5. Click Save.

Adjust your processing time

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Expected delivery dates section, click Manual delivery dates.

3. In the Order processing time drop-down menu, select another processing time.

4. Click Save.

Remove your processing time

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Expected delivery dates section, click Manual delivery dates.

3. Uncheck Show manual delivery dates at checkout.

4. Click Save.

Managing your processing time when Shop Promise is activated

Set up your processing time

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Expected delivery dates section, click Manual delivery dates.

3. Check Show manual delivery dates at checkout to display delivery dates to customers.

4. In the Order processing time drop-down menu, select one of the following processing times that applies to your business.

   • Same business day
   • Next business day
   • Two business days
   • Custom processing time
     • If you select Custom processing time, then you need to type your numeric value or use the up and down arrows to indicate your custom processing time.
     • The Custom processing time can be 3 to 40 business days, or 1 to 8 weeks.

5. Click Save.

Adjust your processing time

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Expected delivery dates section, click Manual delivery dates.

3. In the Order processing time drop-down menu, select another processing time.

4. Click Save.

Remove your processing time

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Expected delivery dates section, click Manual delivery dates.

3. Uncheck Show manual delivery dates at checkout.

4. Click Save.

Managing your processing time when you're ineligible for Shop Promise

Set up your processing time

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Expected delivery dates section, click Manual delivery dates.

3. Check Show manual delivery dates at checkout to display delivery dates to customers.

4. In the Order processing time drop-down menu, select one of the following processing times that applies to your business.

   • Same business day
   • Next business day
   • Two business days
   • Custom processing time
     • If you select Custom processing time, then you need to type your numeric value or use the up and down arrows to indicate your custom processing time.
     • The Custom processing time can be 3 to 40 business days, or 1 to 8 weeks.

5. Click Save.

Adjust your processing time

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Expected delivery dates section, click Manual delivery dates.

3. In the Order processing time drop-down menu, select another processing time.

4. Click Save.

Remove your processing time

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Expected delivery dates section, click Manual delivery dates.

3. Uncheck Show manual delivery dates at checkout.

4. Click Save.

Setting up manual delivery dates

You can display delivery dates instead of an estimated transit time at checkout. Delivery dates are specific dates, such as Wednesday, October 27 – Thursday, October 28. Delivery dates can help encourage your customers to complete purchases, resulting in more sales. Customers also don't need to search for estimated delivery dates in other pages of your online store.

Delivery dates are displayed to your customers in the following places:

• Checkout and accelerated checkout such as Shop Pay.
• Order confirmation emails.
• The Thank You and Order Details pages after checkout.

Considerations and requirements for setting up manual delivery dates

Before you start setting up manual delivery dates, review the following considerations:

• Delivery dates are only available in certain countries depending on which shipping rate type you set up. To learn more, refer to Delivery dates availability.
• Delivery dates don't work with shipping rates provided by third-party apps.
• If you're using negotiated carrier-calculated shipping rates with Canada Post or UPS, then some mail services might not support delivery dates. To learn more, refer to Supported mail services.
• Delivery dates don't work with negotiated FedEx-calculated rates.
• If your checkout displays a mix of eligible and ineligible shipping rates, then delivery dates aren't displayed for your eligible rates.

Complete the following tasks to display delivery dates in your online store:

• If you use legacy shipping settings, then you need to update your shipping settings.
• Set up processing time.
• Set up any of the following shipping rates:
  • flat shipping rates with transit time.
  • shipping label calculated rates
  • negotiated carrier-calculated rates

Delivery dates availability

Delivery dates availability depends on the shipping rates type that you set up in your store. Review the following table to learn more:

Calculating delivery dates

Your processing time is added to the transit time of the carrier, and then the estimated delivery date range is displayed instead of an estimated transit time range in your online store.

For example, if you usually process your orders within 1 business day and shipping takes 2 to 3 days, then a specific delivery date range is displayed at checkout.

Review the following considerations on how the delivery dates are calculated:

• Weekends and statutory holidays are included in the estimated delivery dates calculation.
• Business days are considered Monday to Friday.
• The business day cutoff time is 12 pm in the local timezone of the shipping origin.

Delivery dates calculation example

Review the following example how processing time and delivery dates are calculated:

• Order comes in Wednesday, January 22 after 12 pm.
• Store's processing time is set to 2 business days.
• Estimated delivery is Thursday, January 30 - Friday, January 31.

Add delivery dates to custom order confirmation notification

If you customized your order confirmation notification, then delivery dates might not be included in your order confirmation notification by default.

To add delivery dates to your custom order confirmation notification, you need to edit your template and make sure that it has a specific Liquid variable.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Notifications.

2. In the Orders section, click Order confirmation.

3. Make sure that your template has the following liquid variables after the {% if requires_shipping %} variable:

   {% if consolidated_estimated_delivery_time %}
      {% if has_multiple_delivery_methods %}
         <h3 class="estimated_delivery__title">Estimated delivery</h3>
         <p>{{ consolidated_estimated_delivery_time }}</p>
      {% else %}
         <p>
            Estimated delivery <b>{{ consolidated_estimated_delivery_time }}</b>
         </p>
      {% endif %}
   {% endif %}

4. Click Save.

Supported mail services

If you're using negotiated carrier-calculated shipping rates with Canada Post or UPS, then some mail services might not support delivery dates.

