Shipping setup guide: Shopify Checkout Integration
When using Shopify Checkout Integration, shipping rates are set up and managed by default in Shopify. Alternatively, you can use Shopify Shipping Profiles to set separate rates for subscriptions in Recharge, create custom rates, and use conditional logic. See Creating a custom shipping profile for the Shopify Checkout Integration for how to use it.
- Shopify Checkout Integration
- Migrated Shopify Checkout Integration
If you use the Recharge Checkout on BigCommerce, refer to Shipping setup guide: Recharge Checkout on BigCommerce.
Before you start
- If you've migrated to Shopify Checkout Integration, your setup might still allow Recharge shipping rates for recurring orders. Refer to Shopify Checkout Integration technical details and requirements for more information.
- Contact Shopify for any shipping issues or troubleshooting unrelated to Recharge’s Shopify Shipping Profiles or if the subscription is retaining rates from the original Shopify checkout.
- If your store uses the retain rates feature for recurring orders, Recharge is set to use the initial checkout's shipping rates, rather than updating them dynamically from Shopify.
- The retain rates feature was not supported before April 2023. Customers who checked out on the Shopify Checkout Integration before April 2023 may not have their original checkout rate retained.
Configuring your shipping in Shopify
Shopify Checkout Integration merchants control shipping rates from the Shopify Admin. It is not controlled from Recharge.
Recharge recommends using one of the following shipping settings in Shopify:
- Weight-Based Rates: Utilize these for both one-time and subscription products. If you want different rates for subscriptions, refer to Recharge's Shopify shipping profiles.
- Price-Based Rates: Set minimum and maximum cart values for flat-rate shipping. Ensure rates reflect actual customer prices, including discounts. Refer to Shopify’s Shipping rates documentation for configuration details.
Set up shipping in Recharge
Recurring orders in Recharge have two options for Shipping rates. The way retain rates work differ depending on the platform you are using.
Shopify Checkout Integration
- Dynamically recalculate rates for future orders: Recharge recalculates the shipping rate for every future recurring order and applies the lowest available shipping rate.
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Retain original shipping rate for future orders: Reflects the shipping rate applicable to subscription items in your checkout order. If a customer's cart contains both one-time and subscription items during checkout, Recharge retrieves the shipping rate specifically for the customers subscription items from Shopify. This subscription rate will be stored if the rate matches or is lower than the shipping rate initially received by the customer at checkout. However, if the rate retrieved from Shopify for subscription items exceeds the original checkout rate, the original checkout rate will be retained.
- For example, the following scenario may happen if a customer meets a price threshold that offers free shipping with their mixed cart, but do not meet it with their subscription items alone.
- A customer completes checkout with a mixed cart containing both subscription and one-time items, and they are charged $0 for shipping during checkout. We subsequently check with Shopify for the shipping rates applicable to subscription items, and it returns a rate of $5. We retain the initially applied $0 checkout rate.
Other platforms
- Dynamically recalculate rates for future orders: Recharge recalculates the shipping rate for every future recurring order and applies the lowest available shipping rate.
- Retain original shipping rate for future orders: Conserves the shipping rate from checkout. If there are no rates from the checkout, the shipping rate uses the dynamic rates instead. The retained rate will be the lowest priced rate on the first order, including one-time products.
You can refer to the following steps to set up shipping in Recharge.
Step 1 - Choose dynamic rates or to retain shipping rates
To set your recurring shipping rate method:
- Click Settings and select Shipping in the merchant portal.
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Confirm that your “Charge shipping” setting is set to Charge shipping.
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Under “Recurring shipping rates”, click the dropdown and select either Retain original shipping rate for future orders or Dynamically recalculate rates for future orders based on your requirements.
- Click Save.
Step 2 - Configure shipping fallback rates
Recharge’s shipping fallback rates allow you to configure your store’s fallback rates in the rare case that rates from Shopify cannot be fetched. When no fallback rates are configured:
- If the store’s setting was previously configured to ‘Process orders if no matching shipping rate is found’, the order will be processed.
- If the store’s setting was previously configured to ‘Display an error if no matching shipping rate is found’, the customer will receive an error.
