Add a Shipping Rule

A shipping rule says: for these orders, shipping costs this much. Rules are how you enter a flat cost per order or your own rates per country, weight or quantity. Use them when no carrier reports the real cost of your parcels, and as an estimate for orders whose real cost has not arrived yet.

Where: In the sidebar: Expenses > Shipping, then Add rule.
Who: Stores that know roughly what a parcel costs them.
Time: 2 minutes for a flat cost, about 10 minutes for rates per country.
Updates: You choose per rule: new orders only, all matching orders, or from a date.

Create a Rule#

Open Expenses > Shipping and click Add rule. The wizard New shipping rule has three steps, or four when the scope needs details.

In the screenshots, the rule covers North America and costs $6.90 for 1 to 2 items, $9.90 for 3 to 5 items and $14.90 from 6 items on. It changes 1,285 orders of the last 90 days and raises their shipping cost from $6,914.20 to $11,413.50.

A Flat Cost per Order#

You ship with one service and a parcel costs you roughly the same every time, for example $4.80.

Open Expenses > Shipping in the sidebar.
Click Add rule.
Leave All orders selected and click Continue.
Leave Per order selected, type your cost into Cost per order and click Continue.
Choose how the rule is applied and click Create rule.

All matching orders is preselected on the last step, so every existing order gets the flat cost in the background. Choose Apply to new orders only to leave existing orders as they are.

Rates per Country or Zone#

Your cost depends on where the parcel goes: one rate at home, another for neighbouring countries, a higher one overseas.

Open Expenses > Shipping and click Add rule.
Add one rule with the scope All orders as the rate for every country you have no special rate for.
Add one rule with the scope Specific countries for each zone. A zone is the list of countries that share a rate. Regions such as EU, North America or UK & Ireland add all their countries in one click.
On the Cost step, pick Per order for a fixed rate, or Tiered for a rate by weight or quantity.

A country rule replaces the All orders rule for the orders it matches. The two are not added. For rates by weight or number of items, see Set Shipping Rates by Weight or Quantity (Tiers).

What a Rule Can Apply To#

Scope	Level	Matches
All orders	1	Every item of every order. The baseline when nothing more specific fits
Specific countries	2	Orders shipped to one of the selected countries
Orders with tags	3	Orders that carry one of the listed Shopify order tags
Products with tags	4	Items whose product carries one of the listed Shopify product tags
Specific product or variant	5	The selected products, or only some of their variants

The tag and product scopes have an optional switch, Limit to specific countries, which narrows the rule to some destinations.

How the Cost Is Calculated#

Cost mode	What it charges	Example
Per order	One amount for the order, whatever it contains	$4.80 per order
Per item	The amount times the number of items	3 items × $3.00 = $9.00
Tiered	The order falls into one tier, By quantity or By weight	1 to 2 items $6.90, 3 to 5 items $9.90
Cumulative tiers	Every item is charged at the rate of the tier it falls into, then all are added up. Quantity only	Items 1 to 3 at $4.50 each, every further item $1.50: 4 items = 3 × $4.50 + $1.50 = $15.00

For Tiered, Cost shape decides what a tier's amount means: Total per tier is one amount for the whole order, Per item in tier is charged for each item. Each tier is defined by its upper limit. An order that is exactly on a limit belongs to the lower tier. Leave the last limit empty for "and above".

Costs are entered in your store's currency.

How the Rule Is Applied#

Option	Existing orders	New orders
Apply to new orders only	Keep their current shipping cost	Use the rule
All matching orders	Recalculated in the background. This is preselected	Use the rule
From a specific date	Recalculated from the Start date on	Use the rule, until End if set

From a specific date also limits the rule itself: it only matches orders placed on or after the start date, and before the end date if you set one. The Effective column of the list then shows the period and no longer Ongoing.

A recalculation runs in the background and can take a few minutes. A progress window shows how many orders are done. Only one shipping recalculation runs per store at a time. While one is running, the options are locked: wait until it has finished before you save another rule.

Show advanced settings holds Priority, a number that decides between two rules of the same level that match the same item. The higher number wins. Leave it at 0 unless your rules overlap.

When several rules match one order, see How Several Shipping Rules Combine on One Order.

Limits#

Shipping rules are estimates. They do not know surcharges, returns or failed deliveries.
A rule's cost is entered in the store's currency. There is no cost per currency.
A rule limited to countries never matches an order without a shipping country.
Deleting a rule happens at once, without a confirmation, and recalculates the orders it matched.
Only one shipping recalculation can run per store at a time.
Rules are not shared between the stores of an account.