How can I adjust international shipping rates for accurate costs?

[GinoG1]

We use calculated shipping for our orders local and international, but the rates that are being offered to our international customers sometimes are not enough to cover the true cost to ship to them. Can international customers be on a flat shipping rate or how do we fix this? 
(I just took over the store after the main employee quit so all the "how to" you can provide would be greatly appreciated! 

[Mirdas]

Hello @GinoG1 ,

Here are some fundamental checks for troubleshooting Shopify Checkout Rate issues.

If you're using Carrier Calculated shipping rates via Shopify Shipping or an app, the following factors can affect shipping costs:

1. Sender's address
2. Recipient's address
3. Package weight
4. Selected carrier or service
5. Special services like insurance, adult signature required
6. Duties and taxes

if the issue persist, compare the shipping rates directly on the carrier's website.

[GinoG1]

So, maybe I don't have a grasp on how our shipping options are set up, but the customer Has already chosen a price for shipping and we select which carrier to send it through. For domestic or orders there's never an issue. However, for international deliveries normally the dollar amount on the order for shipping doesn't cover what our cheapest option is in our drop-down menu of carriers. Simplified, they have chosen a shipping price that doesn't cover the cost of shipping it and if we sent the order we would be losing money. For some orders it would erase our margins or actually cost us money.

[Keshan97]

Hi Gino,

I've encountered and solved a similar issue for a cosmetics brand based in Ireland. To address discrepancies in international shipping rates, I developed a custom app that adjusts pricing based on the visitor's IP address, ensuring the shipping rates reflect the actual costs more accurately.

Switching your international customers to a flat shipping rate is indeed an option. This can be set up directly in your Shopify admin under Settings > Shipping and delivery. Here, you can create a new shipping zone for your international customers and apply a flat rate for all orders within that zone.

If you’re interested, I can help tailor a solution specific to your needs, potentially incorporating a similar approach to what I built for the cosmetics brand. Feel free to drop me an email, and we can discuss this further.