How to set up a Free Shipping Promotion to only apply to Standard Shipping (not Expedited Shipping)

How to set up a Free Shipping Promotion to only apply to Standard Shipping (not Expedited Shipping)

BestPartyCracke
Visitor
1 0 5

Hi,

 

New Shopify user (BestPartyCrackers.com). I set up Standard and Expedited Shipping options with cost based bands based upon total order value. I'm trying to create a Free Shipping promotion so if that the user enters a promotion code they get free Standard Shipping.

 

I created the Free Shipping promotion and it works. But if a customer selects Expedited (Rush) shipping option and enters the code, Shopify removes the Expedited shipping charge. How do I set up the promotion and or shipping rates to prevent a customer who selects Expedited (Rush) shipping from getting free shipping when a free shipping promotion is created and used? 

Replies 47 (47)

Elias
Shopify Staff
3076 300 537

Hello, @BestPartyCracke.

 

Elias here with Shopify Support. Thank you for this inquiry.

 

You can exclude the expedited shipping rate from the free shipping discount, you can do this by setting up an exclusion for the shipping rate in the discount settings. This also provides control if you are shipping to multiple countries and only want to offer the discount to certain ones. Remember to set the exclusion amount lower than the expedited shipping rate as the same amount will still make the expedited shipping rate eligible for the discount. Here’s an example from my test store:

 

26-38-pokjj-cv0zf

 

02-17-40912-93368

 

Let me know how that goes. If you have any other questions, feel free to let me know in this thread.

Elias | Social Care @ Shopify 
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shannonanderson
Tourist
3 0 12

I am having this issue as well. We are a furniture company that offers Standard and White Glove shipping rates. We want to run a Free Shipping promotion that applies only to Standard shipping. Creating a Free Shipping discount code automatically gives the customer free shipping on both Standard and White Glove shipping. Creating an "exception" does not work in our case, because we don't have flat shipping rates, they vary depending on the size of the item and order. 

 

I have found it very difficult to run promotions using Shopify's discount codes that make sense for our business. I wish there were more "exceptions" we could use to customize discount codes. We are a business that has Retail, Trade, and Wholesale customer tiers who all receive different pricing. Its not possible to prevent Wholesale customers, for example, from using a discount code meant to apply only to Retail customers "i.e. Everyone." 

Elias
Shopify Staff
3076 300 537

Hey, @shannonanderson.

 

Thank you for reaching out and joining the thread!

 

I understand that the free shipping exception does not work with your current setup, since you have different customer tiers (regular, wholesale, and trade customers). As previously mentioned, I wasn't able to find any workarounds for applying free shipping in this scenario. However, I'd be happy to put forth a feature request on your behalf.

 

With that being said, there are a couple of third-party shipping apps that can create shipping rates based on different customer profiles, such as retail and wholesale. Did you get a chance to try out Customer Shipping Rules or Bespoke Shipping?

Elias | Social Care @ Shopify 
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shannonanderson
Tourist
3 0 12
It would be great if you could put in a feature request. Thank you!
badkarbon
Tourist
9 0 8

@shannonanderson 
Old thread I know, but in case you or others need, one method to have discounts apply to different people is to use "customer tags". So you can tag your Wholesale customers with "wholesale", then create a Customer Segment with them. Then you have "Discount - Wholesale" only apply to that customer segment.

I still haven't found a good method for the Free Shipping Excluding Non-Standard Delivery... using Discount Codes you can only do an exception for $ amount, so you'd have to word your free shipping as "Free Shipping (up to $X off)!".
You can use "Rates" to set it, but I don't like how it's set up as another Rate. So if your carrier has "Standard", "Express", "Priority", instead of just replacing the "Standard" price with $0, there's a fourth "Standard - Free", and it doesn't automatically select it, customer has to click the drop down to show it.

I absolutely loathe that so many things you'd consider "basic" functions Shopify requires third-party paid apps to "fix", and it's done on purpose.

