Are you planning to start a dropshipping business on Shopify? If so, setting up the right shipping methods is essential for ensuring your customers receive their orders promptly and at a reasonable cost. In this article, we will guide you step-by-step on how to set up shipping on Shopify for dropshipping, so you can optimize your store’s shipping options and improve customer satisfaction.
By the end of this guide, we will have a clear understanding of the different shipping methods available and how to choose the best ones for our Shopify dropshipping store. So, let’s get started on setting up shipping for our Shopify dropshipping business.
Before we learn how to set up shipping on Shopify for dropshipping, let’s discuss the available shipping options on the platform. So, here are the five Shopify shipping methods for dropshipping:
Next, let’s discuss how each method works for Shopify dropshipping.
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To begin, extending free shipping is an excellent shipping method for Shopify dropshipping. Generally, this shipping option is straightforward and can help us attract more customers.
When offering free shipping on Shopify, we can incorporate shipping fees in the products’ costs, giving an upfront cost to buyers. Essentially, an upfront cost combines the product price and shipping fee together, eliminating the need to calculate shipping during the checkout process. Thus, providing customers with the total cost upfront helps to build trust and avoid any unexpected charges during the checkout process.
By extending free shipping to customers, we can pave the way for promotional opportunities, such as in the form of vouchers. Ultimately, customers enjoy anything that is free, so it’s a great way to scale our profits.
Our next shipping option on Shopify is the single flat shipping rate. With a flat shipping fee on any order, customers can ensure that no hidden fees are added during checkout. Plus, this shipping method allows us to offset shipping costs.
For this shipping arrangement, we need to forecast the weekly volume of orders. Then, we need to add up all shipping fees from our suppliers and divide the total value by our estimated number of orders. As a result, we’ll know the single flat rate to charge on each customer order that will cover the shipping expenses.
Meanwhile, adding a tiered flat rates option is a more specific approach to determining shipping costs. In particular, we can apply shipping rates depending on various factors, such as weight or price. For instance, we can assign tiered rates for orders that range from $0 to $50, $51 to $100, and so on.
With this shipping option on Shopify, we can offset our shipping costs, reducing the expenses related to the shipping of goods. At the same time, customers can enjoy discounted shipping fees for bulk orders. Hence, providing us with the opportunity to increase our potential sales.
Another shipping method for dropshipping on Shopify is utilizing per-item shipping rates. This shipping option is ideal when our supplier provides a flat fee for each item but doesn’t offer volume discounts. With this shipping arrangement, we can maintain accurate shipping costs while preventing profit loss from high-volume demands.
Moreover, we can add different items with their corresponding shipping rates using a shipping profile, and all shipping costs will add up upon checkout. Remember that calculating shipping costs on a per-item basis can become complex if your store receives orders that have items from multiple profiles. Nevertheless, this shipping option allows us to offset our shipping costs entirely to maximize profits.
Lastly, we have advanced shipping rates that let us manage different scenarios when dropshipping on Shopify. Remember that different suppliers apply varying shipping rates, depending on the order source and destination. As such, a customer order may contain several products that have corresponding shipping costs.
In addition, our suppliers can offer multiple shipping arrangements, such as standard, express, and more. With that said, we need to estimate the orders we’ll receive and combine applicable shipping fees. Using the predicted order volume and total shipping cost, we’ll be able to assign an appropriate shipping fee to each order without losing profit.
Onto the most awaited part, we’ll explore how to set up shipping on Shopify for dropshipping. When dropshipping on Shopify, we must remember that setting up shipping depends on the rates we apply. Nevertheless, here is the general guideline to set up shipping on this platform:
Now, let’s review these steps individually.
To begin setting up shipping on Shopify for dropshipping, we need to configure the shipping zone. From the Shopify admin page, click ‘Settings’ on the lower-left corner of the screen.
Then, on the left sidebar, choose ‘Shipping & Delivery.’ From this tab, we’ll find information about shipping, local delivery, local pickup, packages, shipping label, and more.
Under ‘Shipping,’ we’ll see the ‘General shipping rates’ button. From here, click ‘Manage’ to access the ‘General Profile.’
Next, click ‘Create shipping zone’ under the ‘Shipping to’ menu. Finally, we can assign the ‘Zone name,’ and choose the countries or regions we want to ship to.
We can select multiple shipping zones when dropshipping on Shopify, depending on our target audiences. Ultimately, the greater our market reach, the higher our sales potential.
After configuring the shipping zones, our next step is to manage shipping rates. We need to assign the types of rates from the country or region on the list we’ve chosen earlier.
For instance, we can set different rates for domestic delivery and international shipping. To do so, we must create shipping profiles for different locations. Then, we need to assign suitable shipping rates, depending on the proximity of the areas from our sources.