Review the following list of mail services that support delivery dates:

Setting up automated delivery dates

You can display automated delivery dates instead of an estimated transit time at checkout. Delivery dates are specific dates, such as Estimated delivery Mon, Jun 30. Delivery dates can help encourage your customers to complete purchases, resulting in more sales. Customers also don't need to search for estimated delivery dates in other pages of your online store.

Automated delivery dates are displayed to your customers in the following places:

• Checkout and accelerated checkout such as Shop Pay.
• Order confirmation emails.
• The Thank You and Order Details pages after checkout.
• Shop app product pages and delivery tracking, unless you deactivate this option in the Shop app.

How delivery dates are calculated

Shopify uses your order fulfillment history and estimations of transit time to determine expected delivery dates. In some cases, the delivery date estimate might be longer than the actual delivery time when an order needs to be transported a long distance or was placed during off-fulfillment hours. Automated dates might display less frequently during periods of volatility, such as extended carrier transit times. Automated dates is a date-specific estimate based on historical fulfillment and shipment transit data, not a carrier-provided estimate.

Eligibility for automated delivery dates

Review the following requirements for using automated delivery dates.

Store requirements

To display automatic delivery dates to your customers, your store must:

• Be on the Basic plan or higher.
• Use the latest version of related Shopify features, such as shipping settings.
• Never have violated the Shopify Acceptable Use Policy.
• Fulfilled at least one domestic order.
• Have an active fulfillment location within an eligible country.

Regional requirements

Automated delivery dates are available for the United States and select countries in Europe. Refer to the following table for availability:

Order requirements

Each order must also meet the following criteria to display a delivery date:

• The customer is located within an eligible country.
• The delivery date prediction is within 5 days for US orders, or 4 days for European orders.
• The products in the order are in stock and can be fulfilled immediately from an eligible country.
• The products in the order aren't any of the following:
  • Digital products.
  • App-provided pre-orders.
  • Subscriptions.
  • Try-before-you-buy.
• The order's origin and destination are within the same region:
  • Delivery dates are displayed for an order from the United States to the United States.
  • Delivery dates are displayed for an order from within Europe to a destination in Europe. For example, from Austria to Finland.
  • Delivery dates are not displayed for orders between the United States and any location in Europe. For example, from the United States to France.

Considerations for automated delivery dates

If a delivery estimate isn't available, then your transit time is displayed to your customers. If you haven't set a transit time, then your fulfillment time is displayed instead. Before activating automatic delivery dates in your store, review the following considerations:

• Before you activate automated delivery dates, it's recommended that you remove transit times from your custom rate names and add them to the rate description instead.
• If a delivery prediction for a US order is greater than 5 days, then manual delivery dates are displayed.
• If a delivery prediction for a European order is greater than 4 days, then manual delivery dates are displayed
• If a customer reports a damaged, incorrect, or late product, then it's your responsibility to resolve the issue directly with the customer.
• Delivery dates aren't displayed for pre-orders that are created using a pre-order app, but they aren't affected by pre-orders that you manage manually. This might result in inaccurate estimated delivery times.

Automated delivery dates and Shop Promise

Automated delivery dates are different from Shop Promise. Shop Promise has the following features and requirements, which don't apply to automated delivery dates:

• Shop Promise offers a limited guarantee for eligible orders.
• To use Shop Promise, you must meet Shop Promise delivery standards and activate Shop Pay.

You can use both Shop Promise and automated delivery dates at the same time. If both features are activated, then Shop Promise badges are displayed for eligible orders. If an order is ineligible, or if Shop Promise is paused or deactivated, then automated delivery dates are displayed.

Activate automated delivery dates

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery > Estimated delivery dates.
2. Select Automated.
3. In the Fulfillment time section, set a fulfillment time for your orders. If an order is ineligible for an automated delivery date, then this value is used to calculate manual delivery dates.
4. Click Save.

After you click Save, automated delivery dates are displayed in your store.

Deactivate automated delivery dates

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

2. In the Delivery expectations section, click Estimated Delivery Dates.

3. Choose one of the following options:

   • Select Off to remove delivery dates from your orders entirely. Only transit times or custom shipping rate descriptions are displayed to your customers.
   • Select Manual to display delivery dates based on your selected fulfillment time. Delivery dates are displayed as a date range, such as Wednesday, October 22 - Friday, October 24.

4. Click Save.

After you click Save, automated delivery dates are removed from your store. Any past orders with automated dates displayed remain unchanged.

Customize order confirmation emails to include automated delivery dates

Automated delivery dates are displayed in order confirmation emails for eligible deliveries.

However, if you've previously customized your order confirmation email, then delivery dates aren't automatically included in your emails. To include automated delivery dates in your email notifications, you need to manually customize the email template.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Notifications.

2. Click Order confirmation.

3. Click Edit code.

4. In the email body, find the line that contains {{ shipping_method.title }}.

5. Replace the line that contains {{ shipping_method.title }} with the following code:

   {% if delivery_promise_branded_shipping_line %}
     {{ delivery_promise_branded_shipping_line }}
   {% else %}
     {{ shipping_method.title }}
   {% endif %}

6. Click Save.