"Shopify: There's a [3rd party] app for that."
"Shopify: If we're missing a feature, that IS the feature."
Strongsassystor
Visitor
1 0 0

Annotation 2021-01-15 165010.jpg

Why for me it doesn't show??

Elias
Shopify Staff
3076 300 537

Hey, @Strongsassystor.

Thank you for joining this thread and sharing a screenshot along with your question, that's super helpful!

I'm afraid you can't create a free shipping discount using automatic discounts, as our guide indicates. However, you can create a free shipping discount using discount codes or create free shipping rates for your store. When creating free shipping rates, you can use weight-based rates to offer free shipping on select products. Alternatively, there are also third-party apps that can assign rates to each product, such as Better Shipping or Advanced Shipping Rules

That being said, I'd be happy to explore these options for you - Can you tell me more about the discount you're trying to offer?

Elias | Social Care @ Shopify 
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ShelleyMade
Visitor
1 0 3

I have this issue too.  I want to be able to offer free standard shipping only via code (to track promotions).  The workaround for limiting it to a certain dollar value does not work - as there are crossovers between standard and expedited shipping rates, e.g. for larger orders the standard shipping rate is over the base FedEx rate for a small order).  We really need this feature added to the discount codes - to restrict free shipping to standard shipping rates only.  Is there any progress on this Shopify? 

Elias
Shopify Staff
3076 300 537

Hey, @ShelleyMade.

Thank you for joining the thread!

I understand that you're looking for a way to restrict shipping discounts to the standard rates only. Though there isn't a workaround for something like this; nevertheless, I can see how this feature can be beneficial for our merchants, like yourself, and I'd be happy to add you the feature request. It's worth noting that this isn't something that I'd be able to give an ETA on, as platform changes can take an unprecedented amount of time. However, if Shopify moves forward with any changes or updates to the shipping discounts, you can find it on our changelog and updates page.

If you have any other questions on this topic, please don't hesitate to let me know!

Elias | Social Care @ Shopify 
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s4nari
Tourist
4 0 4

Adding our voice to this discussion, as this is also a feature which we are looking for and seems to be not possible currently. 

We need to be able to offer free UPS Ground shipping through a discount code, but are not able to use the "maximum value" field to restrict the shipping rates, as this is not a reliable way to offer the free shipping option since it will not apply to all orders/locations.

We are looking for a way to use a discount code and have a standard free shipping service offered. 

Currently we are only able to either have the free shipping available for any service listed, have a maximum value for the free shipping, or set it as an automatic discount which would be available site-wide. Seems that there is no way to restrict the "Free Shipping" discount code option to only be for a specific shipping service. 

Additionally, when looking into several add-on apps, they do not support using Shopify shipping rates (which would be required), and also are not clear that they could be used in conjunction with a discount code.

 

Please advise if there is a known way to accomplish setting a discount code for free shipping to only be available for a selected shipping service (and not for every shipping service offered) but that doesn't use the "maximum value" field for the reasons previously stated. If there is no way to currently do this, please also file a feature request or indicate additional requests for the one already submitted for the users above. 

Elias
Shopify Staff
3076 300 537

Hey, @s4nari.

Thank you for joining the thread and sharing the additional context! 

While you can exclude the shipping rates over certain amount when creating a free shipping discount, this does not restrict the discount to a specific shipping rate. Nevertheless, I can see how being able to do restrict the shipping discounts to specific rates can be beneficial for our merchants, like yourself, and I'd be happy to pass your feedback along to our developers for future considerations. When Shopify moves forward with any changes to the shipping discounts, we'll be sure to announce them on our changelog and updates page.

Do you give discounts on shipping often and why? Do you offer other types discounts (eg. products, BOGO, etc)?

Elias | Social Care @ Shopify 
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coffeeshopping
Tourist
4 0 4

This would be better if it was exclude shipping rater UNDER a certain amount not over but yes I would love to only restrict free shipping to ground shipping only.  Please add this as a feature request.

