---
title: Set Up Shipping Options per Market
description: Learn how to set up Shopify's new shipping options by market, a feature replacing shipping profiles that lets you define rates for each country you sell to.
canonical: https://tacey.app/blog/set-up-shipping-options-per-market
published: 2026-11-03T14:51:55.778Z
updated: 2026-11-03T14:51:55.778Z
category: Shopify Operations
---
# Set Up Shipping Options per Market

Shopify is replacing shipping profiles with a new way to set shipping rates for each country or region you sell to.

Shopify is changing how merchants set shipping rates, moving from a system of profiles and zones to a new model centered on markets. This new feature, called "shipping options by market," is part of the [Shopify Editions Fall 2026](https://www.shopify.com/editions/fall2026?utm_source=tacey&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=set-up-shipping-options-per-market) release and aims to give merchants more direct control over the shipping choices and prices customers see in different parts of the world. The rollout is gradual, with some stores already having early access.

## What are shipping options by market?

Shipping options by market is a new structure for managing shipping rates directly within Shopify Markets. Instead of creating complex shipping profiles based on products, this system lets you define shipping options like "Standard" or "Express" for each market you sell to, such as the United States or the European Union. Each option can have multiple rates based on product collections or fulfillment locations.

This change centralizes where you manage both where you sell and how you ship. The new model also changes how multiple flat rates are calculated. If a customer's cart matches several flat-rate rules within the same shipping option, Shopify now applies only the single highest rate, which can prevent accidental overcharging. This replaces the old system where rates from different profiles could add together, sometimes creating an unexpectedly high shipping cost for the customer.

The distinction between a "shipping option" and a "rate" is key. The option is the name the customer sees at checkout, like "Standard Shipping". The rates are the rules that calculate the price for that option. You might have a $10 base rate, a $15 rate for bulky items, and a $25 rate for shipments from a specific warehouse, all under the single "Standard Shipping" option.

### A worked example: stacked rates vs. highest rate

Imagine you sell T-shirts and framed posters. In the old system, you had a "General" profile for T-shirts with a $5 shipping rate. You also had a "Bulky Items" profile for posters with a $12 rate. If a customer bought both a T-shirt and a poster, the two rates would stack, and they would see a single $17 shipping charge at checkout.

With shipping options by market, this changes. You would create one shipping option called "Standard". Inside it, you would set a rate of $5 for your "Apparel" collection and a separate rate of $12 for your "Wall Art" collection. If a customer buys both items, the system now applies only the highest matching rate. The final shipping cost is just $12, not $17.

This shift requires you to think differently about surcharges. Instead of relying on separate profiles that add up, you now define all related costs within a single option and let Shopify pick the most expensive one that applies. This prevents sticker shock for customers buying from multiple product categories and gives you more predictable checkout costs.

The transition from the old shipping profiles is happening gradually. Shopify migrates a store's existing rates into the new market-based structure, so most merchants won't need to rebuild their setup from scratch. However, it is important to review the migrated settings to ensure they function as intended.

## Who has early access to them?

Shipping options by market is currently in early access and is only available to certain stores. Shopify is rolling out the feature progressively, so not all stores will be upgraded at the same time. New stores created on or after October 1, 2026, are automatically on the new market-driven model.

You can check if your store has been upgraded by navigating to **Settings > Shipping and delivery** in your Shopify admin. If your settings are organized by market in a "Shipping options" section, your store is on the new system. If you still see "Shipping profiles," your store uses the previous system. For stores that are eligible but not yet upgraded, an option to "Get early access" may be available in this section.

If you don't have access yet, use this time to prepare. Audit your current shipping profiles, especially if you use complex rules or stacked rates. Document what each profile and rate is supposed to achieve. This preparation will make the eventual migration review much faster, as you will have a clear benchmark for what the new setup should be doing.

For all other existing stores, there is a mandatory migration deadline of July 1, 2027. After this date, all stores will use the new shipping options by market. It is also important to verify that any third-party shipping apps you use are compatible with the new Markets API, as the old Delivery Profile API has been deprecated.

### The cost of inaction

Ignoring the July 1, 2027 deadline is not an option. Once the mandatory migration happens, the old shipping profile system will be turned off completely. Any custom integrations or third-party apps relying on the deprecated Delivery Profile API may stop working correctly, potentially leading to incorrect shipping rates or a complete failure to show any rates at all.

The worst-case scenario is that customers in certain markets will be unable to check out. If an app fails to return a rate, or if your migrated settings don't cover all scenarios, the checkout will display a "no shipping options available" message. This leads directly to lost sales and customer frustration. Proactive testing is essential to avoid a sudden drop in revenue.

