Flat shipping rates for orders shipping from multiple locations

Starting May 14, 2025, an update to your shipping settings is automatically applied. This update implements a single flat rate for orders shipping from multiple locations within the same location group. Previously, the flat rate shipping fee was combined for each location involved in fulfilling an order. This change affects how shipping is calculated for orders that require split shipments from multiple locations.

Behavior before May 14, 2025: If you have a location group that has a flat rate of $5 USD, and two locations are required to fulfill an order, then the customer is charged $10 USD for shipping ($5 USD per location).
Behavior after May 14, 2025: If you have a location group that has a flat rate of $5 USD, and two locations are required to fulfill an order, then the customer is charged $5 USD for shipping.

If you want to continue using the current behavior, then you can keep the current shipping charges.

Considerations for orders shipping from multiple locations within the same location group

Review the following considerations for orders that ship from multiple locations within the same group:

This update was automatically applied, no action is required to activate it.
This change does not affect your shipping rates. You have full control of your shipping rates for your location groups. All existing shipping rates remain unchanged.
Weight-based, carrier-calculated, and app shipping rates aren't affected by this change and they continue to be combined at checkout.
If you have a banner in your Shipping and delivery settings that says you're using an old version of shipping settings, then you need to update to the latest version of shipping settings before you can implement a flat shipping rate for orders shipping from multiple locations within the same location group.

Customer experience at checkout

If an order contains items that are shipped from different locations within the same location group, then a single flat rate shipping price is displayed to your customers at checkout. This ensures that the shipping charges presented to your customers aren't higher than expected and can help to reduce abandoned carts.

If you have split shipping activated in your store, then flat rates are displayed for available shipping methods along with the indicator that multiple shipments are expected.

Keep current shipping charges for multi-location orders

If you want to keep combining shipping charges for each location involved in fulfilling an order, then you can update your settings using the in-admin banner by June 20, 2025 that displays which shipping profiles are impacted.

Steps:

From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.
In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to keep the current charges for.
In the Flat rates for split shipments have changed banner, click opt out.

Example of a location group

A location group is a collection of fulfillment locations created within a shipping profile. You can create different shipping zones and rates for each group of location, which provides control over which locations items can ship from and the rates that you're charging for different regions.

A shipping profile can include multiple groups of locations, each with its own specific rates and shipping zones. For example, the location group includes Location 1 and Location 2 which can ship only within the United States.

If you choose to keep current shipping charges for multi-location orders, then a new location group is created for each location.