Elias
Shopify Staff
3076 300 537

Hey, @coffeeshopping.

Thank you for joining the thread and sharing this feedback!

I'd be happy to add you to this feature request. If Shopify moves forward with any changes to the shipping discounts, we'll be sure to announce them on our changelog and/or updates page.

Have you tried third-party options, like Customer Shipping Rules or Bespoke Shipping?

Elias | Social Care @ Shopify 
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coffeeshopping
Tourist
4 0 4
Yes, I have a third party shipping option (advanced shipping rules) however I’m not sure the will apply directly to a coupon code.

Patrick

Elias
Shopify Staff
3076 300 537

Hey, @coffeeshopping.

Thank you for following up!

With Advanced Shipping Rules, you may be able to offer shipping using their variables and robust shipping conditions. While the shipping conditions aren't applied through discounts, it may be able to offer a solution for your store. I'd recommend exploring the shipping conditions that the app provides, or reach out to the developer through the contact information found in the Support section of their app's page. 

 If you have any other questions on this topic, don't hesitate to let me know!

Elias | Social Care @ Shopify 
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coffeeshopping
Tourist
4 0 4
Yes I have already explored that but still think it would be fairly easy for shopify to restrict free shipping to Ground Shipping instead of 3,2 and next day shipping. If I customer used a free shipping coupon code they could quickly drain our projected expenses. depending on the order.
Elias
Shopify Staff
3076 300 537

Hey, @coffeeshopping.

 

Thank you for following up!

 

I understand the main goal is to restrict the free shipping discount to ground shipping only. However, I'm not quite sure how setting an exclusion isn't able to help you with this. While this may not be a perfect solution, excluding rates over a certain amount should prevent customers from being able to choose shipping rates other than ground shipping for most of the orders - given that the amount is set correctly. In theory, this should help with protecting some of the projected budget you've set for running this promotion. 

 

03-43-610-2476

 

If you have any other questions on this topic, don't hesitate to let me know!

Elias | Social Care @ Shopify 
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TCG1
Visitor
1 0 0

Thank you! You made this so easy!

kbrookpel
Tourist
3 0 12

Adding on to say Shopify definitely needs to fix this. Customers should not be given the option to choose free Priority shipping when their order qualifies for First Class shipping, making ME pay the difference because they see they have the option to upgrade for free. The only "workaround" to this is for me to look through EACH order that has used my free shipping coupon to see if it can actually be downgraded to First Class from Priority. Shopify has been a headache with things that should be no brainer features. 

Elias
Shopify Staff
3076 300 537

Hey, @kbrookpel.

 

Thank you for joining the thread!

 

I understand that you're also offering a free shipping discount and running into problems with customers choosing priority or faster shipping. When offering free shipping discounts, you can exclude rates over a certain amount - which will allow you to exclude priority shipping. Simply set an exclusion amount that encompasses the average cost of priority shipping and any shipping rates above this amount will be excluded from the checkout for customers using this discount code. 

 

That being said, did you get a chance to set up exclude rates over a certain amount as mentioned in my previous post?

Elias | Social Care @ Shopify 
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kbrookpel
Tourist
3 0 12

Right but I don't want to exclude priority when their order may be too heavy to qualify for first class. Free shipping over xxx order amount should have nothing to do with the shipping method being offered, it shouldnt be contingent on that being a first class package. But it *should* be the cheapest method available for that order, and it should not allow them to select more expensive options for free shipping. I haven't seen any business operate the way you're trying to say we should set these coupons up.

mmisek
Shopify Partner
8 0 5

@Elias - Adding our company into this as well.

The free shipping coupon should just activate a free shipping delivery method, not make EVERY SINGLE shipping option free.

I am unable to use this feature because the price limit won't work with the variety of products we sell.