To check an app's compatibility, visit its page in the Shopify App Store and look for updates or banners mentioning "shipping options by market" or "Markets API". If you are unsure, contact the app's support team directly. Ask them if they are fully compatible and if you need to take any action in your store to ensure a smooth transition.

## How do you set up shipping options for each market?

Setting up your new shipping options happens inside the Markets section of your Shopify admin. Once your store has been upgraded to the new system, you can define the delivery choices and prices for each market you serve. Each staff member who manages shipping will need the "Markets" permission, as this is not granted automatically with existing roles.

Follow these steps to configure a new shipping option for a market:

- From your Shopify admin, go to **Markets**.

- Click on the market where you want to add or edit shipping options.

- In the market's settings, click on **Shipping**.

- Click **Add shipping option** to create a new choice for customers, like "Standard" or "Express". Give it a name that customers will see at checkout.

- Choose a rate type: Flat, Order amount, Weight-based, or Carrier/app calculated.

- Enter the price and any conditions. For example, you can set rates that apply only to specific product collections or fulfillment locations.

- Click **Done** and then **Save**.

Your option names are part of the customer experience. A name like "Standard Shipping (5-7 days)" is better than just "Standard" because it manages expectations about delivery speed. Clear, descriptive names reduce confusion and can help a customer choose a more expensive express option when they need it, increasing your average revenue per order.

### Choosing your rate type

Each rate type represents a different trade-off between simplicity and accuracy. A flat rate is the easiest for customers to understand but may not accurately reflect your costs. You might charge a flat $10, whether the order costs you $8 or $12 to ship. This is simple but can hurt margins on some orders.

Order amount or weight-based rates offer more precision. You can create tiers, like $8 shipping for orders under $50 and $12 for orders above that. This helps you better align the price with your actual costs. However, it requires more setup and can sometimes feel arbitrary to customers if the tiers are not well-planned.

Carrier-calculated rates are the most accurate, pulling live prices from carriers like UPS or FedEx. This ensures you never undercharge for shipping. The trade-off is predictability; prices can fluctuate, and customers may be surprised by a high cost, especially for international orders. Many merchants offer both a flat standard rate and a calculated express rate to give customers a choice.

You can repeat this process to create multiple shipping options for each market, giving your customers different choices for speed and cost. Remember to test your setup by creating a sample cart to ensure the rates appear correctly at checkout.

## What should you decide for each market first?

Before configuring your rates, you need a clear strategy for each market. The new structure offers flexibility, but that requires making deliberate choices about how you want to present shipping costs to international customers. A poorly planned setup can hurt conversion rates or eat into your margins.

Start by asking these questions for each market:

- **What carriers will I use?** Some carriers offer better rates or service levels in certain regions. Decide if you'll offer options from carriers like USPS, UPS, or DHL.

- **Will I offer flat rates or calculated rates?** Flat rates provide predictability for customers, while calculated rates are more precise but can fluctuate. You can also offer a mix, such as a flat rate for standard shipping and calculated rates for express.

- **What is my free shipping threshold?** If you offer free shipping, decide on the minimum order value for each market. This threshold might be higher for international markets to account for increased costs.

- **How will I handle special products?** If you sell fragile, oversized, or hazardous items, you may need to create specific rates for them using product conditions to ensure you cover the extra handling and shipping costs.

Don't just default to global carriers. In some countries, local or regional carriers are more trusted and cost-effective. For example, customers in Germany might prefer DPD, while those in the UK might be more familiar with Royal Mail or Evri. Offering these local options can increase trust and conversion rates in specific markets.

### A worked example: setting a free shipping threshold

Setting a free shipping threshold internationally requires careful math. Suppose your average order value (AOV) for the UK market is $80. Your average product margin is 60%. The standard shipping rate you charge is $15, but your actual cost to ship to the UK is $20. Offering free shipping means absorbing that $20 cost.

To break even, the extra margin from a larger order must cover the shipping cost you absorb. A simplified formula is: Shipping Cost / Product Margin. In this case, $20 / 0.60 = $33.33. This is the additional merchandise value a customer must add to their cart to cover the shipping cost. Your threshold should be at least AOV + this amount, so $80 + $33.33 = $113.33.

A sensible threshold would be $115 or $120. Setting it too low, for example at $100, would encourage customers to add a $20 item. But that $20 item only generates $12 in new margin ($20 * 0.60), which doesn't cover the $20 shipping cost. You would lose $8 on that "free" shipment. Each market needs its own calculation.

Answering these questions first will make the technical setup much smoother. It turns the process from a series of clicks into the execution of a thought-out international sales strategy.

## Which other settings does it not work with, such as Managed Markets flat rates?

The new shipping options by market system is powerful but has some incompatibilities you must be aware of. The most significant one involves Shopify Managed Markets. If your store uses the new shipping options by market, then the flat shipping rates from Managed Markets are not available.

