Regional Support: Shipping (UK)

[Victor]

Learn more about handling shipping and fulfilment while running your Shopify store in the UK.

This thread is part of the Regional Support threads offered for merchants in the United Kingdom. To see which other topics are available, you can visit the UK hub here.

Merchants based in the United Kingdom can offer both manual and third-party carrier calculated shipping rates to their customers at checkout. This second option allows UK merchants to link their FedEx and UPS accounts to Shopify and offer live rates from these providers at checkout.

Please note that the live rates can only be enabled if the merchant has the carrier calculated shipping feature enabled, which is a standard feature of our Advanced and Plus plans. However, this feature can also be added to a merchant's store for an additional cost of $20 USD per month if they are on the Shopify plan. Merchants on the Shopify plan can instead have this feature enabled at no additional cost if their subscrition is paid for on an annual basis. If you’d like to add this feature to your account, please contact our support team.

Outside of the integrated options of FedEx and UPS, there are a number of third-party applications that allow UK merchants to offer live rates from other shipping providers. Some apps will also allow you to buy shipping labels for different providers in the UK. These include:

• Royal Mail Shipping Extension (includes live rates from Royal Mail that appear at checkout).
• Starshipit Shipping & Tracking (includes live rates from the likes of DHL and DPD at checkout, as well as the ability to buy shipping labels from numerous carriers, including Royal Mail).
• Zenstores - UK Shipping App (includes the ability to buy shipping labels from numerous carriers, including DHL, DPD, Hermes, Royal Mail and Parcelforce).
• Multi Carrier Shipping Label (includes the ability to buy shipping labels from UK-based carriers including Royal Mail, Parcel Force & DHL)

Royal Mail also offer their Click & Drop app, which can be installed in the form of a sales channel in the Shopify admin. This app will allow you to easily buy and print Royal Mail shipping labels for your orders. You can refer to Royal Mail’s setup instructions to install the app in your store.

If you’re looking for more information or direct assistance with any of these apps, we recommend contacting the developers of the app directly. The developers build and support these apps and their contact information can be found on the app’s page on the Shopify App Store.

If you have a question or comment to make about shipping when based in the United Kingdom, please post it below.

[Victor]

Hi @sgr,

I sympathize with this completely, and recognize that it's troublesome for merchants in the UK (especially to those shipping across the Irish Sea). We've also seen merchants from other countries and regions request more flexibility when it comes to their native shipping zone as well, so it's not just a problem for merchants shipping to the UK. I am not sure of the exact reasons why some countries are deemed necessary to split and others aren't, although it could be a case of not recognizing the importance of being able to split these countries in the past.

I know that this request has been logged numerous times via our internal feedback system and is something our development team are aware of and are considering. As there are hundreds of requests that are logged via this system, we cannot address and roll out each feature request we want to implement as quickly as might be the case in an ideal situation. That said, each time I have come across a merchant in the Community who has expressed a desire to be able to split the UK shipping zone, I have been sure to log that feedback. Generally, the more merchants that request a feature, the more likely it is to be implemented.

This has been a request made numerous times over the years, so I appreciate that it's a frustration being told that this is not a change set to be made imminently. I will continue to advocate for this change and submit feedback as often as I see it, and will of course be sure to update this thread if I receive confirmation that it is coming.

Kind regards,

Victor | Shopify Social Care

[Victor]

Hi @Tom_D1,

Thank you for reaching out with your question. I know that the Royal Mail do offer a tracked returns service, which would allow your customers to easily access a returns label online. However, they do specify that this service is only available to merchants who receive over 20 returns a week (or 1000 a year). How many returns requests do you receive on average?

Kind regards,

Victor | Shopify Social Care

[Tom_D1]

Hey Victor,

Thanks for the reply.

We have around 5 a week so we don’t fall into that category unfortunately (or maybe fortunately!)

Thanks
Tom

[Outer_net]

Hey Tom,

With RM it is handled through your OBA account - Log into your click & Drop portal and then you can follow these instructions.

You can pre generate a number of labels and include these in your shipments if you so wish.

You only pay for them if they are used.

Do you send an invoice or packing slip? You can even print it on the back of this to save on paper.

I am not sure about any automated apps that would handle this. 

You can update the tracking or send this url with the tracking number on the end - 

https://www.royalmail.com/track-your-item?trackNumber= 

All the Best

Abbas

[Victor]

Hi @Tom_D1,

It looks like @Outer_net has a potential solution so I'd definitely recommend checking out what they have suggested. @Outer_net, thank you for your contribution!

Kind regards,

Victor | Shopify Social Care

[St3v3]

Just to add my name to this list of people who need the United Kingdom splitting into different zones. Currently it is costing me money to ship items to Northern Ireland and there is nothing I can do until this is split up.  If i continue to keep getting orders from the UK i will unfortunately be forced to look elsewhere to another provider that does offer this.

[Victor]

Hi @St3v3,

Thank you for providing your feedback. I recognize how helpful this feature would be for merchants in the UK and I will log your feedback in our internal system, as I have done with others who've flagged this issue. It's been mentioned before in this thread, but an alternative option for the time being is the Better Shipping app, which offers greater flexibility in terms of localizing shipping rates.

