What Is Free Shipping? Key Benefits and Drawbacks
Let's start with the basics: what is free shipping?
Simply put, free shipping means that customers don't have to pay any additional fees to have their order shipped to them.
This can be a major draw for customers, as it makes the purchasing process more transparent and eliminates any surprises at checkout.
But why is free shipping so important? For starters,
- Increases conversion rates: It encourages customers to complete their purchase, leading to higher conversion rates and more sales.
- Attracts new customers: It’s a powerful marketing tool that can help attract new customers to your store.
- Improves customer satisfaction: Customers often appreciate free shipping and may have a more positive shopping experience when they receive it, leading to better customer satisfaction and potentially repeat business.
- Helps compete with other businesses: It helps you stay competitive with other businesses that may already be offering it.
- Can increase average order value: In some cases, offering free shipping may encourage customers to add more items to their cart to qualify for the promotion, which can increase the average order value for your store.
- Builds customer loyalty: It helps build trust and loyalty with your customers, potentially leading to more repeat business and positive word-of-mouth recommendations.
Of course, there are some downsides to consider too. For one,
- Offering free shipping can be expensive for store owners. Shipping fees can add up quickly, especially if you're shipping large or heavy items.
- Additionally, if you offer free shipping too often, customers may come to expect it and be less likely to make a purchase if they don't see it.
So how do you balance the benefits of free shipping with the potential downsides?
One way is to set a minimum order amount for free shipping. This can encourage customers to add more items to their cart to qualify for free shipping, which can help increase your average order value.
Another tactic is to use popups to announce discount codes and special promotions.
By offering occasional discounts instead of free shipping all the time, you can keep your customers engaged and excited about your store.
Step-by-Step: How to Set Up Free Shipping on Shopify
To simplify your shipping setup, Shopify comes with a default general shipping profile that applies uniform shipping rates to all your products.
Any new or existing products will be automatically added to this profile, and any products or variants that don't have a custom profile will use the general shipping rates by default.
If the default general shipping profile isn't suitable for your business and you need to set different shipping rates for various products, Shopify lets you create *up to 99 custom shipping profiles.
Setting Up Free Shipping as the Default Shipping Rate on Shopify
If you want to set free shipping as the default shipping rate,
- From your admin, navigate to “Settings” and then “Shipping and delivery”.
- Next, click “Manage” on the “General shipping rates” section.
- Scroll down to “Shipping zones”, click “Edit rate,” and set the shipping rate as “0” to make it free.
- Finally, click “Done” and “Save”.
That’s it! You set free shipping as your store’s default shipping rate successfully.
Setting Up Free Shipping on Orders over a Certain Amount on Shopify
In order to provide free shipping on orders that exceed a particular amount, you must include a condition based on the price of your free shipping rate.
For this,
- From your admin, navigate to “Settings” and then “Shipping and delivery”.
- Click “Create new profile” under the shipping section. (If you have a profile already, click “Manage”.)
- Scroll down to “Shipping zones” and click “Create zone” (or Edit zone if you already have one).
- After creating a zone, click “Add rate”.
- Select “Set up your own rates” and set the price as “Free”. Click “Add conditions” below and select “Based on order price”.
- After setting a minimum and maximum price, click “Done” and “Save”.
Voila! Now orders over the amount you set will automatically be set to free shipping!
Tip: Following the same steps and choosing “Based on item weight” at the last step, you can set up free shipping on orders over a specific weight.
Setting Up Free Shipping for Certain Products on Shopify
Shopify also allows you to set up free shipping for certain products if that’s what serves your business goals. For this,
- From your admin, navigate to “Settings” and then “Shipping and delivery”.
- Click “Create new profile” under the shipping section. (If you have a profile already, click “Manage”.)
- Click “Manage products” under the Products section after naming your shipping profile.
- Scroll down to “Shipping zones” and click “Create zone” (or Edit zone if you already have one).
- After creating a zone, click “Add rate”.
- Select “Set up your own rates” and set the price as “Free”.
Tip: You can also set up conditions for this shipping profile as well.
There you have it! Now only the products in this shipping profile will be shipped for free.
Why Free Shipping is a Game-Changer for Your Shopify Store
Free shipping is more than a perk—it’s a proven way to drive sales and build loyalty. Here’s why it matters in 2025:
- Boosts Conversions: 82% of shoppers are more likely to complete a purchase if delivery is free.
- Increases Order Value: 58% of customers add items to their cart to qualify for free shipping, increasing average order value by 30%.
- Enhances Loyalty: 84% have made a purchase specifically due to free shipping, fostering repeat business.
