Checkout Page minimises Shipping section and auto selects free shipping

[Epsryn]

Why does the shipping options in the shopify checkout automatically collapse. We have a free pickup at store option. Shopify does the following really non-intuitive options at the checkout page that is BAD for both store owners and customers:

1. the shipping option always chooses the free one as the automatic selection
2. the shipping options are collapsed and very easy for customers to not know there ARE OTHER SHIPPING OPTIONS
3. it will say free shipping on the final box on the side (the final price and checkout part) and because the shipping options are mid way down the page customers glaze over this and assume shipping is free.

We have roughly 40% of ALL orders that require us to call the customer, explain that shopify has this stupid shipping option, warn them to never host a site on shopify, and then arrange shipping cost with them. This makes some customers angry, and all though most understand its because shopify, a small company, can't provide their paying customers an option to arrange the shipping how they want, or even just EXPAND THE SHIPPING OPTIONS SO THEY ARE MORE VISIBLE TO THE CUSTOMER.

Does anyone have a solution? The shipping options use to be automatically expanded and then, it must be less than a month ago, someone decided it would be a good option to automatically collapse it. Please, someone help us. It's crazy this was even something they implemented - and then remove the option to just:

• auto-expand
• choose the order of delivery options.

We must be wasting 30-60 minutes a day dealing with this

[SibiFiroz]

Hello Epsryn,

Greetings!

You're dealing with the recent Shopify update where shipping options are collapsed by default, and the free option (like pickup) is automatically selected. Unfortunately, Shopify doesn't currently offer a way to auto-expand shipping options or reorder them unless you're on Shopify Plus (which allows custom scripts).
Here are some workarounds that may help:

1. Rename Pickup Option – Change the name to something like "Free Pickup (Local Only)" to make it clearer it's not a standard shipping method.
2. Add a Cart/Checkout Banner – Use a notice at checkout reminding customers to expand and review all shipping options before completing their order.
3. Submit a Feature Request – Contact Shopify Support and request a feature to reintroduce auto-expanding shipping options, as many merchants are facing this issue.

These solutions can help reduce customer confusion, but for now, Shopify doesn’t provide an out-of-the-box fix for this behavior.

[Epsryn]

why did they do this and how hard is it to have a button that can expand the shipping options.

This has seriously messed up customers constantly placing orders without realising they have chosen pick up. We do have pick up as the option but it says free on the right hand side.

will they fix this?!?!

[ZeroWasteCo]

I've just noticed this as well. Classic stupidity move from Shopify developers not really understanding what their customer's (us) want and need. Why would we want to hide multiple choice options at such a crucial point in the checkout process? People are lazy and if they don't see a different choice they're not going to intuitively go looking for it. Why change something that wasn't broken and didn't need fixing.

[ZeroWasteCo]

Just found a "workaround" well kind of. It can at least help to bring it to the customers attention. Go to Onine Store > Themes > Edit default theme content (under the elipses) and filter the list to checkout & system then search for "shipping method" and you can change the default title text for "Shipping method". E.g. I just changed mine to "Shipping method - EXPAND FOR MORE OPTIONS"

It's not much, but might help flag it for customers.

[Epsryn]

Thanks mate,
every little bit helps - well thought out