Troubleshooting shipping rates

For a shipping rate to display to a customer at checkout, the checkout details must match the conditions of the shipping rates that you set. There are many factors that can affect whether the checkout matches a shipping rate, such as product details, market settings, locations, shipping profiles, packaging, and carrier accounts.

On this page, you can find some of the common reasons that your shipping rates might not display as you expect.

General troubleshooting checklist

To resolve some of the most common shipping rate issues, confirm that the following settings are correct:

Products are in the appropriate shipping profiles. For example, if you have two custom shipping profiles called Heavy and Fragile, make sure that heavy products are in the Heavy profile and fragile products are in the Fragile profile.
The shipping profiles have the appropriate shipping origin locations and zones set for fulfillment.
There are shipping rates assigned for the shipping zone that includes the customer's shipping address.
There are shipping rates set up that should apply to the checkout, based on all the items in the cart.
- If using manual rates, then check that there is at least one rate for the total weight, price, or flat rate conditions of the customer's cart.
- If using carrier-calculated rates, then check that there is at least one rate for the fulfillment location address, customer shipping address, and default box size.
If you've made recent changes to any settings, then confirm that those changes have been saved successfully. If your changes haven't saved, then make your changes again and click Save.

Check your product settings

Products in the cart affect which shipping rates display during checkout. The checkout won't return shipping rates for products marked as digital products or services because they don't require physical shipment.

In your Shopify admin, go to Products and check your products to confirm the following settings are correct for the products in the customer's cart:

Physical products have been set as Physical product.
Physical products have an assigned Shipping weight, and the weight units (lb, oz, kg) are correct.
Products have available inventory stocked at locations that fulfill the product (unless the option to Continue selling when out of stock is checked).
If you're using Shopify Shipping to display rates at checkout, then there must be available stock at a physical location, not an app or custom fulfillment location.

Check your locations settings

Your checkout uses the locations that you've set up for your store as shipping origins for fulfillment. This can impact which shipping rates display in your checkout.

In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Locations and then confirm that the following settings are correct for each location:

The location is active and has a valid address. App locations don't have a physical address, so carrier-calculated shipping rates can't use them to calculate shipping rates.
In the Fulfillment details section, the Fulfill online orders from this location option is checked.

Check your market settings

Market settings affect how shipping rates display for customers based on the country that the order is shipping to. You can only add shipping and delivery settings when a country belongs to a market. Learn more about Shipping zones and markets.

In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Markets and then confirm the following settings are correct:

The customer's country is included in an existing market.
Click Manage > Shipping for the customer's market, and then confirm that their country has rates assigned in the shipping profiles it's included in.

Check your shipping settings

If your shipping strategy includes multiple types of shipping rates, then review your shipping settings to confirm that everything has been set up correctly.

Check your shipping profiles

If you've updated to the latest version of shipping settings, then you might have multiple custom shipping profiles to consider when shipping rates are generated during checkout.

In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery and then confirm that the following settings are correct for each shipping profile:

Products are assigned to the correct shipping profile.
Shipping origins are assigned to the correct shipping profiles.
Shipping zones are assigned to the correct shipping origins within the shipping profile.
Shipping rates are assigned to the correct shipping zones within each shipping origin.

Considerations for weight-based rates

If you use weight-based shipping rates, then ensure that there's a weight-based rate that applies to the total weight of the cart. To determine the total weight of the cart, add the weight of all the products in the cart and the weight of the default package.

Considerations for price-based rates

The checkout determines shipping rates based on the total value of the cart after applying discounts, but before applying taxes. If you use price-based shipping rates, ensure there's a price-based rate that includes that cart value.

Confirm the currency of the shipping rates is correct. When creating shipping rates, the checkout bases the shipping rate currency on the store currency, and it doesn't automatically update if you change your store currency. To update the shipping currency to the store currency, delete the affected shipping rates and then recreate them.

Considerations for carrier-calculated rates

If the carrier-calculated service isn't calculating the rates you expect for a cart, then check that the weights and package dimensions are correct for the products that are in the cart.

Additionally, you should confirm the following information:

All addresses are valid addresses in the carrier service, including both your shipping origin location and the customer's shipping destination. You can verify the addresses with Google.
The default package being used to generate rates must be within the minimum and maximum requirements for the carrier services you're offering. Make sure that the package isn't too large or too heavy for the correct rates to generate. Each carrier and service type has different requirements.
If the default box is set to a carrier package, then only that carrier's rates display. For example, the USPS Priority Mail flat rate box will only work for Priority Mail options, so if Priority Mail rates aren't active, no rates will display during checkout.

Considerations for third-party app rates

If you use a third-party app to calculate shipping rates, then contact the app developer for help.

To ensure that your customers can complete checkout if carrier-calculated shipping rates or third-party app shipping rates aren't available, ensure that you set up backup shipping rates.