You can configure custom shipping rates on Shopify — whether offering free shipping, flat-rate delivery, or calculated rates. This ensures customers always see accurate shipping costs throughout checkout.

Before setting up your shipping rates, make sure you understand Shopify shipping zones and shipping profiles:

• Shipping zones: Groups of countries or regions where you want to apply specific shipping rates.

• Shipping profiles: Allow you to assign different shipping rules to specific products and destinations.

Once you understand these concepts, you can start creating or managing shipping profiles based on your chosen zones.

Adding Shipping Locations

Your orders are shipped from specific shipping locations. By default, Shopify uses the address you provided when creating your store as your main shipping location.

Be sure to review your locations and add any other fulfillment centers or third-party logistics partners if needed.

Depending on your Shopify plan, there are limits to the number of active shipping locations:

How to Add a Shipping Location in Shopify

• In your Shopify admin, go to Settings → Locations.
• Click Add Location.

• Enter the name and address for your shipping location.

• Check “Fulfill online orders from this location” if applicable.

• Save your changes.

Setting Up Different Shipping Types in Shopify

You can offer various kinds of shipping options in your Shopify store:

• Free Shipping

• Flat-rate Shipping

• Calculated Shipping (via carrier services)

• Discounted or Marked-up Calculated Rates

For example:

• Orders over $50 → $10 shipping

• Orders over $100 → $5 shipping

• Orders over $150 → Free shipping

Creating a Shipping Profile

Shipping profiles are the foundation for your custom shipping setup.
You can create multiple profiles to apply different rates to different groups of products.

If you only need a general shipping setup for all products, you can use the default profile without creating new ones.

Steps to Create a Custom Shipping Profile

1. Go to Settings → Shipping and Delivery.

2. Under Custom Shipping Rates, click Create New Profile.

3. Name your profile and assign products to it.

4. Adjust shipping locations as needed.

5. For each zone, click Create Shipping Zone, name it, and select countries or regions.

6. Click Add Rate, specify rate details, and click Done.

7. Save your changes.

Setting Up Shopify Shipping Zones

A shipping zone is a group of countries or regions that share the same shipping rates.
For instance, if you ship from Germany, you could create a zone for all European countries and charge the same rate for them.

How to Create a Shipping Zone

1. Go to Settings → Shipping and Delivery.

2. Click Manage Rates under your chosen profile.

3. Click Create Shipping Zone.

4. Name the zone and select the included countries or regions.

5. Add desired rates and click Save.

Setting Up Shopify Shipping Rates

You can configure different shipping rates for each shipping zone and profile.
Shopify supports four main types of shipping rates:

1. Flat rates

2. Calculated rates (via carriers or apps)

3. Discounted or marked-up calculated rates

4. Free shipping

1. Flat Shipping Rates

A flat rate means customers pay a fixed shipping cost regardless of distance or order details.
You can also set conditional flat rates by order value or weight.

Example:
If your shipping zone is Canada:

• Orders under $200 → $25 flat rate

• Orders over $200 → $5 flat rate

How to Set It Up:

1. Go to Settings → Shipping and Delivery.

2. Choose the relevant profile and click Manage Rates.

3. Select the zone and click Add Rate.

4. Enter rate name and amount.

5. (Optional) Add conditions by price or weight.

6. Save changes.

2. Calculated Shipping Rates

Calculated shipping uses third-party carrier services (like USPS, FedEx, UPS, or Canada Post) to automatically determine rates based on package details at checkout.

How to Enable Carrier-Calculated Rates:

1. Go to Settings → Shipping and Delivery.

2. Click Manage Rates under your profile.

3. Click Add Rate and select Use carrier or app to calculate rates.

4. Choose your shipping carrier.

5. Select services you want to offer (e.g., Standard, Express).

6. (Optional) Add handling fees or auto-enable new carrier services.

7. Click Save.

3. Free Shipping Rates

Free shipping is one of the best ways to improve conversion rates. You can apply it to all orders or only to those that exceed a certain value.

How to Set Up Free Shipping:

1. Go to Settings → Shipping and Delivery.

2. Click Manage Rates in the relevant shipping profile.

3. Click Add Rate and set the cost to $0.

4. (Optional) Add conditions (like “Orders over $100”).

5. Click Save.

Advanced Custom Shipping with Apps

If you need complex shipping rules, consider using a third-party app like Shipping & Delivery – ShipZip.

This app lets you create advanced, rule-based shipping setups such as:

• Local Delivery and Store Pickup

• Frozen vs. Non-Frozen Products

• Heavy vs. Light Products

• Highland/Mainland Delivery

• Delivery Date-Based Charges (e.g., Sunday surcharge)

• Vendor-based or SKU-based rates

• Mixed rates (weight + product combinations)

Hundreds of Shopify merchants use ShipZip for advanced logistics — you can rely on it for flexible, custom shipping management.