Documentation Tutorials Rates
Shipping Rate Merging
Rate Merging is the process of combining two or more different shipping rates to give the customer a single shipping rate that they see at checkout.
What is Rate Merging for?
Rate Merging is usually used when you need to add an additional fee to a regular shipping rate you rely on. It could be you:
- regularly use a carrier based shipping rate and need to add a surcharge for bulky items
- charge a flat fee up until a weight threshold has been passed
- need to ship multiple packages for an order.
How Shopify performs Rate Merging
Shopify performs rate merging when a checkout contains products from multiple locations or shipping profiles. A unique shipping rate is generated for each, and then these are added together to create a new shipping rate that includes a cost for each location or profile.
Think of it as Shipping Rate A + Shipping Rate B = Shipping Rate total.
If there is only a Shipping Rate A, but this is used for multiple locations, this rate will be doubled or tripled based on the number of inventory locations included in a cart.
Shipping Rate A x Number of Locations = Shipping Rate total.
Shopify will display a merged shipping rate as “Shipping” if any of the shipping rates being combined do not share the same name. If they do share the same name, the price will just be combined.
For more detail on how Shopify handles rate merging, see the Shopify Documentation on Rate Merging
For information on how Parcelify works with rate merging, see the Parcelify Documentation on Rate Merging
How Parcelify performs Rate Merging
Parcelify handles shipping rate merging in a different way. Instead of combining multiple shipping rates together, we use Prices. Prices represent a series of rules about how shipping should be charged for an order. Many shipping prices can exist within a single shipping rate.
Think of it as Product A + Product B = Shipping Rate total.
OR
Total Weight + Surcharge for Product B = Shipping Rate total.
The possibilities are endless, and you maintain full control over how your shipping rate will be calculated. To learn more about what prices are and how to use them, you can read through our Prices documentation.
Examples
Example A:
You have three types of products and you want to charge per item based on the product in the cart.
One of each type in cart: Product A + Product B + Product C = Shipping Rate total.
Two of the same product in cart: Product A x 2 = Shipping Rate total.
Example B:
In your store you charge by weight and add an additional fee for oversized items above 5KG.
Cart contains oversized product: Total Weight price + oversized fee = Shipping Rate total.
Cart does not contain oversized product: Total Weight price = Shipping Rate total.
Example C:
In your store you charge a flat fee for local products but require an additional fee for a drop-shippped item from a different location.
Three local products and One drop-shipped item in cart: Flat Rate Price + Drop Shipped surcharge = Shipping Rate total.
One local product and Two drop-shipped items in cart: Flat Rate price + (Drop Shipped surcharge x 2) = Shipping Rate total.
Example D:
In your store you have a combination of all of the above. (weight based, product specific rates and location based rates)
One of each type in cart: Total Weight price + Product A + Product B = Shipping Rate total.
Two of one type in cart: Total Weight price + Product A x 2 = Shipping Rate total.
Cart contains oversized product: Total Weight price + Product C + oversized fee = Shipping Rate total.
Cart contains products from two locations: Total Weight price + Product A + Product B + Drop Shipped Surcharge = Shipping Rate Total.