- Reduces Cart Abandonment: With 48% of consumers abandoning carts due to shipping costs, free shipping can keep customers engaged.
While free shipping can raise costs, setting a minimum order threshold (e.g., $50) can offset expenses and encourage larger purchases.
How to Create a Free Shipping Discount Code on Shopify
Alternatively, if you wish to provide free shipping to your customers, you can generate a free shipping discount.
However, such discounts do not get applied automatically to the orders, and your customers must enter the code during checkout to avail of the discount.
To create a free shipping discount code,
- Go to your Shopify admin, click “Discounts,” and continue with “Create discount”.
- Choose “Free shipping”.
- You can set a discount code or click “Generate” to get a random discount code. Choose the countries and set a condition as excluding shipping rates over a certain amount.
Optionally, you can set up a minimum purchase requirement.
- You can choose the customers you want to offer the discount to.
- Set the number of times the discount can be used.
- Set if this discount can be combined with other discounts.
- And set the dates when the discount code will be active.
- After completing the process, select the Save option.
In order to circulate this discount, you can either send the code to your customers through email or exhibit it on your online store.
But how will you let your visitors know about the free shipping discount on your website?
How to Use Popups to Promote Free Shipping Offers
Discount codes can be an excellent tool to drive sales and customer loyalty, but you need to ensure that your customers are aware of them.
This is where popups can come in handy. Popups can be used to display your discount codes to customers in a more prominent and eye-catching way.
Setting up free shipping discount popups on Shopify with Popupsmart is super easy!
Just create an account for free and then choose a ready-to-use popup template from Popupsmart’s rich popup template gallery.
You can tweak it to make it a perfect fit for your website. You can also customize the timing and frequency of the popups to make sure they're not too intrusive.
Tip: Popupsmart has a Shopify element that can help you showcase your collections in a stylish way.
When creating popups, it's important to strike a balance between promoting the discount code and not being too pushy or annoying.
Effective popups are those that are well-timed, well-designed, and have clear and concise messaging.
So keeping these best practices in mind…
Create your Free Shipping Discount Popup for Free Today!
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Offering free shipping is not only a great way to increase sales, but it also shows your customers that you value their time and money.
By implementing the tips we've shared in this post, you can set up free shipping on your Shopify store and give your customers a reason to keep coming back for more.
Remember, when it comes to online shopping, the customer experience is everything.
Offering free shipping can be a game-changer for your business, and by using Shopify's built-in tools, and a user-friendly popup builder, you can make it a seamless and cost-effective part of your Shopify marketing strategy.
So, go ahead and give it a try – who knows, you might just see your sales soar!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who Pays for Shipping on Shopify?
The responsibility of paying for shipping on Shopify depends on the agreement between the buyer and the seller.
In general, the buyer is responsible for paying for shipping unless the seller offers free shipping or includes the cost of shipping in the item price.
2. Does Shopify Automatically Create a Shipping Label?
Yes, as soon as an order in your store is prepared for fulfillment and satisfies the criteria you have established, shipping labels in draft form are generated automatically for that particular order.
3. How Shopify Shipping Cost is Calculated?
Shopify calculates shipping costs based on the shipping carrier rates that you set up in your Shopify store.
You can choose to use carrier-calculated shipping rates, which are calculated by the shipping carrier based on factors such as package weight, destination, and shipping method.
You can also choose to set your own shipping rates based on flat rates, weight-based rates, or price-based rates.
Check These Out!
- Blow Up Email Lists Effortlessly with a Free Shipping Popup
- Sync Inventory between Two Shopify Stores (Manually&via App)
Frequently Asked Questions
How to set up free shipping over $35 on Shopify?
1. To set up free shipping over $35 on Shopify, go to your Shopify admin and navigate to Settings > Shipping and delivery, then open the shipping profile that applies to the products you sell (most stores use “General”). Under the correct Shipping zones section (for example, United States or your domestic zone), click Add rate (or Add shipping rate), choose Set up your own rates, and create a rate named something like “Free Shipping Over $35” with the price set to $0. Next, add a condition so the rate only appears when the order qualifies: select a minimum based on Order price and set the minimum to 35.00 (use your store currency), then save. Afterward, test it by adding items to your cart below and above $35 to confirm the free option appears only when the threshold is met, and consider also keeping a paid rate (like Standard Shipping) for orders under $35 so shoppers still have a clear checkout option.
How to get rid of shipping fees on Shopify?