Elias
Shopify Staff
3076 300 537

Hey, @mmisek.

 

Thank you for joining the thread and providing the additional context!

 

When creating a free shipping discount, you can exclude shipping rates over a certain amount by setting up conditions for the discount. While this may not be the perfect solution for all scenarios, it will allow you to exclude some of the more expensive shipping options offered on your store.

 

Here's an example of an excluded shipping rate:

 

13-15-96642-2284913-15-96412-93000

 

That being said, I understand that many merchants in this thread prefer to have a free shipping discount that simply offers one free shipping option and I'd be happy to add your company to this feature request. If Shopify moves forward with any changes to the shipping discounts, then we'll be sure to announce them on the Shopify Changelog.

 

I'd love to know if setting up an exclusion for the free shipping discount can be a solution for your store. Keep me posted!

 

Elias | Social Care @ Shopify 
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mmisek
Shopify Partner
8 0 5

Please add my company to the list of requesters for this feature. In woocommerce this was simple and free to implement. No third party apps required. The implementation of this free shipping option is horribly short sighted. Businesses need this option.

I see that on Shopify Plus (which is way out of our price range) you can limit this using scripts. Why not just turn this on for stores on other plans?

Elias
Shopify Staff
3076 300 537

Hey, @mmisek.

 

Thank you for following up and sharing the additional context.

 

I can see why this feature is important to you and I've added you to this feature request. As previously mentioned, if Shopify moves forward with any changes to the shipping discounts, then we'll be sure to announce them on the Shopify Changelog.

 

It sounds like you're referring to the customizable checkout feature, which is only available on Shopify Plus. While this feature is reserved for Plus merchants and Plus Partners, I'd also be happy to share your feedback on enabling customizable checkout with our development team. 

 

If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to let me know!

 

Elias | Social Care @ Shopify 
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mnearents
Shopify Partner
85 4 56

We use calculated rates, so we can't use the "exclude rates over a certain amount" option. What would be awesome is if we could exclude rates by rate name, and enter the name of the rates to exclude, which for us would be "UPS 2 day". But we'd need to be able to enter multiple rates here since we have multiple shipping profiles with unique rate names: e.g. "UPS 2 day" and "UPS 2 day shipping". Our 3PL maps these rates to different services so we can't get around doing it this way.

mnearents
Shopify Partner
85 4 56

Actually, an easier option would be to have a checkbox: "Only apply to cheapest available rate". That way it doesn't matter if there are two, three or a hundred available shipping options for the customer, it will always only discount the cheapest rate.

Elias
Shopify Staff
3076 300 537

Greetings, @mnearents.

 

Thank you for joining the thread and sharing these suggestions!

 

I can definitely see how being able to exclude rates by name or apply shipping discounts to certain rates can be a beneficial change for our merchants, like yourself, and I'd be happy to share your feedback as a feature request with our development team. If Shopify moves forward with any changes or updates, then we'll be sure to announce them on the Shopify Changelog

 

I'd love to hear more about your business, and how your store offers shipping discounts or promotions at the moment. Do you have a workaround that you're using for the time being? Or, perhaps consider offering a fixed cart discount instead of a shipping discount for incentivizing customers? 

 

Elias | Social Care @ Shopify 
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mnearents
Shopify Partner
85 4 56

We have a free shipping threshold over $15. If the customer doesn't meet the threshold in both profiles, they don't get free shipping. So that's why we use a free shipping coupon.

Example: $8 of products from profile 1, $10 of products from profile 2. Even though this totals $18, because the threshold exists within the shipping profiles, neither threshold is met and the customer doesn't get free shipping. It is frustrating that shipping profiles were built this way. So we have to use a coupon code.

 

We don't want a fixed cart discount because shipping prices always surprise and frustrate customers. Our thought is by charging free shipping, customers don't get that unpleasant surprise in checkout which causes friction. Even if you give a fixed cart discount, the shipping in checkout ruins the feeling of saving money. I'd rather a customer add $25 of products to their cart and purchase without friction or surprise fees, than to add $25 in hopes if getting a $5 discount, only to then pay an additional $5 in shipping. That's a bad experience.

