Set Shipping Rates by Weight or Quantity (Tiers)

A tiered shipping rule charges by how heavy an order is or how many items it has. Use it when your carrier prices parcels in weight bands, or when larger orders cost more to ship.

Where: In the sidebar: Shipping, Add rule, step Cost.
Who: Stores whose shipping cost grows with the weight or the size of an order.
Time: About 5 minutes per rule.

Pick Weight or Quantity#

On the Cost step of a rule, answer Does the cost change with the size of the order? with Yes, bigger orders cost more. Your next answers pick the kind of tiers:

Your carrier charges	Answers	Mode
By parcel weight	Yes, the weight counts	Tiered by weight
By number of items, the whole order in one price band	No, only the number of items counts, No, it depends on how many, The whole order moves to a new price	Tiered by item count
By number of items, further items at a lower or higher rate	No, only the number of items counts, No, it depends on how many, Only the extra items get a different rate	Cumulative tiers

The question Does a heavy item cost more to ship than a light one? compares two sample orders: 1 large item of 2.5 kg and 4 small items of 0.8 kg in total. Counted by items, the large item is the cheaper parcel. Counted by weight, the small items are. Pick the answer that looks like your carrier's invoice.

The steps of the rule wizard are in Add a Shipping Rule.

Enter the Tiers#

Once the mode is set, Your setup shows the tiers. Each row is one tier: where it starts, its upper limit and its cost.

Cost shape (not for Cumulative tiers). Total per tier is one amount for the whole order and is preselected. Per item in tier charges the tier's amount for each item.
Tier breakpoints. Type the upper limit and the cost of each tier. The start of a tier is filled in from the limit of the tier above. An order that is exactly on a limit belongs to the lower tier.
More tiers. Click Add quantity break, or Add weight band for weight tiers. The tier that was last gets a limit filled in, which you can change.
The last tier. Leave its limit empty for "and above". If it has a limit, larger orders get no cost from this rule.

For Cumulative tiers the rows are called Per-item rates by bracket. Each row sets the rate for the items up to that quantity. The receipt next to the tiers shows what the example order costs at your rates, and the Preview line repeats the rule in words.

Example: Tiers by Quantity#

A store ships from the United States and has two rules:

Rule	Scope	Cost
Baseline	All orders (Level 1)	$4.80 per order
North America	Specific countries (Level 2): CA, MX, US	Tiered by item count, Total per tier: 1 to 2 items $6.90, 3 to 5 items $9.90, 6 or more $14.90

Order	Rule used	Calculation	Shipping cost
2 items to Canada	North America	2 items are in the tier 1 to 2	$6.90
4 items to the United States	North America	4 items are in the tier 3 to 5	$9.90
5 items to the United States	North America	5 is the upper limit of the tier 3 to 5	$9.90
7 items to Mexico	North America	7 items are in the tier 6 or more	$14.90
4 items to Germany	Baseline	No country rule matches	$4.80

An order of 4 items to the United States costs $9.90, not $9.90 + $4.80. The country rule matches every item, so the baseline is not used.

Example: Cumulative Tiers#

Your carrier charges $4.50 for each of the first 3 items and $1.50 for every further item. Enter two rows under Per-item rates by bracket: up to 3 items $4.50, and an empty limit with $1.50.

Order of 4 items: 3 × $4.50 + 1 × $1.50= $15.00
Order of 5 items: 3 × $4.50 + 2 × $1.50= $16.50

Example: Tiers by Weight#

Your carrier charges by parcel weight. On the Cost step, answer Yes, bigger orders cost more and Yes, the weight counts:

The weights of your orders are converted to the unit you pick. The receipt prices an example order with 0.5 kg per item, or 1 lb per item.

With the bands up to 1 kg $6.90, up to 5 kg $9.90 and above 5 kg $14.90:

Order to the United States	Weight	Band	Shipping cost
1 item of 0.6 kg	0.6 kg	Up to 1 kg	$6.90
2 items of 0.5 kg	2 × 0.5 = 1.0 kg	Up to 1 kg	$6.90
2 items of 0.6 kg	2 × 0.6 = 1.2 kg	Up to 5 kg	$9.90
4 items of 1.5 kg	4 × 1.5 = 6.0 kg	Above 5 kg	$14.90

With Per item in tier, the third order costs more:

Per item in tier: 2 × $9.90= $19.80

The weight is the order weight that Shopify recorded. When a rule covers only some items of an order, or Shopify recorded no order weight, Profitario adds up the weights of the items from your Shopify products.

A weight rule needs weights. If neither the order nor its products have a weight in Shopify, the rule is skipped for that order and the order gets no shipping cost from it. On the Review & Apply step, such orders are counted under Lost the bid, and the Lost to column of their order list says "variant has no weight data".

Limits#

Cumulative tiers work by quantity only, not by weight.
A weight rule is skipped for an order without any weight. No other rule takes its place for the items it matched.
When the last tier has a limit, an order above it gets no cost from the rule. The receipt then says No tier covers this order, so the rule does not apply to it.