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Free shipping

Learn how to set up a free shipping option.

Free shipping can be based on cart price and/or weight using a Price tier or Weight tier, or for specific countries based on the zone you add the rule to. Follow the guidelines outlined in this document or in the video walkthrough at the end to learn how to set up free shipping in Zonos Dashboard.

Note

You will need to have at least one shipping zone set up prior to creating your free shipping option. You will also need to add free shipping to each applicable zone.

Examples:

If you have free shipping on orders over 100 USD to Canada, you will create a rule in the Canada zone. Each country can only be in one zone, so you may need to make a Canada-only zone.
Additionally, if you have free shipping on orders over 150 USD to the UK, you will create a new rule in the zone containing the UK. Be aware, if you have other countries in the zone with the UK, those countries will also receive this free shipping option.

Add free shipping

Create a rule to make a free shipping option.

Go to Dashboard -> Settings -> Shipping rates.
Under Shipping zones, select the zone for which you would like to create your new shipping rate.
Scroll to the bottom of the page until you see Rules, then click Add new rule.
Enter your Display name,*_ e.g._ Free shipping*.
- This will be the name of your shipping option as displayed to your customers when they select shipping options upon checkout. You can call it whatever you would like, but a descriptive name is always good.
By default, only estimate duties and taxes for this rule is unchecked, meaning duties and taxes will be collected in the checkout. Checking this box will result in duties and taxes only being estimated in the checkout.
Set carrier fees (dropdown) -Select the carrier you will use for this shipping option.
- My carrier is not on the list; what should I do? If you are integrating your carrier account, you will need to do that first in order for your carrier to show up in this list. If you are not integrating carriers you can select Custom, which will use a default set of carrier fees that can be adjusted here. If you have fees waived or negotiated at a lower rate, reach out to support@zonos.com to get them adjusted.
- What are carrier fees? Carrier fees are often a surprise to online retailers just starting to calculate and collect landed cost because they are usually only seen and paid for by your customers when they receive their international shipments. Carrier fees are an important part of landed cost calculations. If you don’t set them up correctly and you are allowing prepayment of duties and taxes, you will lose money because you will end up paying the carrier fees on behalf of your customers. You may need to find out from your carrier what your fees are, but typically, unless you have negotiated to get them lowered or waived, selecting the carrier you will use for this shipping option will automatically add the correct carrier fees to your orders.
Display shipping transit time Optional - Check this box to display transit time, then select your delivery window by filling in Minimum and Maximum transit times in days. Zonos adds transit times based on calendar days, not business days.
- For example, using 2 for Minimum transit time and 7 for Maximum transit time will display something like “Transit time 2-7 days” next to your new shipping option, giving your customers an estimated time for delivery. This message will vary depending on the platform you are using.
Under Price tiers, you will find the rule builder where you can choose whether your new free shipping option will be offered based on price or weight by selecting Cart subtotal for Price tiers or Cart weight for Weight tiers - Free shipping is typically based on price.
- If Cart subtotal is selected, then you will also need to choose the currency being used.
- If Cart weight is selected, then you will need to choose the currency and the weight units.
Set up your rule using the dropdowns greater than, less than, or between, then entering the cart price or cart weight ranges based on the fields that appear and your specifications.
Enter the price for your shipping option to be shown at checkout. In this case, it will be 0 USD because we are setting up free shipping. See the general guide for using the custom shipping rule builder below.
- NOTE: The price shown here will be the final price shown at checkout. Any buffers will not be added.
Click Save to finish adding your new free shipping option.

Rule examples and guidelines

Free shipping example rule setup

Configure a rule to create free shipping based on the example below.

*Example: Free shipping for any order subtotal 200 USD or over*
*Your rule should look like this: If subtotal is greater than 199.99 shipping = *0

Custom shipping rule builder and ranges - General guide for free, flat rate, and tiered shipping
Custom shipping options are created with rules which use a rule builder with ranges to help set the parameters of when your rule should be active. It’s important to understand how the ranges work, and which values are included in the range you’ve set for the rule so that your desired shipping rates are returned when intended.

The greater than option is not the same as "greater than or equal to." Entering “greater than 50 USD” really means 50.01 USD and greater.
Example: If you wanted to create a rule that charges 5 USD shipping on order subtotals of 500 USD and up, your rule would look like this: If subtotal is greater than 499.99 shipping = 5
The less than option, on the other hand, is the same as "less than or equal to." Entering “less than 50 USD” means 50 USD and less.
- Example: If you wanted to create a rule that charges 20 USD shipping on order subtotals of 100 USD and below, your rule would look like this: If subtotal is less than 100shipping = 20
Similarly, the between option does not include both of the two figures at the beginning and end of the given range. The first number in the range is not included, but the second is. Entering "between 100 USD and 199.99 USD" actually means from 100.01 USD to 199.99 USD.
- Example: If you wanted to create a rule that charges 15 USD shipping on order subtotals from 100 USD to 199.99 USD, your rule would look like this: If subtotal is between 99.99 and 199.99 shipping = 15

Tips for successfully creating custom shipping options

Troubleshooting tips

Potential issue: My free shipping option is not showing up during checkout or mock checkout.
- Possible solution: Check to see if you have any shipping buffers set up that might conflict with your shipping options and disable them.
- Possible solution: Check to see what zone you enabled or created your free shipping option in. When you create your free shipping you do it in a zone, so it will only show up for shipping addresses that are in a country in the zone you created it for.
Potential issue: My free shipping option is not free! It’s charging the wrong amount during checkout or mock checkout.
- Possible solution: Check to see if you have any shipping buffers set up that might change/add costs to your shipping prices and disable them.
Potential issue: I want only my free shipping option to show up at checkout. How do I turn off other service levels/options so that only my free shipping option shows up?
- Possible solution: Go to Settings -> Shipment rates -> Shipping zones and select the zone in which you’re testing. Scroll down to Enabled service levels and deselect all service levels except the one you want to appear at checkout for this zone. If it’s a custom shipping option that you want to appear, ensure the rule is created in this zone and deselect all enabled service levels.

Next steps

Flat rate shipping- Create a flat rate shipping rule.
Tiered shipping - Create a tiered shipping rule.
Test your shipping - Test your shipping rates before they are used in production or go live on your website.

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