Nilorak
Excursionist
15 0 13

Another vote for the option of restricting free shipping discounts to the cheapest shipping method (Ground). The features that the Shopify free shipping discounts offer are so FRUSTRATING! I just figured this issue out after I already ran into the issue that I cannot exclude specific products from free shipping. Please make both these changes asap. Stores have been asking for these for YEARS! 
The shipping rates are not working for every store who wants to run other promo offers but NOT have them combinable with free shipping. Also apps like advances shipping rules don't help, as they are blind to other discount codes. 
This should be super basic functionality. 

Heidi_R
Tourist
10 0 16

I'm having this issue as well. I only want the free shipping to apply to Ground shipping. If I add a cap to the dollar amount of the rate- if the rate exceeds it I get a message that says "This promo isn't available for your shipping address" which is completely wrong and will cause customers to become confused and probably upset. Why can't we edit that message to say the promo isn't available for that service level. 

 

I can't believe that it isn't fixed yet. I don't want to spend MORE money on a third party app for this. 

TC13
New Member
19 0 0

Wondering if this issue has been addressed as of yet, just attempted to create a free shipping discount for ground only without any luck.

 Thank you for your time

RMedia
Shopify Partner
92 8 10

Hey @TC13 
You can target shipping rates using Advanced Free Shipping

Let me know if I can assist you in trying it out.  

Founder @ Advanced Free Shipping, create custom free shipping rules easily.
- Set Free-Shipping by 20 parameters; products, collections, customers + more
- No need for confusing Scripts or Carrier Calculated Shipping
- To learn more about 'Advanced Free Shipping' visit our Shopify app page here.
TC13
New Member
19 0 0

I’ll give it a try

 thank you

Scovert
Visitor
3 0 0

Hi! So your app will make it so that if I offer free shipping at $100 it will only give the customer the least expensive shipping option free instead of how Shopify has all options for free?

RMedia
Shopify Partner
92 8 10

Hi @Scovert 
Yes with Advanced Free Shipping you can select the exact shipping method you would like for the shipping discount 🙂

Founder @ Advanced Free Shipping, create custom free shipping rules easily.
- Set Free-Shipping by 20 parameters; products, collections, customers + more
- No need for confusing Scripts or Carrier Calculated Shipping
- To learn more about 'Advanced Free Shipping' visit our Shopify app page here.
Scovert
Visitor
3 0 0

So I want to do free shipping at $100 but exclude digital items or anything that is on sale from going towards that $100, is that possible with your app?

RMedia
Shopify Partner
92 8 10

Hi @Scovert 
Yes it is, you can use the 'Cart Has Items' conditional.

Screenshot 2024-07-08 at 5.35.16 am.png


Perhaps create a collection that has all products that are not digital, and then target this inside the 'Cart Has Items' rule.
Thanks, 

Founder @ Advanced Free Shipping, create custom free shipping rules easily.
- Set Free-Shipping by 20 parameters; products, collections, customers + more
- No need for confusing Scripts or Carrier Calculated Shipping
- To learn more about 'Advanced Free Shipping' visit our Shopify app page here.
mnearents
Shopify Partner
85 4 56

Hey @RMedia ,

 

I love the app, but here's a bit of feedback from a frustrated store owner who needs 3 apps to correctly show shipping:

App 1: Shipping rules. Because I have different types of products (media mail eligible, non media mail eligible, and digital), I need an app to show shipping rates based on cart/product conditions.

App 2: Your app to now apply a discount only to physical products and only to our economy rates (thanks!)

 

App 3: A separate app to show a free shipping graph/bar to the customer.

