Restricting shipping to only local deliveries

[bmannino]

Hello,

I am working with a client who would like to use Shopify to ship food to a limited local radius.  He has been able to setup a local shipping zone with the zip codes he wants, and he also requires a $65 minimum purchase.

The way it works now is it shows normal shipping until the cart reaches $65, at which point it adds the local delivery option to the list for the customer to choose between.

How can we go about offering local delivery as the only option, with no other choice until the cart reaches a $65 minimum?

If this is not possible, what would you suggest as the best way to implement this to accomplish what we are trying to set up?

Thank you,

-Ben M.

[Ron-Anderson]

Hi @bmannino,

Unfortunately, this is a limitation with Shopify as there is no way to limit the 'standard' shipping option from appearing based on proximity, so it will always appear along with the local delivery option.

If you're open to using a third-party solution, Intuitive Shipping lets you set up customized local delivery and regular shipping options using our Condition system. To do this, you can create a Scenario for your client's local delivery option using sub-zones based on zip codes, where if the sub-zone is 'true', and the cart total is $65 or more, only the local delivery option will be displayed. You can then create a second Scenario where if the sub-zone is 'true', and the cart total is less than $65, only the regular option appears, and a third Scenario where if the sub-zone is not true, the regular option always appears, regardless of the cart quantity.

If you're interested in learning more about Intuitive Shipping, please feel free to book a demo with one of our team members who would be happy to walk you through this setup process to see if it's a good fit for your client.

Please note: when using any third-party rate calculator, including Intuitive Shipping, Shopify requires you to have their carrier-calculated shipping feature enabled. If you're on either the 'Basic' or 'Shopify' plan, this feature costs USD $20/ month. If you switch to annual billing, Shopify will include the feature at no extra cost and give you 10% off the plan. If you're on the 'Advanced' plan or higher, the feature is already included.

Best regards,

Ron

[Rohan-developer]

In 2024, this is now possible! You can achieve this by hiding normal shipping methods when the cart subtotal reaches $65 using the ShipRight app. Here is how you can do it:

1. Open the app and click the Add a new rule" button.
2. Click "Add a new condition" and select "Cart subtotal".
3. Set "Hide if less than" to 65.
4. Select the shipping methods you want to hide in the "Select shipping methods" field.
5. If any shipping options are missing, enter them in the "Additional shipping methods" field.
6. Save the rule by clicking the "Save" button.

Now, customers orders below $65 will only see the local delivery option at checkout.

[Summer]

Hey, @bmannino!

This is Summer from the Social Care team at Shopify. Welcome to Shopify Community!

It is certainly possible to only offer local delivery at checkout. With what you've explained, it sounds like you've enabled shipping and added shipping rates in the Settings > Shipping and delivery area of your Shopify admin. You will need to remove those shipping rates to exclusively offer local delivery. Simply follow the steps below to do so.

1. Log in to your Shopify admin.
2. Go to Settings, then Shipping and delivery.
3. Click Manage rates beside your existing shipping profile.
4. Scroll down to the shipping zones. Click the ellipsis beside each shipping rate and select Delete. Do this for all the shipping rates you have.
5. Click Save.

Without shipping rates, the only existing fulfillment option will be offered which is local delivery. If you have products that need to be shipped, you may create a separate shipping profile for them and assign shipping rates to only those products. We have a guide on creating shipping profiles in this page.

If you exclusively offer local delivery, make sure you update the relevant wording on your checkout to say "delivery" instead of "shipping" so customers are aware that the products cannot be shipped. You can do this with the following steps.

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes.
2. Beside the theme you want to edit, click Actions > Edit languages.
3. Click the Checkout & System tab.
4. Type shipping in the filter box.
5. Edit and fill out the boxes to update the text to delivery.

Are you offering free local delivery for orders at least $65? What about orders below $65?

[Ron-Anderson]

Hi @Summer,

I think what Ben is saying (though, I'm not 100% certain) is that his client wants to have their regular 'shipping' option appear to local customers when the cart is less than $65, then they want only the 'local delivery' option to appear to those same customers when the cart is $65 or more. This is possible if they set a 'max' cart total of $64.99 on the 'shipping' rate and a 'min' cart total of $65 on the 'local delivery' rate. But this would only work if the store only sells locally.

In the above setup scenario, the regular 'shipping' option cannot be localized by postal/zip code in Shopify. That means, if they sell and ship outside the local zone, a customer living outside the 'local delivery' area would not get any shipping when they order more than $65. This can't be solved with Profiles unless the delivery limits are product-based. If the $65 min applies to all products sold in the shop, Profiles won't work since a product can only be in one Profile at a time. 

