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What to charge so shipping stops eating the margin. Put your parcels in three bands and read off the flat rate that covers them, the rates by weight, a free shipping threshold, and what today’s rate costs you.
A flat rate is right on average and wrong on every single parcel. On the worked example, $14.76 pays for the labels and boxes of a hundred orders to within a dollar, because each of the fifty light parcels hands back $4.09 and each of the fifteen heavy ones costs $12.10.
That holds while the mix holds. It stops holding when a promotion sells the heavy product, or when the buyers of heavy things are the ones who come back: the rate that broke even last month loses money on every order in the new mix. Weight tiers and carrier-calculated rates put the cost on the parcel that causes it.
Shopify adds a turn of its own. Products in the same shipping profile and location share one flat rate however many are in the cart, but products in different profiles each bring their own rate and Shopify adds them together: its example is a shirt at $3 and pants at $5, which the customer sees as $8.
The label is the part of shipping that moves most with weight and distance. These are the commercial prices in the USPS price list effective 12 July 2026. Shopify says its own label discounts depend on the plan, the package, the destination and the origin, and its pages do not agree on how deep they go, so the price on last month’s labels is the one to type in.
| Weight | Zone 1 | Zone 2 | Zone 4 | Zone 5 | Zone 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 lb | $7.61 | $7.68 | $8.15 | $8.74 | $10.67 |
| 2 lb | $7.99 | $8.08 | $8.51 | $9.95 | $12.87 |
| 5 lb | $9.70 | $9.76 | $11.02 | $13.48 | $19.19 |
| 10 lb | $11.91 | $12.26 | $14.44 | $16.76 | $25.34 |
| 20 lb | $16.46 | $17.06 | $19.66 | $24.93 | $40.39 |
| Weight | Zone 1 | Zone 2 | Zone 4 | Zone 5 | Zone 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 lb | $9.04 | $9.32 | $10.40 | $12.97 | $15.22 |
| 2 lb | $9.10 | $9.39 | $10.79 | $13.17 | $16.37 |
| 5 lb | $11.39 | $11.56 | $15.72 | $21.52 | $29.18 |
| 10 lb | $14.50 | $14.63 | $19.62 | $27.78 | $41.28 |
| 20 lb | $20.56 | $20.69 | $28.29 | $44.81 | $68.06 |
The lit prices are the ones the calculator opens with.
A flat rateIn Settings, under Shipping and delivery, add a rate to the shipping zone at the price the calculator reads off. Shopify shows each customer the rates that apply to them, with the cheapest as the default.
Rates by weightOn the same zone, add a rate for each band with a weight condition, lightest first. Weight-based rates add each product’s weight to the default package weight, so set that package weight before the tiers.
Free over the thresholdAdd a free rate with a minimum order price, or a free shipping discount with a minimum purchase amount. A discount can leave out rates above an amount you set, so an express option is not given away with it.
Calculated ratesShopify’s built-in carrier rates work on every plan; your own UPS, FedEx or USPS account needs Advanced or Plus, or Grow with a fee or yearly billing. Adjust the rates by the percentage and the flat fee above, which Shopify applies in that order.
It shows the customer the rates that apply to their address and their cart, with the cheapest as the default. Flat and price-based rates come from your settings; weight-based rates add each product’s weight to the default package weight; carrier-calculated rates ask the carrier, with the parcel’s weight, size and destination.
Only with its cost placed somewhere: in the prices, or behind a threshold. On the worked example, free shipping on every order takes 53 percent of an average order’s margin. What it wins back is not a figure anyone can promise you, though Baymard Institute’s research puts extra costs, shipping among them, at the top of the reasons US shoppers give for abandoning a checkout, at 40 percent.
The one your margin pays for. Rules such as 15 or 30 percent above your average order value, which several calculators print, leave out what the parcel costs. The test in Shopify’s own guide asks whether the margin on the extra spend covers the average shipping cost; this page runs that test with the card fee taken off the margin first.
Products in different shipping profiles or locations each bring their own rate, and Shopify adds them: its example is a shirt at $3 and pants at $5, which the customer sees as $8. Products in the same profile and location share one flat rate. Stores in Shopify’s early access to shipping options by market see only the single highest matching rate instead.
Only if you price them in. A shipping charge keeps its amount less the card fee’s percentage, and the box is paid out of what is left, which is why the flat rate on this page sits above the average label.
Shopify’s built-in carrier rates are available on every plan. Rates from your own UPS, FedEx or USPS account are included on Advanced and Plus, come with an extra monthly fee or yearly billing on Grow, and are not available on the other plans.
No, while the page’s script is running: the sums run in your browser. The link you copy carries the fields, so whoever opens it sees the same result. With JavaScript turned off the page still works, and then the fields travel to my server in the address, the same way a copied link does.
Where the rates are set in Shopify, step by step, and when free shipping pays for itself.
How to change shipping prices on Shopify, screen by screenWhere shipping prices live in both of Shopify's shipping setups, the rate type that fits your products, why mixed carts get charged twice, zones, rules and split shipping, and a monthly check that your rates still cover the labels.Read the guide →
Free shipping with Shopify, and where to set the thresholdThe two ways Shopify gives free shipping and when each fits, the settings that take it away again at checkout, other currencies, the free shipping bar, and a threshold worked out from your own order value, margin and parcel costs.Read the guide →
Shopify shipping apps, and when you do not need oneMost stores need fewer shipping apps than the ranking lists suggest. What Shopify already does on every plan, the plan that decides live carrier rates, the apps by setup and country with their current prices, ShipStation against Shopify Shipping, and the two kinds of shipping protection.Read the guide →Next step · Norvahl, one designer-engineer, both tradesTaking on projects
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