Charging for shipping on Shopify Collective
When you make your first connection with a supplier, and import products from their price list, a Shopify Collective shipping profile is added to your store’s Shipping and delivery settings. All future products that you import from any connected supplier will be automatically added to this shipping profile.
The shipping profile lets you directly fetch your suppliers’ live shipping rates, and add them to customers’ orders at checkout.
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How shipping is calculated
Suppliers can charge you different shipping rates for different products, using their price lists. They can set flat shipping rates, or calculated shipping rates, per zone they ship to. They can also specify that they’ll manually invoice retailers for specific products, or don’t ship specific products to specific zones.
Review the following table to learn more about how suppliers can choose between different shipping rates and settings in their price lists:
| Supplier shipping setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Flat rate | A fixed amount per order set by the supplier that doesn’t vary according to weight of shipment, customer location, or other criteria. |
| Calculated at checkout | A calculated rate fetched from the supplier store live on your checkout, based on rules configured in their shipping profiles. Examples include weight of shipment, customer location, or a 'free shipping for orders over' minimum price threshold. |
| Manually invoice | Displays as 'Manual' in the associated shipping zone column of your supplier's product list. Retailers and suppliers should be aware that because Collective can’t associate a shipping rate with manual invoicing, your checkout will display '$0 Free Shipping' to customers by default when the associated products are in the customer's cart. Consider moving these products into a custom shipping profile, which would allow you to pass on custom rates to your customers at checkout to cover the supplier's shipping costs. Be sure to agree with your supplier which manual payment method you'll use outside of Shopify Collective, and on what terms. |
| Doesn’t ship to a zone | Displays as '–' in the associated shipping zone column of your supplier's product list. A customer located in a no–ship zone with the supplier’s product in their cart would see a message at checkout advising that shipping isn’t available to their address. |
Payment of shipping flat rates and calculated rates will pass seamlessly from retailer to supplier where both stores have automatic payments turned on in Collective.
You’ll be able to check which shipping rates suppliers charge for which products within their profiles, in the Suppliers section of your Collective app.
Steps:
- From your Shopify admin, click Settings > Apps and sales channels.
- Click Collective (Retailer).
Click Open app.
From the Collective (Retailer) app, click Suppliers.
Click the supplier that you want to view, and if they’ve shared products with you, click either Available or Imported.
Review the products and their associated information, including shipping rates specified for United States, Canada, and international zones.
Shipping rates and your customer's checkout experience
A customer with Collective products in their cart will see the rate that your supplier charges for those products, when they check out. For example, if your supplier charges a $5 flat rate, your customer will see a $5 flat rate. If your supplier charges a $6 flat rate, or offers ‘free shipping for orders over $45’, your customer will see this too.
Shipping rates for multi-brand carts
If the customer’s cart is mixed, containing products from one or more Collective suppliers, as well as one or more of your own products, then shipping rates will combine at checkout according to how you’ve configured your shipping profiles. A single combined shipping rate is displayed to your customer.
When shipping rates are calculated on your checkout, your customer will always pay the lowest-cost shipping option offered by the supplier.
Split shipping in Shopify Checkout
When split shipping is activated on your checkout, customers will see a shipping rate for each shipment. Split shipping can give your customers extra control and clarity over when individual products in their order will arrive, and how much they're paying for each shipment when fulfilled by different suppliers.
By default, split shipping in checkout selects the lowest total shipping cost for all shipments in the order.