On this page, we’ll access the transit time, rate name, and shipping price corresponding to our assigned zones. Likewise, this section allows us to set conditions for our shipping options, such as based on weight or based on price. Then, we can assign a weight or price range for a given shipping rate.
To continue, let’s add shipping rates to our zones. In this guide, we’ll demonstrate adding a free shipping rate, since this is what many of our competitors will offer. With this option, buyers don’t pay the shipping fee upon checkout. We can either set up free shipping as the only choice in our stores or offer it when customers meet minimum requirements.
Here are ways to extend free shipping on Shopify for dropshipping:
Generally, we need to click ‘Add rate’ on the ‘General profile’ page to add the free shipping rate option. Then, choose from either ‘Set up your own rates’ or ‘Use carrier or app to calculate rates.’ For this tutorial, we’ll choose the ‘Set up your own rates’ option.
Then, we’ll select the transit time: Economy, Standard, Express, or Custom flat rate. This time, let’s select the custom flat rate. Next, define the Rate name, such as ‘Free Shipping.’ Under the Price field, input ‘0’ for free shipping.
When setting up free shipping as a default option, we can immediately save the settings, and we’re good to go. Otherwise, we have to click ‘Add conditions’ and set the criterion for free shipping. Here, we have ‘Based on item weight’ and ‘Based on order price’ options.
If we choose the ‘Based on order price’ option, we have to set the minimum and maximum costs. For instance, we can assign the minimum price to $50 and the maximum cost to no limit. Once we’ve assigned the values, we can proceed to apply the changes.
On the other hand, providing free shipping for specific customers is available through shipping discounts. To do this, qualified customers can apply a discount code or use a free shipping voucher upon checkout.
After setting up our shipping zones and rates, we can click ‘Done’ and ‘Save’ to make the changes. And, our shipping is set up for dropshipping on Shopify!
But before we come to an end, remember that we can edit the shipping settings if we want to opt for a different shipping rate. To do this, click ‘Manage’ on the ‘General profile’ page. Next to the rate we want to edit, click the ‘…’ button.
In the drop-down menu, choose ‘Edit rate.’ By then, we can begin making changes in the shipping settings. Once we’re done revising the information, click ‘Done’ and ‘Save’ to apply the changes.
And, that’s it! We have set up shipping for our Shopify dropshipping store. With these quick and easy methods, we can surely deliver customer orders promptly.
Yay! Now that our shipping rates are set, we can start fulfilling customer orders. In general, we can manually or automatically serve customer demands. However, manually fulfilling orders can take significant time and is prone to input errors.
To help us carry out an efficient order fulfillment process, we can utilize reliable dropshipping automation software. Dropshipping automation allows us to streamline the order fulfillment process, saving time and other resources.
With that said, the AutoDS all-in-one dropshipping solution helps us automate crucial aspects of running our online business, such as order fulfillment. The platform provides the Automatic Orders and Fulfilled by AutoDS (FBA) features for our dropshipping business.
The Automatic Orders feature utilizes buyer accounts as the preferred payment method for purchasing from suppliers. Plus, this tool provides real-time tracking information for customer packages.
Likewise, Fulfilled By AutoDS offers automatic order tracking to trace the whereabouts of customer orders. Moreover, this feature utilizes auto-credits, eliminating the need to worry about purchasing limits. It also includes managed shipping costs for AutoDS-supported suppliers.
Ultimately, automatic order fulfillment eliminates the need for manual tasks. With the help of a dropshipping tool like AutoDS, we can serve customer demands on our Shopify stores through fast and efficient shipping.
To set up shipping and delivery on Shopify for dropshipping, click ‘Settings’ on your Shopify dashboard. Then, choose ‘Shipping and delivery’ on the left menu bar. From there, you can begin managing shipping rates, processing times, and more.
Generally, we can use shipping rates or a calculator to pay for shipping on Shopify. For the shipping rates, you can set them under the ‘Shipping and delivery’ tab of your store’s dashboard. Meanwhile, the shipping calculator requires you to download the Shopify Shipping app.
Yes, Shopify allows you to purchase and print shipping labels directly. Plus, the platform lets you set up your shipping options and fulfill orders using reliable carriers.
We can begin manually shipping on Shopify by navigating our suppliers’ websites. From there, we place an order for our customers’ products and enter their shipping information. Afterward, we have to keep an eye out for tracking and delivery. Undoubtedly, this becomes tedious when more orders start flowing in. Thus, we can automate this process with AutoDS to save time and scale faster.
And, that’s a wrap! By knowing how to set up shipping on Shopify for dropshipping, we’re ready to expand our market reach and earn huge profits. When doing so, remember that we need to serve customer demands promptly.
That’s why we need to adopt dropshipping automation to help us ensure that customers receive their packages timely and safely. As a result, we’ll gain customer loyalty and scale our business in no time.
As a huge selling platform, there’s still much to learn about Shopify. To master other aspects of dropshipping on Shopify, here are insightful articles to check out:
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