Tool · Free to use · Beta

Shipping profile setup

Walk the rate rules for each market you sell into, decide which products need their own profile, then set the Shopify profile from here with a review step before anything is written.

Pre-launch checklist Run the full pre-launch audit

This is general guidance to help you price shipping and structure profiles. Carrier pricing, tax and duty rules differ by lane and change over time. Confirm rates with your carrier and tax treatment with your accountant before you publish.

Reviewed September 2026

Step 1

The rate rules, market by market

Settle four things per market before you touch Shopify: what the rate is based on, who pays duty and tax, whether free shipping is affordable, and the mistake that market punishes most.

Domestic

Your home market carries the most orders and the least tolerance for a surprise at checkout. Set this profile first and make every other market a deliberate decision against it.

Rate basis: Weight based rates work best once your variants carry real weights. Price based rates are simpler to maintain but overcharge light, expensive items and undercharge heavy, cheap ones.
Duty and tax: No duties apply. Sales tax or VAT is handled by your tax settings, not by the shipping rate.
Free shipping: A free shipping threshold belongs here if anywhere. Set it above your average order value, not below it, or you fund a discount on the orders you already had.
Watch out: A single flat rate that was set when the catalog was light. Recheck it after adding any product that is heavier or bulkier than the rest.

United States

Large market, long distances, and carrier rates that move with dimensional weight. Treat it as its own zone rather than folding it into a rest of world rate.

Rate basis: Weight based tiers with a bulky item surcharge. Dimensional weight can beat actual weight on light, large parcels, so check a real quote for your biggest box.
Duty and tax: Low value shipments may clear without duty, but the threshold and the rules change. Say clearly at checkout who pays if duty is charged.
Free shipping: Only offer free shipping into the United States if the shipping cost is genuinely inside your margin at the heaviest variant, not the lightest.
Watch out: Quoting a domestic style flat rate and absorbing the difference silently. It shows up as a margin leak, not as a failed order.

European Union

One customs union, many delivery realities. Rates that treat the whole union the same will overcharge nearby countries and undercharge distant ones.

Rate basis: Split the union into at least two zones by carrier cost, then use weight tiers inside each. Your carrier's zone map is the right starting point.
Duty and tax: Cross border sales into the union usually involve import VAT, and the buyer will meet it at delivery unless you collect it at checkout. Duty depends on value and the HS code on the variant.
Free shipping: Free shipping across the union is expensive at the far edges. If you offer it, cap it by weight or exclude bulky items with a separate profile.
Watch out: One European zone with one rate, then a support inbox full of buyers who were charged VAT on delivery they were not warned about.

United Kingdom

Separate customs territory from the European Union. It needs its own zone even if your carrier prices it similarly.

Rate basis: Weight based tiers, with a tracked and an untracked option if your carrier offers both. Small parcel rates change sharply above certain dimensions.
Duty and tax: Import VAT applies from the first pound on most commercial goods, and duty depends on value and classification. Decide whether you collect at checkout or let the carrier bill the buyer, then say which.
Free shipping: Workable for light goods at a healthy order value. Test with your heaviest variant before promising it store wide.
Watch out: Leaving the United Kingdom inside a European zone after it became a separate customs territory. The rate is wrong and so is the paperwork.

Canada

Long distances, remote postal codes, and provincial tax differences. Rates that ignore distance will lose money on the far provinces.

Rate basis: Weight based with a remote area allowance. Check what your carrier charges to the northern territories before you set one national rate.
Duty and tax: Duty and tax at the border depend on value, origin and classification. Free trade origin can remove duty, but only if you can evidence the origin you declared.
Free shipping: Consider a threshold that only applies to the major provinces, handled with a separate zone rather than a store wide promise.
Watch out: One Canadian rate that quietly funds delivery to the most expensive postal codes in the country.

Australia and New Zealand

Long haul freight and high per parcel cost. This is the market where a wrong weight costs the most per order.

Rate basis: Weight based tiers only. Price based rates break badly here because the freight cost tracks weight and volume, not the value of the goods.
Duty and tax: Goods and services tax applies to most imports, and thresholds differ between the two countries. Say who pays at checkout.
Free shipping: Rarely viable except on small, light, high margin items. Use a higher threshold than any other market if you offer it.
Watch out: Including this market in a rest of world rate that was priced for a neighbouring country.

Rest of world

The catch all zone. It exists so a country you did not plan for still gets a rate instead of a checkout that says no shipping available.

Rate basis: Set it deliberately high and weight based. This zone should cover your worst case lane, not your average one.
Duty and tax: Assume the buyer pays duty and tax on arrival unless you have set up collection at checkout, and say so before payment.
Free shipping: Do not offer free shipping in the catch all zone.
Watch out: No rest of world zone at all. Buyers in unlisted countries see no shipping available at checkout and leave without contacting you.

Step 2

Which products need their own profile

Anything heavy or oversized, where one flat rate would wipe out the margin on a single order.
Anything shipped by a supplier or a second location, since the origin changes the cost and the delivery time.
Anything you cannot ship to some markets, such as liquids, batteries or perishables. A separate profile is how you stop the sale before checkout instead of after it.
Pre-orders and made to order pieces, where the delivery promise is different even though the parcel is not.

The full launch sequence, including the checks to run after this, is in the Shopify pre-launch checklist. How profiles, zones and fulfillment locations interact is covered in shipping and fulfillment.

Step 3

Apply to your store · Beta

Set the Shopify shipping profile

Approve the store with shipping permission, load the profiles you already have, choose which products belong on one of them, then review the move before anything is written. Nothing changes until you confirm. Rates and zones inside a profile stay yours to set in Shopify, since only you know what your carrier charges.

Your Shopify admin domain

Common questions

What is a Shopify shipping profile?

A shipping profile groups products that should be priced and shipped the same way. Each profile holds zones, and each zone holds rates. The general profile covers everything you have not moved elsewhere, which is why heavy or oversized products usually need a profile of their own.

When do I need more than one profile?

When some products cost meaningfully more to ship than the rest, ship from a different location, or should not ship to some markets at all. Furniture, glassware and anything oversized are the usual candidates.

Should rates be weight based or price based?

Weight based rates track what the carrier actually charges, so they hold up as the catalog grows, but they only work once every variant carries a real weight. Price based rates are easier to maintain and are a reasonable start for a small catalog where items are similar in size.

What happens if a market has no rate?

The buyer reaches checkout and sees no shipping available, then leaves. A deliberately priced rest of world zone prevents that, even if the rate is high.

Check no product is left without a rate

The full audit walks the catalog for products with no shipping coverage in a market you sell to, zero weights, missing customs data and fulfillment gaps, in one pass.

Run the full pre-launch audit All setup tools