Ben - perhaps you can clarify a few things in addition to Summer's question about the cost of local delivery:

• Is your client shipping to customers outside of the local delivery zone?
• Are the shipping prices being offered (regular shipping, local delivery) store-wide or product-based?

These details can help determine if you can achieve the outcome you're looking for within Shopify's native features or if you need to explore third-party options.

Best regards,

Ron

[bmannino]

Thank you all for your responses.

I think I may have clouded up my original question with the minimum order
amounts. Yes, we do want to impose a minimum order amount of $65, but the
bigger issue is that we cannot seem to remove the standard shipping options.

Since the product is perishable refrigerated food, we cannot ship the
traditional way (USPS, UPS, Fedex). Local delivery using our own drivers
with the proper refrigeration requirements are our only option. Therefore
we want to remove standard shipping completely, regardless of price.

Below $65, we simply want to restrict their ability to checkout, but I
wasn't sure of the best way to implement this. I assumed it could be
handled by only offering one option (local delivery) that would appear once
the $65 minimum is met. I am of course open to other ways of doing this,
but that is the general idea.

Does this make sense?

Thanks again,
-Ben

[Ron-Anderson]

Hi Ben,

Thank you for the additional information. That does make sense.

So if you do want to remove major carrier 'shipping' altogether, then you would follow Summer's steps on removing rates from your shipping & delivery settings (the first 5 steps Summer provided). Then, in your Local Delivery settings, you would set the 'minimum order price' to $65. That will completely restrict all orders to be at least $65. And, because you can localize that rate with zip codes, only customers in the local delivery area will see that rate. Anyone who doesn't live in one of the eligible zip codes will see no shipping options at checkout. Anyone in the client's local delivery area that orders less than $65 will also see no shipping options at checkout.

Hopefully that helps. If you need clarification on anything, please let me know.

Best regards,

Ron

[lcart05]

Hi, So I am having the same issue as Ben. You both were very helpful. I own a meal delivery business, so my meals can only be delivered locally. Shipping cannot be an option as the food is delivered hot and ready to eat. I have deleted my shipping rates so shipping is no longer an option for my customers when checking out, however when a customer is out of the local delivery range, local delivery rates do not pop up yet they can still check out without any form of delivery. How can set up check out so only customers who live in the radius of local delivery can check out?

[Summer]

Thanks for your reply, @Ron-Anderson, and for your clarification, @bmannino!

Your explanation definitely makes sense, Ben. To reiterate what Ron has said, the best course of action to achieve your desired setup is to remove the shipping rates using the steps I provided in my first response; and to set the minimum order price to $65 in your Local Delivery settings. Were you able to go through them, and did they solve your concern?

[Daniel_Gracey]

Hi Summer. This all makes sense except for one thing. Any customer outside of the delivery area can still checkout. How do you restrict checkout to local delivery only? Meaning, that if your address is outside of the radius, you cannot checkout.

[Daniel_Gracey]

Calling out the solution in @Summer's post. This is one of the most important steps to restricting checkout to delivery ONLY: "It's important to check the inventory and ensure that the products are stocked in the location where local delivery is available."

This is a prerequisite to offering local delivery. For on-demand shops, this might seem odd since inventory is not tracked traditionally, but is the best option we have so far.

[Stephanie1234]

Hi! I couldn't see an answer to this and it is something important on our end as well. We deliver furniture and will only want to show what is available in †hat specific city.

[Flor3n2014]

I removed the shipping rates. Would removing the shipping zones cause an issue?

[Aldana]

Hi! i try this but is says that something is wrong

[Summer]

Hey, @Aldana!

This is Summer from the Social Care team at Shopify. Thanks for your question, and welcome to Shopify Community!

What was the desired setup for your delivery? Did you also need to restrict the delivery method to local delivery only, and not allow shipping? If so, based on the screenshot you shared, it looks like shipping has already been disabled; however, local delivery has not been enabled or has not been set up according to the specifications in your cart.