To configure fallback rates:
- Click Settings and select Shipping in the merchant portal.
- In the Advanced settings section under “Fallback rates”, click Edit fallback rates.
- Shipping zones and rates can be manually created or imported from Shopify, and can be edited afterwards if needed.
Manually add rates
- Click + Add shipping zone if you do not already have a zone created or imported.
- Add a zone name and click + Select countries to choose the countries to add to this shipping zone.
- Click + Add rates.
- Add a rate name and price.
- Click the checkbox for This rate has conditions if you want the rate to be available based on item weight or order price.
- Select Save rate to confirm your changes
Import Shopify rates
- Click Import Shopify rates.
- Select Confirm: import zones & rates to import your Shopify zones and rates.
Modifying priced-based shipping in Recharge
When you set up price-based rates in Shopify for recurring charges, they use the actual price paid by the customer during checkout, including any subscribe and save prices and price overrides. If you want to set a flat rate for recurring orders, you need to manually apply a rate to your customers in Recharge.
See Editing shipping rates for an existing subscription to:
Migrated orders
If a customer's subscription is created without a checkout order - for example, the customer was migrated to Recharge from another platform, or they were manually added - then the shipping rate defaults to dynamic. You can set manual overrides for these customers to configure their shipping rates, and leverage converse rates for new customers only.
Shipping rates with multiple subscription frequencies
The following video outlines how shipping rates behave when multiple subscription frequencies are in checkout. This behavior is a Shopify limitation and cannot be changed by Recharge.
Considerations
Consider the following when configuring your shipping settings:
Consideration |
Note |
| Bundles | Preset, fixed-price, and dynamically-priced bundles are not compatible with Shopify shipping profiles. |
| Product Subscription Plans channel options |
Recharge uses the selling plan group to link a product to a shipping profile. When you select the Storefront widget channel, Recharge creates a Shopify selling plan group and adds the product to a Recharge Custom Shipping profile. Select Storefront widget as a channel option when creating a Product Subscription Plan to ensure the product is included in the Recharge Custom Shipping profile. |
| Shipping rates for recurring orders with one-time items |
This applies to:
Shipping rates behave differently depending on whether the one-time item has active storefront widget selling plans in Recharge:
|
| Queued charges |
When reviewing customer orders with multiple queued charges, you’ll notice that only the shipping rate for the next upcoming queued charge will accurately reflect the shipping rates you have set up in your Subscription Shopify Shipping Profile. Example: A customer holds multiple subscriptions with different frequencies, one billed every 30 days and another every 60 days. There are currently two queued charges: one scheduled for September 1st and another for October 30th. The charge on September 1st accurately reflects the shipping rate specified in the Subscription shipping profile. The charge scheduled for October 30th states To be estimated. Upon the successful processing of the September 1st charge, the October 30th charge will be automatically updated with the accurate shipping rate from the Subscription shipping profile. |
Frequently asked questions
Why am I receiving a warning popup when adjusting my shipping settings?
Changes to shipping configuration that affect your recurring shipping rates (Dynamic or Retain), advanced settings (errors and product type), and the Charge shipping on recurring orders setting require all existing charges to be resynced to reflect those changes. The warning popup lets you know that your charges will be updated if you proceed.
Resyncing orders to update a shipping rate setting can also bring in tax updates and other changes made to a customer's profile or products.
It's recommended to download the Charges - Queued export to verify the shipping rate on file for each order after making this type of change.
Are there any countries that I can't ship to?
Countries and locations subject to sanctions or restrictions by the United States, Canada, or the European Union are unavailable for billing or shipping via BigCommerce or Shopify. See Shopify's unsupported countries and regions guide and BigCommerce's shipping setup page for details.
It's also recommended to check with your preferred shipping carrier for additional location restrictions and international service status. USPS, UPS, DHL, Canada Post, and FedEx each publish alert pages and service lists with up-to-date shipping availability.
Can customers choose their preferred shipping rate on subscription orders?
Different shipping options are presented at checkout depending on your store's platform.