Shopify Managed Markets is designed to simplify international selling by setting guaranteed flat rates and including duties in the product price. However, this functionality conflicts with the merchant-controlled setup of the new market-driven shipping options. You must choose one system or the other for a given market.

### The trade-off: control vs. simplicity

This incompatibility forces a strategic choice. Using the new "shipping options by market" gives you full control. You set every rate, every condition, and every carrier option. You also carry all the risk of undercharging or overcharging. This path is for merchants who want to fine-tune their shipping as a competitive advantage.

Using Shopify Managed Markets with its flat rates is about simplicity and risk reduction. Shopify sets the rates and guarantees the label costs for certain carriers, protecting your margins from unexpected carrier surcharges. The trade-off is a loss of control; you cannot edit the rates Shopify sets. This is for merchants who want to de-risk and simplify international operations.

You cannot mix them in the same market. If you enable your own shipping options for your Europe market, you cannot use the Managed Markets flat rates there. This is because the two systems are based on fundamentally different logic about who is setting the price and assuming the financial risk for the shipment.

If you have enabled shipping options by market, you are taking direct control of your rates for that market. This means you cannot simultaneously use the Shopify-set flat rates offered through Managed Markets. You can still use your own carrier-calculated rates or set up your own flat rates within the new system, but the specific "flat shipping rates from Managed Markets" feature will be disabled.

>
The more you sell across borders, the more you need your operations to be flexible. A rigid shipping setup can lose you a sale right at the end, while a smart one builds trust and gets the order through.

Odera Joseph Echendu, Founder, Tacey

A more flexible and granular shipping setup can sometimes create new challenges after the order is placed. A customer might choose the wrong shipping tier, enter an incorrect address that puts them in a different rate zone, or simply want to add another item to their order. These situations often require manual intervention from your support team, creating delays and extra work.

For example, a customer in New York with an order qualifying for "Standard Ground" shipping might realize they need it faster. They contact support to upgrade to "Express," but your team is busy. The delay means they miss the fulfillment cutoff, and the order ships on the original slow method anyway, leading to an unhappy customer.

This is where post-purchase flexibility becomes critical. With a tool like Tacey, you can give customers a window of time after they pay to make changes themselves on the order status page. They can correct a typo in their address, change an item, or even add a new product to their cart. This self-service capability reduces support tickets and keeps orders moving smoothly, even when your shipping logic is complex. You can learn more about how [order-editing](/order-editing) works or [install Tacey from the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/tacey?utm_source=tacey&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=set-up-shipping-options-per-market) to get started.

## Frequently asked questions

### What's the difference between shipping options by market and shipping profiles?

Shipping profiles grouped products to apply specific shipping rules. Shipping options by market flips this model, starting with the market (the customer's country or region) and then letting you define shipping choices and rates within that market. This new system is managed directly in Shopify Markets.

### Will I be forced to migrate to the new system?

Yes. While stores are being upgraded gradually, Shopify has set a mandatory migration deadline of July 1, 2027. After this date, all stores will use the market-driven shipping model. New stores created after October 1, 2026, already use it by default.

### What happens to my existing shipping profiles after migration?

After migration, your old shipping profiles are effectively replaced. The rules within them are converted into the new structure of market-based options, rates, and conditions. For example, product-based profiles become unpublished product collections that are used to apply specific rates. The old profile interface is removed.

### Can I set different shipping prices for the same product in different markets?

Yes. This is one of the primary benefits of the new system. You can create a shipping option for your "United States" market with one price and a separate shipping option for your "Europe" market with a different price, even for the same products.

### Can I have different fulfillment locations for the same market?

Yes. You can have multiple fulfillment locations (warehouses) that serve the same market. Within a shipping option, you can create different rates based on which location an item ships from. This allows you to account for varying shipping costs from different points of origin, even for customers in the same country.

### Does this affect how I handle local pickup?

No, local pickup and local delivery are configured separately from your shipping options. You can continue to offer these as delivery methods for nearby customers regardless of your market-based shipping setup.

### How does the new system handle stacked or combined rates?

For flat or order-value rates within a single shipping option (e.g., "Standard Shipping"), only the highest applicable rate is charged at checkout. This prevents multiple surcharges from adding up unexpectedly. Rates from different shipping options (e.g., "Standard" and a separate "Heavy Goods" option) can still be combined.

### What happens if I don't set up shipping for a market I sell to?

If a market is active but has no shipping options configured, customers from that region will not be able to complete checkout. It is essential to ensure every active market has at least one shipping option available for your customers.

### Can I still use carrier-calculated rates?

Yes. You can set up carrier-calculated shipping rates from providers like UPS and FedEx within the new system. You add it as a rate type inside a shipping option for a specific market.