different rates for different locations

[arcalliq]

During a year, I ship from two different locations but only from one location at a time. I ship the same products to exactly the same countries. But for most of the year I ship from UK (and only from UK) and when I am visiting my parents in Slovakia, I ship from there (and only from there). At the moment when I change the location I ship from, the shipping rates for the other location get removed. So when I go from UK to Slovakia, my UK shipping rates get deleted and I have to set up new ones for Slovakia and the other way round. Howerver, my shipping rates are quite complicated and it takes me quite a few hours to set them up. Is there a way to keep shipping rates for both location and just somehow disable one of them?

[UjjawalS]

Hi @arcalliq Unfortunately, Shopify's built-in functionality doesn't currently allow you to keep shipping rates for both locations and disable one directly. However, there are a few workarounds you can consider like, 

• Shipping Profiles:

Create two separate shipping profiles, one for the UK and one for Slovakia. Set up tiers for shipping rates to different countries within each profile. This way, you only need to maintain one set of rates for each country, regardless of the origin location.

• Fulfillment Locations with Advanced Shopify or Plus plan

If you're on the Advanced Shopify or Plus plan, you can utilize the fulfillment locations option. Mark your products with the corresponding fulfillment location (UK or Slovakia). Set up shipping profiles for each fulfillment location with the respective rates. When switching locations, you can disable the inactive location within your fulfillment settings. This won't delete the rates but will prevent them from being offered at checkout.

• Shopify Shipping Apps With Multi-Location

The Shopify Multi Carrier Shipping Labels App offers more control over multi-location shipping with temporary disabling features. Additionally, it offers real-time rates from shipping carriers that save you a lot of hassle to configure rates manually.

By implementing one of these workarounds, you can streamline your multi-location shipping rate management in Shopify and avoid the hassle of repeatedly setting up complex rates.

[arcalliq]

Thank you @UjjawalS. I have looked at setting up different shipping profiles but either it is not really a solution to my problem, or I don't understand it properly. shipping prices and zones are considerably different from each location.

Would you mind elaborting on that option please?

[UjjawalS]

@arcalliq I think I did not explain the details completely.

You can follow these steps:

• Add 2 Shop Locations in Shopify settings under Locations; one of which will be primary
• Create 1 profile for both the UK and Slovakia
• Create Zones and Shipping Rates separately for both Shop Locations. This way your customers will be able to access complete inventory without you having to manually update it.
• Now the catch here is that you will need to deactivate the Location when you are switching the origin. Deactivating the location doesn't delete the shipping profile, zones, or shipping rates that you have set up for that location.
• When you are switching the location again, you need to activate the location and deactivate the other one so that new rates can be applied

Please make a note that Primary/Default Shop Location can not be deactivated, so you need to switch the primary location to the address where you are shipping from.

[arcalliq]

I a m even more confused than before. You say; 

• Create 1 profile for both the UK and Slovakia  do you mean one for both together or one for each separately?  When I try to create new profile for UK, it asks me to remove Slovakia rates.
• Create Zones and Shipping Rates separately for both Shop Locations - But how will the system know which rate zones and rates are for Slovakia and which ones are for UK? There is no way to mark them.

[UjjawalS]

@arcalliq You have to create one profile for both addresses. Then there is a way to create different Zones and Rates for both the shop locations. My answer is also based on that. Once you have created zones and rates for both places, you must activate and deactivate the location from Shopify location settings, based on where you want to ship from. The shipping rates will not get deleted this way. 

[arcalliq]

You have to create one profile for both addresses. Then there is a way to create different Zones and Rates for both the shop locations.

you see, you are telling me what to do but not how to do it.

[UjjawalS]

sorry my bad.. here are the detailed steps:

• After creating the shipping profile, the shop locations will populate automatically, see below screenshot: Los Angeles & Shop Location

• now you have to click on the edit symbol next to your 2nd address and you will see this option shown in the screenshot

• this is what will let you create new zones and then rates for the 2nd location.

[arcalliq]

Ok, so I figured out where the problem was (in case it is useful for anybody else). As I only ship from one location at a time, my second location was not ticked for "Fulfill online orders from this location" and that's why it was not coming up as an option in my shipping profile settings. 

So for setting up different rates/zones for different locations, all locations must be marked as fullfilling orders. Once the shipping settings for different location is done, if I wanted to untick ""Fulfill online orders from this location", the shipping settings for that location would get deleted. The only way to keep the shipping settings is to make the location inactive. The problem with that option is that then I have to reassign the inventory in that location to the other location which I don't want to do. So it seems, that my two options are to keep the inventory split between 2 locations and lose shipping settings. Or to keep the shipping settings and manually adjust the stock level for the location I am selling from at any given time. Not sure which one is worse.

Any solution for that?

[Rohan-developer]

Hello,

You can manage this by setting up all shipping rates and using the ShipRight app to control which ones are visible with a single click:

For when you’re shipping from the UK:

1. Open the app and click on the "Add a new rule" button.
2. Click “Add a new condition” and select the "Cart total" option.
3. Add 1 in the "Hide if more than" field.
4. Select the Slovakia shipping methods in the "Select shipping methods" field to hide them.
5. If your exact shipping option is not listed in the above field, add it in the "Additional shipping methods" field.
6. Save the rule.

This rule will hide all Slovakia shipping methods at the checkout page.

For when you’re shipping from Slovakia:

1. Open the app and click on the "Add a new rule" button.
2. Click "Add a new condition" and select the "Cart total" option.
3. Add 1 in the "Hide if more than" field.
4. Select the UK shipping methods in the "Select shipping methods" field to hide them.
5. If your exact shipping option is not listed in the above field, add it in the "Additional shipping methods" field.
6. Save the rule.

This rule will hide all UK shipping methods at the checkout page.

When you’re in the UK, you can simply disable the UK rule to ensure only UK shipping options are available, and vice versa for Slovakia. This way, you keep all your shipping rates intact and control their visibility with a single click.