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Documentation Welcome Build a destination-based shipping rate

Build a destination-based shipping rate

There are two ways to provide shipping rates to specific destinations. The first is with your shipping Zones. Zones represent shipping to entire countries or subdivisions of those countries such as states, provinces, and prefectures.

The second way is to apply restrictions to your shipping prices inside a shipping rate. This approach gives you the flexibility to group several different destinations into the same rate or to define unique rates for each smaller shipping area as you see fit. This second approach works with cities, postal codes, and zip codes.

To provide the same shipping rates to a large area, you would build them inside of a shipping Zone. To define shipping in a more granular area, you want to control them with shipping prices within a rate.

Let’s show you what we mean with an example:

East Coast Shipping

Let’s suppose you run a shop out of Massachusetts, USA. You are based out of Boston and have established a supply chain that allows you to deliver to all the major cities in your state (Boston, Worcester, Springfield) as well as the state of Rhode island.

For this specific example, you want to charge:

  • $5 shipping on orders going to Worcester
  • $7 shipping to Springfield
  • $10 shipping to Rhode Island
  • Free shipping anywhere in Boston

Now that we know what we want to charge for each destination, let’s get started!

Basic setup

First, we need to go through some basic setup.

  1. Go ahead and install Parcelify if you haven’t already
  2. Open our app. You can find it in your Shopify admin dashboard, under Apps, listed as Shipping Rates by Parcelify
  3. Add a Location. This is where your products ship from

Shipping to an entire Zone

Now that you have us installed and your have your Location set up, we will design shipping to specific area the easy way: shipping Zones. Here we will add Rhode Island as a zone, then add a simple rate to it.

Add a Rhode Island Zone

  1. Select your newly added Location and click [Add Shipping Zone]
  2. Give this zone a recognizable name, then click [Add Countries]
  3. Enter “United States” in the search bar, then click the link to the right
  4. Checkmark the Rhode Island box, then click [Done]
  5. Click [Save] in the top-right

Add the Rhode Island rate

  1. Inside your shipping zone, click [Add shipping rates]
  2. At the top of the page you will see the current Location and Zone this rate will be created in
  3. Below that, give the rate a helpful name and description. This is what your customers will see at checkout, along with the shipping price
  4. Scroll down to the section called Prices.
  5. Prices let you design how the shipping cost for a rate should be calculated. Every new rate starts with a flat, free price by default
  6. We want to charge $10, so enter 10 at the bottom of this price
  7. Click [Save] at the top of this rate

…and that’s it! This rate will show any time someone checks out with a shipping address to this destination.

Shipping to smaller areas within a Zone

With Rhode Island out of the way, it’s time to cover your shipping areas within Massachusetts. As it turns out, you can cover all three cities (Boston, Worcester, and Springfield) from a single shipping rate.

Add a Massachusetts Zone

  1. Select your newly added Location and click [Add Shipping Zone]
  2. Give this zone a recognizable name, then click [Add Countries]
  3. Enter “United States” in the search bar, then click the link to the right
  4. Checkmark the Rhode Island box, then click [Done]
  5. Click [Save] in the top-right

Add the Massachusetts rate

  1. Inside your shipping zone, click [Add shipping rates]
  2. At the top of the page you will see the current Location and Zone this rate will be created in
  3. Below that, give the rate a helpful name and description. This is what your customers will see at checkout, along with the shipping price
  4. Scroll down to the section called Prices.

Free shipping to Boston

  1. Next to SHIPPING TO, click “Add Restriction”
  2. Select City is from the dropdown, then type Boston into the corresponding text field
  3. In this case we want to keep the 0 shipping amount at the bottom of the Price
  4. Click [Done]

$5 Shipping to Worcester

  1. Click [New Price]
  2. Next to SHIPPING TO, click “Add Restriction”
  3. Select City is from the dropdown, then type Worcester into the corresponding text field
  4. This time we want to charge $5, so enter 5 for the amount at the bottom of this Price
  5. Click [Done]

$7 Shipping to Springfield

  1. Click [New Price]
  2. Next to SHIPPING TO, click “Add Restriction”
  3. Select City is from the dropdown, then type Springfield into the corresponding text field
  4. This time we want to charge $7, so enter 7 for the amount at the bottom of this Price
  5. Click [Done]
  6. Finally, click [Save] to commit this rate

…and that’s it! This rate will show any time someone checks out with a shipping address to one of these three destinations.

Testing at checkout

After adding or editing rates we recommend always performing a quick test checkout to make sure everything is working to your satisfaction. You’ll get peace of mind knowing your rates are showing as expected and you’ll catch any issues (like a misspelling or misplaced decimal) well before it can affect your customers.

Exactly what kind of test you do should be based on how you’ve built your shipping rates. In this case, you’ll want to do a test checkout to each zone to make sure both of your rates return as expected.

Test one: Rhode Island Shipping



Test two: Massachusetts shipping



That’s all there is to it. From here you can continue testing and customizing this rate, check out our tutorials, head back to our home page, or continue reading to see how to restrict a product from a shipping area:

Build product-based shipping rates Restrict shipping areas