Articles in this section

See more

Shipping FAQ

Shipping can be a very complex undertaking with many possible solutions for success. As such we have created this FAQ to help answer some of the more common questions about how ReCharge deals with shipping and shipping-related tasks. For general information on shipping including a video visit Setting up shipping for subscription products.

General Questions

ReCharge Shipping Zones FAQ

General Questions

Does ReCharge allow shipping integrations with third-party apps?

Yes. We have many available integrations for third-party shipping apps. You can find a list of all compatible and non-compatible integrations by visiting Third-party compatibility.

How do I set up weight-based shipping rates?

For instruction on setting up weight-based shipping rates, visit Shipping by weight. Price-based shipping rates rely on the static price of the product in Shopify so we do not recommend using price-based rates for subscription products.

Is it possible to create discounts for shipping rates? 

Yes. For more information, visit Creating discount codes. Note that shipping discount codes will discount the entire shipping amount and cannot be limited to one use per customer. 

How do shipping zones work with ReCharge?

Shipping zones dictate where your customers can ship your products to and what rates to offer your customers. Depending on your shipping settings they may be stored in Shopify or ReCharge. Read more about shipping zones in ReCharge Shipping Zones and Rates.

How do I offer free domestic shipping while charging international orders?

This can be done without affecting the shipping rates for your one-time orders. However, it will require some adjustments to your shipping settings in both Shopify and Recharge.

  1. First, set the weight of your subscription products to 0 in Shopify.
  2. Create a weight based shipping rate in Shopify for domestic orders, setting the minimum and maximum weight to 0. Select the free shipping option as the rate. Note that the sample package weight in Shopify may have a positive weight, so you will need to also set the weight to 0.
  3. Make sure that the rest of your non-subscription products have a weight different than 0. This is so your one-time products receive are not provided the free shipping rate at checkout.
  4. Add a new shipping zone in Shopify and add international countries.
  5. Set a weight-based rate for the international shipping zones. You would set the minimum and maximum weight to 0 and enter the rate to ship your international subscriptions. 
Note: Ensure that your shipping settings in ReCharge are set to Charge shipping.

How does ReCharge handle shipping for prepaid orders?

Shipping charges will not be applied to prepaid shipment orders. To collect shipping, we recommend creating a weight-based rate that will be applied to the initial charge that covers the cost of shipments. For information on setting up shipping for prepaid subscriptions, visit Setting up prepaid subscriptions.

Is there a way to restrict shipping to PO boxes?

No - there isn't a built-in feature for restricting PO boxes. Other merchants have updated fields in the checkout to include the statement No PO boxes. For more information on changing the text at checkout, visit Language translations.

Can I set up shipping where a customer receives free shipping when ordering more than 1 subscription?

You can set up a weight-based shipping rate in Shopify and ReCharge will use the available shipping rate. For example, you can set the auto-renew product to be 1lbs and create a free shipping rate that recognizes when an order is over 2lbs. For more information, visit Shipping by weight. 

Can I offer free shipping for subscription products but charge shipping for one-time products?

Yes. To set up free shipping for subscription products, you will need to set the weight to 0lbs in Shopify. If your product is offered as both a subscription product and a one-time product, then you would need to set the weight of the auto-renew product to 0lbs. All one-time products and original products should be given a rate of 0.1lbs. 

Within your Shopify shipping rates, you would set up a weight-based rate for 0lbs-0lbs that is set to free shipping. You would then need to create an additional rate that is set from 0.1lbs and above that includes the rate you charge for shipping. 

When only subscription products are in the cart, then the customer will be provided free shipping. If there are one-time products or a mixed cart of items, then the customer will be provided shipping rates with a charge amount.

I only sell digital products. How can I remove shipping?

This varies based on the checkout your store uses.

ReCharge Checkout

Shopify requires a shipping address to be submitted with orders created using a third-party app. A recommendation is to change the verbiage on this page so it does not say 'Shipping Address'. This can be done in the Translations section of ReCharge. For more information, visit Language translations.

You can also use CSS to hide the Different billing address than shipping address option on the second page of checkout.

Shopify Checkout

Yes, you can set up digital products through the Shopify Checkout. During checkout, if there is a non-physical subscription product, the shipping address fields do not display.

Can I change the order of shipping rates as they appear at checkout?

At the moment, no. For further insight as to how shipping rates are ordered:

  • The order of the shipping rates in the ReCharge checkout is determined by Shopify

  • Shopify will order from the cheapest to the most expensive rate.

  • If all the rates are the same price, Shopify will order the rates depending on whether the shipping rate title starts with a capital or not. It will then order the rates from the longest title to the shortest title based on the number of characters.

I switched fulfillment centers - why are my orders listing my old fulfillment center?

Orders that have been queued prior to the switch will still list the previous fulfillment center in the JSON information we send to Shopify. Reach out to ReCharge Support and our team will regenerate your queued orders so they have the correct fulfillment center information. 

Can I keep shipping to a specific country for existing customers, but prevent new customers located in that country from checking out?