I haven't even figured out app 3 yet because I'm not sure there are free shipping bar apps that have the same logic as what I created in your app. So my question is, do you have plans in the future of incorporating all this functionality to make it seamless? My shipping rules app uses the exact same logic as your shipping discount app. And if I want a free shipping bar app, it would also need the exact same logic as your app. Seems like where I will have 3 apps, 1 could do the same work with 90% of the UI being the same.

RMedia
Shopify Partner
92 8 10

Hi @mnearents 
These are great suggestions, and we do get quite a few requests for a free shipping bar integration...
I will definately look into this in future updates.  Appreciate the feedback 🙂


Founder @ Advanced Free Shipping, create custom free shipping rules easily.
- Set Free-Shipping by 20 parameters; products, collections, customers + more
- No need for confusing Scripts or Carrier Calculated Shipping
- To learn more about 'Advanced Free Shipping' visit our Shopify app page here.
badkarbon
Tourist
9 0 8

"There's an app for that."

 

If you see a feature missing from Shopify just know that that is the feature.

"Shopify: There's a [3rd party] app for that."
"Shopify: If we're missing a feature, that IS the feature."
George_C
Trailblazer
162 2 150

This exclusion of amounts over a certain limit doesn't even work intuitively. When I enabled it, it still shows the higher-priced shipping options, and when I choose a shipping method whose price is over the discount threshold, the error message says "FREESHIP discount code isn’t available for your shipping address", which is the most unhelpful, incorrect, and poorly-worded way of displaying that information. 

 

The discount code is indeed available for that address, it's just not available for shipping methods over a certain amount. Why in the world would the error message be worded like that?

 

If you have to display them all, just make ONE shipping method displayed as "FREE" and allow us to choose which one. Or maybe multiple choice. But thy way it's done now is insane and useless. 

 

The free shipping discount should just allow you to choose a shipping method(s) to use for the free shipping, and not display anything else. I don't even know how anyone coded it the way it is, and thought it made any sense at all. 

 

And I have tried to use the weight-based method in a Shipping Profile. But if I add a free shipping option with weight limits in a profile then your Shop App displays all items in that profile as having "free shipping" to customers browsing in the Shop App. Until they get to checkout, and discover the shipping isn't free. 

 

Mind-boggling how such basic stuff like this is done so poorly, and for so long. Does anybody even demo this stuff after they code it? Are the coders from Mars? What store owner wants this stuff to work this way? 

Monster, creature & cryptozoology patches, buttons & stickers.

Derek78756
Tourist
7 0 12

We also need this functionality and the exclude shipping costs over a specific amount won't work for all use cases

RMedia
Shopify Partner
92 8 10

Hi,

To anybody looking for a new solution to restrict shipping discounts to certain shipping rates, you can now try Advanced Free Shipping.

Advanced Free Shipping uses Shopify's new API's to make this very easy to set up.
Ive recorded a brief video demo to illustrate how to do this.
https://www.loom.com/share/25a53a717dd745319360af3c7ad0fc4f?sid=9abf6804-7fbe-4175-a4f4-e73e3a6d8c7e
Thanks

Founder @ Advanced Free Shipping, create custom free shipping rules easily.
- Set Free-Shipping by 20 parameters; products, collections, customers + more
- No need for confusing Scripts or Carrier Calculated Shipping
- To learn more about 'Advanced Free Shipping' visit our Shopify app page here.
spacefisharmy
Excursionist
22 0 10

lol gotta spent $10/m to be able to offer customers free shipping 🙄

TC13
New Member
19 0 0

Works great 👍 

DavidNZSSI
Trailblazer
171 10 22

I know this is an old thread, but I'll offer my two cents in case anyone needs the help. If the smaller solutions aren't appropriate, you could also look at a solution like Starshipit (which is basically a more fully featured shipping automation platform). Addressing the specific problem outlined here, you could use the rules engine to account for where and when the promotion is applied. Good luck!

Your local shipping consultant @ Starshipit