For recurring orders, rates are applied based on the Dynamic or Retain setting. If you're using Dynamic, the least expensive applicable shipping rate available is applied when the queued order is created. If you're using Retain, the initial rate from checkout is applied to each recurring order unless it's manually adjusted.
Shopify Checkout Integration: A single shipping rate is displayed at checkout for subscription orders — the Shopify API returns the least expensive applicable rate for the order. If a customer has both a one-time and a subscription item in their cart, they can select a shipping option for the one-time product, but the subscription still displays a single rate.
Recharge Checkout on BigCommerce: Customers can select their preferred rate from the options provided.
BigCommerce Checkout Integration: Customers can select their preferred shipping option at checkout.
How can I remove shipping to sell only digital products?
How you remove shipping for digital-only products depends on your store's Recharge checkout platform.
Recharge Checkout on BigCommerce and BigCommerce Checkout Integration: A shipping address is required when submitting orders. A recommended workaround is to go to Storefront in the merchant portal and click Copy & translations. Edit the verbiage in the text fields so it no longer says "Shipping address" for the Checkout and Customer portal tabs. You can also use CSS in the Storefront Checkout settings to hide it.
Shopify Checkout Integration and Migrated Shopify Checkout Integration: You can set up digital products through Shopify. If the item is a non-physical subscription product, shipping address fields aren't displayed during checkout. In these cases, the customer's billing address is automatically saved as both the billing and shipping address in Recharge.
Is there a way to restrict shipping to PO boxes?
No, there isn't a built-in feature for restricting PO boxes. You can consider updating the checkout fields to include the statement "No PO boxes" in your language translations.
What happens if I remove a shipping rate or the existing subscriber's order no longer qualifies for a shipping rate?
What happens when you remove a shipping rate depends on your store's platform.
Shopify Checkout Integration: Recharge's shipping fallback rates let you configure your store's fallback rates for the rare case that rates from Shopify can't be fetched. When no fallback rates are configured: if your store's setting was previously configured to Process orders if no matching shipping rate is found, the order is processed; if it was configured to Display an error if no matching shipping rate is found, the customer receives an error. See Configuring shipping fallback rates for more information.
Migrated Shopify Checkout Integration: How shipping is handled differs based on the subscriber's initial subscription date and whether they're an existing or new subscriber. For pre-existing customers who checked out on the Recharge Checkout on Shopify and whose shipping is managed in Recharge, refer to the Recharge Checkout guidance above. For new customers who checked out through Shopify Checkout, refer to the Shopify Checkout Integration guidance above.
Recharge Checkout and BigCommerce Integration: By default, orders process and ship even without an applicable shipping rate. If you'd like orders to display an error instead of processing with a $0.00 shipping rate, set the Errors setting to Display an error if no matching shipping rate is found under Settings Shipping.
How do I ship to existing subscribers while blocking new subscribers from specific countries?
This applies to stores on Recharge Checkout on BigCommerce. Merchants using the Shopify Checkout Integration or Migrated Shopify Checkout Integration must set up and control shipping rates and settings directly within Shopify.
To ship to existing customers but block new customers from checking out, you can update your Recharge shipping settings or use custom CSS/JavaScript to hide specific countries at checkout.
Note: Custom code isn't supported by Recharge under the design and integration policy. It's recommended to work with a third-party developer for this kind of customization.
- Click Settings in your merchant portal and select Shipping.
- In Advanced Settings, set your preference to Display an error if no matching shipping is found. This ensures a customer checking out requires an applicable shipping rate.
- Remove the country from your shipping zones in Recharge and/or your ecommerce platform, depending on where your rates are configured.
- To prevent order errors, manually set the shipping rate for existing customers in this country, or bulk update customer shipping rates.
Can I test shipping profile changes before going live?
Yes, you can test your shipping profile configuration after enabling the feature. Complete a test checkout to make sure your shipping rates and settings are applied as expected.
Support
Refer to Shopify’s shipping guides or contact Shopify’s support directly for most issues or questions regarding shipping settings with the Shopify Checkout Integration.
For further information refer to shipping Troubleshooting and FAQs.
