Set up shipping methods

Create the delivery options and rates your customers choose from at checkout, from a simple flat rate to country-specific options.

Shipping methods are the delivery options your customers choose from at checkout. You decide what each option is called and how much it costs, and your customers pick the one they want.

How shipping methods work

Each shipping method has a name and a cost. When a customer reaches checkout, they see your shipping options and select one – the cost is added to their order total.

You can offer just one option or several, so customers can trade off speed and price. There's no limit to how simple you keep it: a single flat rate works perfectly well, and you can always add more options as you learn what your customers want.

Note: If you sell only digital products – downloads, tickets, subscriptions – you can skip this step entirely during setup. It comes back on its own the moment you add a product that needs to be shipped.

Before you start

A few minutes of planning makes setup quicker:

• Know roughly what delivery costs you. Weigh a typical parcel and check your courier's prices so your rates cover what you actually pay to send orders.
• Decide where you ship. Just your own country, a handful of nearby countries, or worldwide? You can set which countries each method is available in.
• Pick names customers will recognize. "Standard delivery" and "Express delivery" are clearer than internal codes or courier names.

Step 1: Add a shipping method

1. Go to the shipping settings in your dashboard.
2. Choose to add a new shipping method.
3. Give it a clear name customers will understand, such as "Standard delivery" or "Express delivery".
4. Set the cost (for example, a flat rate of $5).
5. Save.

Tip: A simple flat rate is the easiest way to start. You can always add more options later.

Understanding the fields

When you create a method, you'll see a few settings. Here's what each one does:

Tip: Filling in a delivery time estimate reassures shoppers and cuts down on "where's my order?" messages later.

Note: If a paid shipping method has no tax rate attached, your shipping settings flag it and let you apply a rate to it – and any others missing one – in a single click. With tax-inclusive prices, customers keep paying the same delivery cost and the VAT is simply carved out of it; with tax-exclusive prices, the VAT is added on top from then on. See Set up taxes for the inclusive/exclusive setting itself.

Free shipping for subscribers

If you sell subscriptions, tick Free for orders with a subscription on a method to make it free whenever the order holds at least one subscription product, whatever the free shipping threshold. The whole order ships free, one-time products in the same cart included.

Each subscription delivery's recurring shipping is priced the same way, so renewals of subscriptions bought with this method ship free too – no shipping is charged on them. Orders without a subscription keep the method's normal price and threshold. Subscriptions sold before you turned the option on keep the shipping they were sold with.

The buyer's phone number

Carriers text your customer when a parcel reaches a parcel locker or pickup point, and some, such as DPD, refuse to send a parcel to a point without the customer's phone number. So for parcel-locker and pickup-point methods, checkout asks for a phone number with at least 9 digits before the customer can pay, and the hint under the field explains it is for that text message.

You can change this on each method with Require the buyer's phone: switch it off for a point method if you never need the number, or switch it on for a courier method if your courier calls ahead. When you leave it untouched, the method follows its type.

Step 2: Add more options (optional)

Many stores offer a few choices. For example:

Customers see all of these at checkout and pick the one that suits them.

When to use one rate vs several

• One flat rate keeps things simple and is great when you're starting out or sell similar-sized items.
• Several options let customers choose between paying less and getting it faster – useful if some shoppers are happy to wait and others want it quickly.
• Country-specific rates make sense once you ship abroad, since sending a parcel overseas usually costs more than sending it locally.

Step 3: Review at checkout

After saving, place a test order or preview your checkout to make sure your shipping options appear and the costs look right. Check from a customer's point of view: do the names make sense, are the prices correct, and do the right options show for the country you're testing?

Tip: Do it with AI – ask the AI Assistant in your dashboard to set up a flat-rate shipping method, add an express option, or check which methods are live, and it will handle the setup for you.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Pricing too low to cover real costs. If you charge $3 but pay $6 to ship, every order eats into your margin. Match your rates to what delivery actually costs.
• Forgetting countries you can't ship to. Only list countries you're genuinely able and willing to ship to, or you'll get orders you can't fulfill.
• No free option when you advertise one. If you promote free shipping anywhere, make sure a matching method actually exists.

FAQ

What's next

• Want to reward bigger orders? See Offer free shipping.
• Prefer local collection? See Add pickup locations.
• Set how prices and taxes show – see Taxes.