Passing on supplier shipping rates to customers
Review the following examples of how rates will display to customers at checkout, where the retailer wants to pass on the shipping rates provided by the supplier to their customers:
| Customer cart | Desired checkout experience | Supplier shipping rates | Rate customer sees at checkout | Retailer pays supplier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supplier-only cart Helmet & shorts | Pass on supplier rates (Calculated) | Helmet = calculated rates ($8.65 fetched from UPS) Shorts = calculated rates ($5 fetched from UPS) | Customer pays $8.65 (calculated rates override flat rates) | $8.65 |
| Supplier-only cart Helmet & shorts | Pass on supplier rates (Flat) | Helmet = $6 flat rate Shorts = $5 flat rate | Customer pays $6 (highest value) | $6 |
| Mixed cart Retailer bicycle & supplier helmet | Pass on supplier rates (Calculated) | Retailer's bicycle = free shipping Supplier helmet = calculated rates ($8.65 fetched from UPS) | Customer pays $8.65 With split shipping: Retailer bicycle = free shipping Supplier helmet = $8.65 | $8.65 |
| Mixed cart Retailer bicycle & supplier helmet | Pass on supplier rates (Flat) | Retailer's bicycle = free shipping Supplier helmet = $6 flat rate | Customer pays $6 With split shipping: Retailer bicycle = free shipping Supplier helmet = $6 | $6 |
Customizing shipping rates for your checkout
If you want more flexibility in how you display shipping rates to your customers at checkout, you can choose not to use the shipping rates specified by a supplier. For example, you might want to change the shipping rate name to something other than 'Standard Shipping', change the supplier's $5 flat shipping rate to 'Free over $20' to match your site-wide shipping offer, or use an alternative carrier service.
There are two ways to customize shipping rates for your checkout. Instead of using the consolidated Shopify Collective shipping profile, you could:
- Move Collective products into a custom shipping profile
- Create a free shipping discount
If you override the supplier's shipping rate to display a custom shipping rate to your customer at checkout, you must still pay the supplier the flat or calculated shipping rate specified in their Collective shipping settings.
Offering a site-wide shipping policy
Review the following examples of how rates will display to customers at checkout where the retailer wants to offer a site-wide shipping policy:
| Customer cart | Desired checkout experience | Retailer configuration | Supplier shipping rates | Retailer pays supplier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supplier-only cart Helmet & shorts | $10 shipping or free shipping on orders over $50 | Creates a free shipping discount for cart value over $50 | Shorts = $5 flat rate ($40 MSRP) Helmet = $6 flat rate ($15 MSRP) | $6 flat rate |
| Supplier-only cart Helmet & shorts | $10 shipping or free shipping on orders over $50 |
Adds products to a custom shipping profile with a $10 flat rate, or free over $50 Removes the Collective carrier service from the Shopify Collective shipping profile | Shorts = $5 flat rate ($40 MSRP) Helmet = $6 flat rate ($15 MSRP) | $6 flat rate |
| Mixed cart Retailer bicycle & supplier shorts & helmet | $10 shipping or free shipping on orders over $50 | Creates a free shipping discount for cart value over $50 | Shorts = $5 flat rate ($40 MSRP) Helmet = $6 flat rate ($15 MSRP) | $6 flat rate |
| Mixed cart Retailer bicycle & supplier shorts & helmet | $10 shipping or free shipping on orders over $50 |
Adds products to a custom shipping profile with a $10 flat rate, or free over $50 Removes the Collective carrier service from the Shopify Collective shipping profile | Shorts = $5 flat rate ($40 MSRP) Helmet = $6 flat rate ($15 MSRP) | $6 flat rate |
Completing your Shopify Collective shipping upgrade
If you were using customized shipping rates prior to the August 2024 Collective shipping upgrade, then you'll have received an email, and a banner in your Collective app, advising that your Collective shipping upgrade is only partially complete. This is because your shipping rate customizations won't sync to the new, unified Shopify Collective shipping profile.
If you haven't already, then you'll need to click 'Complete upgrade' on the banner in your app to authorize Collective to consolidate your Collective products in the new shipping profile. This will remove your customizations in order to activate live rate-fetching for these products on your checkout.
Examples of shipping rate customizations you might lose include: - You changed the shipping rate name to something other than 'Standard Shipping' - You changed the shipping rate from a $5 flat rate to 'FREE over $20' to match your site-wide offer - You added a carrier service such as ShipperHQ or ShipStation to fetch and display rates at checkout - You moved a Collective product onto your own custom shipping profile
Completing your shipping upgrade doesn't stop you from reinstating or creating customized shipping rates for Collective products. To customize what customers see and pay for shipping, use custom shipping profiles, or free shipping discounts.