Offering free shipping on subscription orders

You may want to provide free shipping to your customers, especially if they sign up for a subscription. Free shipping is a great value-add option to prompt customers to subscribe long term rather than a one-time purchase. This guide provides advice on setting up shipping in your eCommerce platform and Recharge depending on the specific free shipping scenario. For general information on shipping, visit Setting up shipping for subscription products.

Before you start

Merchants using the Shopify Checkout Integration configure shipping via the Shopify shipping settings. To offer free shipping refer to Shopify's article Setting free shipping as the default shipping rate.

Merchants using the Recharge Checkout on Shopify or BigCommerce should configure shipping settings on Recharge. Recharge Checkout on Shopify merchants have the option to use Shopify rates or implement advanced shipping rules and create specific rules in Recharge, but shipping settings do still need to be configured in Recharge. For general information on shipping, visit Setting up shipping for subscription products.

Free shipping on the first charge only

One way to accomplish free shipping on the first charge only is to create a free shipping discount code as per our Creating discount codes. 

Alternatively, if you want to offer free shipping on the first charge only after which a different shipping rate will be applied you would need to use our Workflows tool. This tool enables the change of subscription order parameters from one charge to the next. Review our free shipping workflow use case for more information.

Merchants using the Shopify Checkout Integration and Shopify Plus can use Shopify Scripts to configure free shipping for subscription orders at checkout. Once the script is configured, you can combine it with a workflow to offer a different shipping rate.

Free shipping on subscription and one-time products

If you offer free shipping on your products, regardless of the type of product or where the customer is located, you can set your Recharge shipping settings to Do not charge shipping.

Free shipping for new customers only

You may want to offer free shipping as an incentive to new customers when they sign up, but keep the original shipping rates remaining for existing customers. 

You can use our guide Offering free shipping to new customers to change the shipping rates for new customers only.

Free shipping on subscription products

There are three ways to offer free shipping on subscription products only, joining the Free Shipping on Subscriptions early release program, using Shopify Shipping Profiles, and using Weight-based shipping rates.  

Free Shipping on Subscriptions early release program

You can offer free shipping on subscription products only by joining the Free Shipping on Subscriptions early release program. To join the program, fill out the opt-in form. 

Shopify Shipping Profiles

Use Shopify Shipping Profiles to create separate shipping profiles to offer free shipping for subscription products only. 

Weight-based shipping rates

You can use weight-based shipping rates to offer free shipping on subscription products only. 

Step 1 - Set the product weight

1. Head to the Product dashboard in Shopify and select the hidden, auto-renew product.
2. Scroll down to the Shipping section and set the weight to 0lbs.
3. Press Save.

Step 2 - Create the free shipping rate

1. From the General shipping rates section in your Shopify shipping settings, select Manage rates.
2. In the Shipping to section select Create shipping zone. Select the countries that your shipping rate should apply to. Press Done one finished.
3. Select Add rate.
4. Choose Set up your own rates. 
5. Add a name to your rate and keep the price set as $0.00 to offer free shipping. 
6. Select Add conditions and set the condition to based on item weight.
7. Enter 0 as the minimum and maximum item weight. Press Done to add the rate. 

This shipping rate will only apply to orders with a total weight of 0lbs, so you'll want to create an additional rate for your one-time products. Keep in mind that the package weight will be part of the total weight calculation.

Once you have created all necessary shipping rates, press Save.

Check package weights

Shopify places a default weight on packages in their Shipping settings. This can lead to the free shipping rate not working if you use weight-based rates. For example, if you have a product that is 1lb and a shipping rate from 0-1lb that is $4.99, then the shipping rate will not work.

To resolve this issue, update your Shopify package weight:

1. In Shopify, click Settings and select Shipping & Delivery.
2. Scroll down to the Packages section and click Edit next to the default package.
3. Set the weight to 0.
4. Click Save.