You can either update your ReCharge Shipping Settings or use custom code, to keep shipping to existing customers, but prevent new customers from checking out. 

  1. To update your ReCharge Shipping Settings, navigate to your ReCharge Admin and select Shipping from the Settings drop-down menu.
  2. Set your shipping rates to ship to specific countries, and add only the countries that you currently ship to in the Countries section. 
  3. In the Errors section, set your preferences to Display an error if no matching shipping is found in ReCharge. This ensures the customer checking out requires an applicable shipping rate.
  4. Remove the country from your shipping zones in ReCharge and/or Shopify depending on where your rates are configured.
  5. To prevent any order errors, manually set the shipping rate for existing customers located in this country. Our support team is available to assist with updating customers in bulk if you have more than 50 customers located in this country.

Alternatively, you can hide shipping countries from the checkout using custom CSS/Javascript. This is not supported by ReCharge as outlined in our customization policy. You may wish to work with one of our Partners to build this customization.

I updated the weight of the original product in Shopify, but the wrong shipping rate is being calculated at the checkout?

Updating the weight of the original product will not change the weight of the auto-renew product. You will need to manually update the weight of the auto-renew product to ensure that the shipping rate is calculated correctly.

ReCharge does not automatically sync weight changes to the auto-renew product, as merchants will sometimes want to maintain separate SKUs/weights on hidden products versus original products.

ReCharge Shipping Zones FAQ

I want to offer different shipping rates for customers located in Alaska and Hawaii. Is it possible to set up separate rates for customers located outside of the contiguous US?

Yes, with ReCharge Shipping Zones you can set up shipping rates at a state/provincial level. In this case, you could create one rate for contiguous states, and a separate rate for orders originating in Alaska or Hawaii.

Can you have one region in multiple shipping zones?

No, similar to Shopify, zones cannot overlap. Each region, or zone, can only appear in one Shipping Zone.

Are ReCharge Rates compatible with Shopify Shipping Profiles?

No, Advanced shipping rates are not compatible with Shopify Shipping Profiles. If you are using a Shopify Shipping Profiles and import your shipping rates from Shopify into ReCharge, only the general shipping profile rates will import.

If you wish to continue using Shopify Shipping Profiles you can either:

  • Continue using the Basic shipping rates option.
  • Use Advanced shipping rates and toggle on the include rates from Shopify option. This setting calls Shopify for shipping rates while also presenting your customers with the available rates you have set in ReCharge.

Why is the same shipping rate displayed twice in the checkout?

If you have duplicate rates in a ReCharge zone and a Shopify zone and have include rates from Shopify toggled on, please be aware that these rates will show up twice on your checkout. To avoid this, you can delete any duplicate rates on ReCharge.

Can I set specific shipping rates based on what my customer has in their cart?

No, at this time ReCharge Rates do not support per product shipping.

You could create a manual rate with conditions so that customers have to meet certain weight or order amount stipulations to be eligible for certain rates.

What happens if I'm using the import Shopify rates and I change my rates in Shopify?

Rates are not automatically re-imported from Shopify. If you make changes to the rate in Shopify, you will also need to re-import the rate in Recharge.

When re-importing, all existing zones, and rates are removed and replaced with the most up to date rates set in Shopify.

Can I use different rate types for different locations?

Not at this time. You would need to determine if you wish to offer shipping rates through Shopify or ReCharge, however, can switch between rates to another at any time.

Will my new shipping rates automatically apply to upcoming orders?

No. A queued charge is created with the shipping rates available at the time the order is created.

If you have your rates set up to dynamically recalculate, you'll need to contact our support team to resync the rates for you. If you have your rates set to retain, you can update them with a bulk update.

I’m using price-based shipping rates and recently performed a bulk update to change the cost of my subscription products. How come the shipping rates on existing orders did not update to match the shipping rate available for this new price point?

When creating shipping rates, we use the price of the auto-renew product in Shopify to provide the correct shipping rate on an order.

If you manually adjust the price of a subscription product (ie. through a bulk update or workflow), the shipping rate will not automatically adjust.

You also need to manually adjust the price of the auto-renew product in Shopify, and resync your rulesets in ReCharge, so that the new price is used to fetch shipping rates when an order is created.

Alternatively, you can set your shipping rates to retain and manually adjust the shipping rate for customers in the ReCharge admin, or through a bulk update.

Please contact our support team to perform a regen on any existing orders where the shipping rate needs to be adjusted.

My customers have applied a discount to their order, but they’re still seeing the same price-based shipping rates displayed at checkout. How come the shipping rate isn’t updating to match the new order price?

The shipping rate applied to orders doesn’t take into account discount codes at this time as we rely on the price of the product set in Shopify. This is the case whether you use Basic shipping rates or Advanced shipping rates.

Why is there sometimes a discrepancy between the weight-based rates provided by Shopify and the weight-based rates provided by ReCharge?

Shopify has a default package setting that is added into the orders total weight calculation. ReCharge doesn’t have this setting and doesn’t use a default package weight/size when calculating the shipping rate. Because of this, the same order can result in slightly different results depending on what checkout you are going through.

Related articles