Thanks again for posting your comment here and I appreciate your patience on this matter. I hope this is something we will see implemented before long.

Kind regards,

Victor | Shopify Social Care

[St3v3]

Hi Victor,

Yes I read in this thread that I could use the Better Shipping app to resolve this. But im not paying a monthly fee to do something that should already be apart of the current setup, just like it is in other countries.

As already stated, if I continue to receive orders from Northern Ireland and this is not implemented soon I will be left with little choice but to move to an alternative shop setup.

[bearandbabe]

Adding name for option of split UK shipping rates, as mentioned by others, the lack of this option is costing us money where by other providers offer as standard.

[St3v3]

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@sgr wrote:

@Victor  Can you explain why New Zealand is split into 16 regions (along with a number of other countries) whereas the UK is just one? Surely if this can be implemented for other countries it can be implemented for the UK too? I don't understand what's preventing the dev's from implementing this feature. 

This is one area where Woocommerce is much better at the moment. You can even break down shipping rates by postcode and have different rates for different products. With no extra apps required. 

---

Think I will be looking at Woocommerce then if they have this already in their setup and Shopify just seem to sit and do nothing even though other countries already have this option.

[George_Greenhil]

It's starting to become a joke really now. Really disappointed after years of pointing this out to them they still ignore us.  

[St3v3]

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@George_Greenhil wrote:

It's starting to become a joke really now. Really disappointed after years of pointing this out to them they still ignore us.  

---

Didn't realise it had been going on for that long!! Thats terrible service from Shopify.

Definitely time to look for alternatives then, I am fed up of losing money on orders due to Shopify's inability to resolve this.

[George_Greenhil]

Still nothing, still losing money. @Victor  any update?

[Victor]

Hi @George_Greenhil,

I don't have any updates at this time, no. I know that our development team are currently considering and working on a number of potential initiatives to better help our merchants during this difficult period, and if there is anything announced that I feel is of particular interest to UK-based merchants I will be sure to post here with more information.

Kind regards,

Victor | Shopify Social Care

[George_Greenhil]

Hi @Victor 

Is there a legal issue or something with splitting the UK up?

I really don't understand it, you've launched a new whole email platform this week and come out with loads of cool complicated new features like product recommendation algorithms.

But you can't add 4 tick boxes after 5 years. It's so strange.

Thanks,

George

[Victor · Accepted solution]

Hi @George_Greenhil,

I am not aware of the specific reasoning behind why this hasn't be done yet, although I don't believe it's due to any issues of legality. We've also had requests from merchants in other countries who are wanting more specificity when setting up shipping zones for their region.

Many of the more recent features announced, including Shopify Email, have been in the work for some time prior to their launch. Some features and their launches have also been prioritized due to the ongoing pandemic (e.g. the launch of the curbside pickup feature). I do believe it is mainly a question of prioritizing which features are rolled out first, although I understand that this is something UK-based merchants have been requesting for years and personally I hope it is something that is addressed soon, as I know it would be a huge help to many of you.

I've advocated for this feature internally and am continuing to log all feedback we receive on this in the merchant feedback system we use here. As mentioned before, I will be sure share more information about this feature here if and when it comes.

Kind regards,

Victor | Shopify Social Care

[bakeryben]

Hi, 

Our bakery is offering local delivery within our city. We split different areas into different days to make it possible for our drivers, and people select their area based on the map on our site. Often however it goes wrong, due either to site glitches or human error people end up in the wrong group. Is there an app that will work out if someone's address falls within a given area, perhaps even not based on postcode, and then informs them which day they will receive their delivery?

Many thanks!

Ben

[Victor]

Hi @bakeryben,

Thank you for detailing your current set up and I can see why this may lead to errors with customers falling into the wrong group. There are a number of apps that can help merchants offer local delivery options to their customers, however I am not sure if it would be possible via these apps to restrict delivery days to specific postcodes or regions—nonetheless, I'd recommend checking these apps out and seeing if they're of any use to you:

• Local Delivery
• Store Pickup + Delivery
• Store Pickup + Local Delivery

You can make use of the free trials these apps offer to install them into your store and see how they work, and if they'd improve the management of your deliveries and the checkout experience for the customer.

Kind regards,

Victor | Shopify Social Care

[Yegordrozdov]

Hello , Victor! I have a question about enabling payment.

My business is registered and operates in the United States ,but I am a citizen of another country. I do not have an SSN , how can I enable Shopify Payment? I have all the other business documents , but no SSN. What should I do?

[Victor]

Hi @Yegordrozdov,

Shopify Payments is only available in specific countries, and as a result you would need to meet specific criteria in terms of verification we may request from you. For example, if you are in the United States, in order to use Shopify Payments you will likely need to provide a Social Security Number, as well as an account from a bank with a physical location in the United States. It's not real feasible for merchants outside of the US, who do not have a presence there, to use the gateway.

Can you let me know which country you are based in? I may be able to suggest some alternative options for you.

Kind regards,

Victor | Shopify Social Care