2. To get rid of shipping fees on Shopify, you’ll typically create a shipping rate that costs $0 so customers see “Free shipping” at checkout. In Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery, open the relevant shipping profile, and in each shipping zone you want to cover, add a new rate with the price set to $0 (often named “Free Shipping”). If you want free shipping on every order, don’t add conditions; if you only want it sometimes, add conditions like a minimum order value (e.g., free over $50) or target specific products via a separate shipping profile. Make sure you remove or adjust any existing paid shipping rates that would still apply, and double-check that your product weights, package settings, and shipping zones are correct—misconfigurations can cause unexpected rates to appear or prevent the free option from showing for certain addresses.
Who pays for free shipping on Shopify?
3. On Shopify, “free shipping” is paid for by the business, not Shopify—meaning the store owner covers the carrier cost (or builds it into pricing) so the customer sees a $0 shipping charge at checkout. Merchants usually fund free shipping in a few common ways: increasing product prices slightly to absorb average shipping costs, setting a minimum order threshold (like “free shipping over $35”) so higher-margin carts subsidize delivery, restricting free shipping to certain regions or shipping methods (e.g., free standard shipping only), negotiating better carrier rates (through Shopify Shipping where available or third-party rates), or using fulfillment partners with competitive shipping pricing. The key is that the cost doesn’t disappear; it’s either paid directly by the merchant per order or offset through strategy and margins.
How to give free shipping to customers?
4. To give free shipping to customers, you can either offer it universally or make it conditional, depending on your margins and goals. The most common approach is to create a $0 shipping rate in Settings > Shipping and delivery and apply it to the shipping zones you want, then optionally add a minimum order value (for example, free shipping over $35) to encourage larger carts and protect profitability. Another practical method is to bake shipping costs into product pricing—raising prices slightly so the “free shipping” promise doesn’t erode profit—especially for lightweight, predictable items. You can also limit free shipping to specific products (using shipping profiles), specific customer segments (via discount apps or Shopify Functions depending on your setup), or specific methods (free standard shipping while charging for expedited), and you can promote it with clear messaging like “Free shipping on orders $35+” on product pages, the cart, and checkout to reduce surprises and increase conversions.
What do experts say about free shipping on shopify?
5. Experts generally recommend using free shipping on Shopify as a strategic conversion tool rather than a blanket perk you offer without guardrails, because it can lift conversion rates and average order value but can also quietly damage margins if you don’t control it. The standard expert playbook is to set up a $0 shipping rate in Settings > Shipping and delivery and use conditions—most commonly a minimum order value—to balance customer appeal with profitability (e.g., “Free shipping over $35” to nudge customers to add one more item). They also advise aligning the offer with your unit economics (product margins, average shipping cost by zone, return rates), limiting it to regions where costs are predictable, and being transparent in messaging so shoppers aren’t surprised by exclusions. Many experienced merchants test different thresholds and promotions, compare performance by device and traffic source, and treat free shipping as part of a broader pricing and fulfillment strategy (better carrier rates, packaging optimization, and clear delivery expectations) rather than a simple checkbox setting.
What is Shopify free shipping code?
6. A Shopify free shipping code is a discount code (also called a promo code) that customers enter at checkout to apply free shipping to their order, usually with optional rules like minimum spend, specific countries, or specific customer eligibility. You create it in Shopify admin under Discounts by choosing Create discount and selecting Free shipping, then setting details such as the countries it applies to, whether there’s a minimum purchase amount (e.g., $35), and whether it can combine with other discounts. This approach is useful when you want free shipping to be a limited-time promotion (like a holiday campaign), an email/SMS subscriber perk, or an influencer offer, because it gives you tighter control than always-on free shipping and makes it easy to track redemptions and campaign performance.
What are the Best free shipping on shopify?
7. The best “free shipping” setup on Shopify depends on your margins, product weight, and where you ship, but the strongest options tend to be the ones that increase conversions without letting shipping costs spiral. For many stores, the best approach is conditional free shipping (for example, free standard shipping over $35 or $50) because it boosts average order value and helps pay for delivery; another top option is region-based free shipping (free domestic shipping, paid international) to keep costs predictable; and a third is method-based free shipping (free economy/standard, paid expedited) so customers who want speed help cover the extra cost. Product- or collection-specific free shipping can work well for high-margin items or bundles, and free shipping codes are often best for targeted promotions you want to measure. Whichever route you choose, the “best” free shipping offer is one that you can sustain—so it’s worth calculating your average shipping cost per order, setting a threshold that protects margin, and clearly communicating the rules (threshold, regions, and delivery speed) to avoid cart abandonment and support issues.
