Market-based Shipping

From October 2026, Shopify is phasing in a change to how shipping is managed in Shopify.

Why things are changing

Shopify is replacing shipping profiles (also called delivery profiles) with shipping options by market. Until now, you set up shipping by creating profiles, adding zones, and adding rates to each zone. In the new system, each market (for example "United Kingdom" or "Europe") has its own list of shipping options.

Shopify is moving stores over gradually:

• From October 2026: stores can be moved to the new system, or choose to move early.
• By July 2027: Shopify plans to have every store on the new system.

These are Shopify's target dates and may change.

Postcode Shipping supports both systems. If your store hasn't been moved yet, nothing changes for you until it is.

How to tell whether your store has moved

In your Shopify admin, go to Settings → Shipping and delivery.

• If you see shipping profiles with zones and rates, you're still on the old system.
• If shipping is organised by market, your store has moved.

Postcode Shipping detects this automatically each time you open the app.

[Screenshot: Settings → Shipping and delivery, old view vs new view]

The big picture

What doesn't change

• Your rates, shipping zones and regions in Postcode Shipping stay exactly as they are. You don't need to set anything up again.
• How rates are calculated. At checkout, Shopify still asks Postcode Shipping for rates, and we answer using your current settings.
• App-based Product Groups work exactly as before.

What changes

[Screenshot: the Markets card on the Postcode Shipping dashboard]

Important: check for split Postcode Shipping options

This is the most important section if you used more than one shipping profile.

When Shopify moves your store, it turns each of your old shipping profiles into its own shipping option in your markets. If Postcode Shipping was in three profiles, each market may now have three Postcode Shipping options. Each one is limited to the products from its old profile, using a hidden collection that Shopify creates.

At checkout, Shopify sends us a separate rate request for each of those options, and each request contains only part of the cart. That causes problems for rules that depend on the whole cart, such as:

• rules based on the total cart weight or value;
• rules based on whether other Product Groups are in the cart;
• the highest, lowest and whole-group behaviours in App-based Product Groups.

The fix: each market should have one Postcode Shipping option that applies to all products. Your Product Groups in Postcode Shipping then decide which rates apply to which products.

To fix this

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Markets and open each market that ships to customers.
2. Click Shipping and look for more than one Postcode Shipping option.
3. Keep one of them and change its settings (see Edit a shipping option):
4. • Applies to: all products. Remove any collections it's limited to.
   • Ships from: every location you ship from.
4. Delete the other Postcode Shipping options (see Remove a shipping option).
5. Click Save.
6. Repeat for every market.
7. Then, in Postcode Shipping, go to Product Groups, tick "I have updated my market shipping settings in Shopify", and click Switch to App-based Product Groups.

Why both steps matter: if you switch to App-based Product Groups but leave the split options in place, whole-cart rules still won't work, because Shopify keeps splitting the cart. If you fix the options but stay on Shopify-based Product Groups, your groups can't be updated any more.

When you switch, your existing Product Groups and their rates are kept. They simply become App-based groups that you manage in Postcode Shipping.

Managing Postcode Shipping in your markets

You can do this in two places:

• In Postcode Shipping (quickest): on the dashboard, open Markets → Details, tick the markets you want, and click Update shipping options. We create the option for you, covering all products and all of your locations that fulfil online orders.
• In your Shopify admin: follow the steps below. Use this if you have more than 10 markets, need a child market, or want to change an option's settings.

Add Postcode Shipping to a market

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Markets and click the market.
2. Click Shipping, then Add shipping option.
3. Under Rate type, choose Carrier or app calculated, then choose Postcode Shipping.
4. Make sure all Postcode Shipping services are selected. Any service that isn't selected won't show at checkout.
5. Leave Applies to set to all products.
6. Next to Ships from, click Edit and select every location you ship from, then click Done.
7. Click Done, then Save.

Leave any handling fee empty unless you deliberately want to mark up or discount every Postcode Shipping rate in this market.

Edit a shipping option

1. Go to Markets, click the market, then click Shipping.
2. Next to the Postcode Shipping option, open More actions and choose Edit.
3. Make your changes (for example Applies to, Ships from, or the selected services).
4. Click Save, then Done, then Save for the market.

Remove a shipping option

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1. Go to Markets, click the market, then click Shipping.
2. Next to the Postcode Shipping option, open More actions and choose Delete.
3. Click Save.

If you only want to stop offering it for a while, choose Set as inactive instead. The Postcode Shipping app will then show the market as "Inactive in Shopify".

Child markets and inheritance

Markets can sit inside other markets, for example "France" inside "Europe". A child market uses its parent's shipping options by default.

• If the parent has Postcode Shipping, the child already offers it. The app shows this as "Covered by Europe".
• To give a child market its own shipping options, open it in Shopify, click Shipping, then Add a Shipping Option.

Be careful with customising child markets: once a child market has its own shipping options, it stops using its parent's. Any rates you add to the parent later won't reach it. That's why the Postcode Shipping app won't change child markets for you; you need to do it in Shopify.

If you add a new location

When a Postcode Shipping option is created, it lists the locations it ships from. If you add a new location later, it isn't added to existing options automatically. Products that ship from the new location won't get Postcode Shipping rates until you add it.

To add it: edit the Postcode Shipping option in each market and add the new location under Ships from.

If you have more than 10 markets

To keep things fast and reliable, the Postcode Shipping app shows your first 10 markets. We never change markets that aren't shown. To add, edit or remove Postcode Shipping in your other markets, use the Shopify admin steps above.

Check your checkout

After making changes, check that rates appear as you expect:

• Use Rate Sandbox in Postcode Shipping to see the rates for a test address and basket.
• Place a test order using an address in each market you changed.

FAQ

Do I need to do anything if my store hasn't moved yet?
No. Everything carries on as normal, and the app switches over when your store moves.

Will Shopify remove Postcode Shipping when it moves my store?
No. Shopify adds Postcode Shipping to the relevant markets during the move. If you used more than one shipping profile, check for split options.

I'm using Shopify-based Product Groups. Will my rates stop working?
No. They keep working, but they can't be imported any more once you are using market-based shipping. We recommend switching to App-based Product Groups once you've combined your shipping options.

Can I switch back to Shopify-based Product Groups later?
No. Once your store uses shipping by market, App-based Product Groups are the only option.

I've changed something and my rates look wrong.
Contact support and tell us which market you changed. We're happy to help.

Updated on: 23/10/2026