I recommend double-checking your local delivery settings to ensure it is set up accordingly. In your Shopify admin, you can go to Settings > Shipping and delivery > Local delivery and click Manage beside the relevant location. Review the following and adjust if needed:

1. Has local delivery been enabled for this location, and has the check box This location offers local delivery been checked?
   • If it has not been enabled and checked, you may refer to the guide on this page to set up local delivery.
2. Under Delivery area:
   • If you selected Use postal codes, were you able to enter all the relevant postal codes? Did you enter the 1407 postcode?
   • If you selected Set a delivery radius, have you set the appropriate delivery radius? Is the address you entered at checkout within the radius?
3. Has the correct Minimum order price been entered? Does it include orders worth $230?
4. If you enabled conditional pricing, has the correct limit been set and does it include orders worth $230?

In addition to the above, it's also important to check the inventory and ensure that the products are stocked in the location where local delivery is available. You can follow the steps on this page to view the locations where your products are stocked and adjust if needed.

If you're expecting to see shipping rates at the checkout and they're not appearing, it's likely that your shipping profile has not been set up correctly. If this is the case, you may also check your shipping profile by going to Settings > Shipping and delivery and click Manage rates beside the relevant profile. Review the points below and adjust accordingly.

1. In the Products section, can you see the product that you added to the cart?
2. Is the location where the product is stocked listed under the Shipping from section?
3. Are the appropriate shipping zones added under the Shipping to section? Is Argentina in any of the shipping zones?
4. If you set priced-based conditions or weight-based conditions, do the details of the product in the cart fulfill these conditions? Is there a shipping rate set up for orders worth $230, and is there a rate for the product weight, plus packaging weight?

Should you need a guide in setting up shipping profiles, you can go over this guide.

If the shipping error still appears after reviewing and adjusting your local delivery settings or shipping profile, the next best course of action is for us to access your admin and investigate. We’re not able to provide account-specific support via the Shopify Community at this time, however, we’d be happy to continue assisting you through live chat, email, or callback. Please visit https://bit.ly/3cJkx8V and log in to your account to create a support request.

I hope this helps! If anything is unclear, please don't hesitate to respond to this post.

[kdkoplan]

Hi Summer, as it relates to Ben's above comment "The way it works now is it shows normal shipping until the cart reaches $65, at which point it adds the local delivery option to the list for the customer to choose between." 

Can you share how he was able to suppress the delivery option until the minimum purchase requirement was met? We have a minimum set but our cart still allows for delivery option regardless of the amount. 

We only want local pickup options until the minimum purchase amount is met. Until then, we would prefer the cart does not offer nor display delivery as an option. Can you share how we make this happen?

--Kristi and Ben

[kdkoplan]

Hi Ben, we found your above comment "The way it works now is it shows normal shipping until the cart reaches $65, at which point it adds the local delivery option to the list for the customer to choose between."  Can you share how you were able to suppress the delivery option until the minimum purchase requirement was met? We have a minimum set but the cart still allows for delivery option regardless of the amount.  --Kristi and Ben

[Podgobnik]

Hi!

I have a somewhat similar problem. We are a mushroom growing company, and we offer a range of goods: fresh mushrooms (perishable, only suitable for local delivery), and also dried mushrooms, powders, extracts, growing supplies etc. which can be both shipped traditionally or locally delivered. 

What I need is an oprion to restrict a product group (collection) to local delivery only, and to have options for other products to have them locally delivered (if certain conditions are met, namely distance, minimum order value), or shipped through a service. Also, if a customer would order a mix of products, it should be possible for them to have everything locally delivered (if conditions of distance and order value are met), or not being able to checkout with normal shipping if the order also includes fresh, perishable products. Is there a way to do this? 

[Victor]

Hi @Podgobnik,

It is not possible to use Shopify's local delivery option for select products only, as it must be enabled site-wide for all of your products. There are however some apps such as Local Delivery Date and Zapiet Pickup + Delivery that offer more flexibility when it comes to offering different shipping and pickup options for different products.

[Podgobnik]

Hi Victor!

maybe there was a misunderstanding - local delivery should be enabled for all products, normal shipping is a problem if I cannot exclude it from some (perishable) goods. Is it possible to have local delivery on for ALL products, but standard shipping not being an option for some?

[Victor]

Hi @Podgobnik,

Right, I see. This should be doable then. You can create two shipping profiles—one with local delivery enabled and one with local delivery and regular shipping rates—and then add your products to each one accordingly. Your perishable goods can be added to the profile with only local delivery enabled and products that are eligible for both can be added to the other profile that includes regular shipping. You'll want to ensure that the local delivery rates for each profile match as doing so allows shipping rates that match across profiles to be applied to products in different profiles, and then they can be checked out at the same time.

[Podgobnik]

Great, I will do that!

thank you for your help, Victor!

BR, Bostjan