Why can't I select a country for shipping in my online store?

[sethf]

Hi,

So I've been messing with this for hours, every other store has worked fine and I even contacted shopify live chat to help fix this, he even said this was weird and that no apps were causing this.

(Which was true because I created a new website and made a new product on it and it still had the same issue)

At first the issue was:

Could only select "united states" in the country section for shipping at checkout (my shipping zone at this time had 4-5 other countries including the United States)

BUT now nothing pops up at all after changing the countries.

This may be because the zone only has "Australia & Canada" in it and the store wants to show united states but it cant because of the zone or.. I'm not sure but this is really frustrating and dumb.

Theme: Sense

EDIT (box is empty because if United States isn't selected in the zone it obviously won't show it in the checkout, I also have Canada & Australia selected but they just won't show. Only the US)

Empty box now:

[Anindita]

Hi @sethf 

When you add the USA to a shipping zone, you'll see that it's split into 62 "states": These 62 states will include the 50 states of the United States, territories (e.g. Puerto Rico), and armed forces locations (e.g. Armed Forces Americas). Kindly check if this is the issue here. 

[MBAmissah]

yup must be a new issue with the 2.0 themes. I'm having the same problem with the dawn theme. currently looking for a solution.

[sethf]

I haven't found a solution either, may seem like a small problem but when advertising to multiple countries it's a big problem.

[Imogen · Accepted solution]

Hey there, @sethf! Another large 'Hello!' to everyone else that has stopped by in this thread! Thanks for reaching out to the Shopify Community with this country selection issue! I'm happy to advise everyone on how to resolve this, and make it so your desired countries are able to be selected! 

The most likely reason for your countries not appearing in this step of the checkout is that your international markets are not currently active. You're going to want to turn your international markets on, for your desired countries to appear! I have the steps here to do so below: 

• Login to your Shopify Admin
• Click on 'Settings' > 'Markets' > 'International'
• Click on 'Manage', and then click 'Activate'

Give these steps a try, and then feel free to follow up with me here to let me know if things have been resolved or not! I expect that they will be, but if they aren't, follow up and let me know and we'll do some additional digging. 

[MBAmissah]

Yup that solved it. 

[Imogen]

Awesome to hear, @MBAmissah!

We'll wait to see if other folks end up having things resolved, too, before making the above steps as the solution. 

Thank you for following up with us! 

[SerumsandMasks]

OMG. this solved it. thank you. I was beating myself up and missing sales and customers were sending DMs. Updated all the shipping rates and zones and still wasn't allowing international shipping. 

But this solved it 

[Imogen]

Hey there, @SerumsandMasks! So happy to hear that this forum post helped you get this resolved in your store! 

This is just another example of how the Shopify Community can band together to help each other out! I strongly recommend revisiting us here whenever you have questions about anything Shopify. 

[Aisha2]

It’s not letting me press the word activate. Can you please help me? 

[Imogen]

Hey there, @Aisha2. Thanks for joining in on our conversation here! 

I appreciate you providing your screenshot! I do see that the 'activate' button has been greyed out. I also noticed that there is some messaging on your app saying that you're '5/7' steps through the setup guide. Based on that messaging, you may have a few more steps you need to complete with setting up your international market before you can click 'activate'. I recommend scrolling down that page, and checking out all of the 'manage' mentions you see, just in case you may have missed something within those sections. 

If you've done all of that, and can't seem to notice what was missing, please let me know! 

[Anonymous]

 Hey, so mine is grey as well but I don’t have any additional steps to complete. Is there anyway you can help me out. Thank you. 

[Imogen]

Hi there, @Anonymous. Thanks for jumping in!

Have you had the chance to read my most recent reply that touches on this issue? The market you're building here is very large, so my first thought is that you may not have shipping rates set up for all of the regions you've included in this market. 

To test out if setting up rates solves this issue, I recommend making a test marketing with just one region, setting up shipping rates for that region, and then see if you can click 'activate' for that test market. If that works, then we've pinpointed what the issue is!

Let me know if you have any questions.

[Anonymous]

So, I actually just created a "new market" and added the country that I wanted to include and it worked out. As soon as it was activated, about 15min later we had an order come in from that region. Good timing. Thanks for the quick response!

[Imogen]

Hey again! Looks like something may have happened to your Community Account here, but I hope all is well!

Happy to hear that you were able to get that new market made! I have a resource for you here that outlines out helpful tips that will be useful if you decide to open up some new markets!

If you're open to it, I'd love to hear more about your business! What market did you end up opening up? Is there a particular reason why you were looking to expand your markets? Let me know!

[aadil42]

Thanks mate! It was helpful.

[Imogen]

Hi there, @aadil42. 

I'm glad you found the steps outlined in this thread useful! 

If you ever have any feedback you'd like to share with us, or are lookig for assistance with something related to your store. Feel free to reach out to us and let us know. 

[Laurentiu666]

Thank you!

[cosan17]

Thank you so much for this post! I was starting to panic 🙂 Could you pass it to you team to make this flow/options more easy to find, or easy to understand. from a newbie perspective, it is not obvious at all 🙂 Thanks!

[Imogen]

Hey there, @cosan17!

Thanks for the kind words! I'm so happy to hear that the steps outlined in this thread helped alleviate that panic that was setting in. 

I'll definitely take some time to pass along the feedback you've provided us here to the appropriate folks. I sometimes wonder if a prompt in the shipping section of the Admin reminding folks about Shopify Markets would help prevent issues from popping up! I'll make sure that our Product Team gets some eyes on this thread so look into some proactive messaging changes. You're totally right that from a new user perspective, it could be difficult to figure where to go to get things working as expected.

If you don't mind me asking, I'd love to hear about your store! Anytime I get the chance to meet some new folks in the Community, I always take the time to ask about their business. For me, I work with my partner and her sister on their art business whenever I have the chance! I'd love to hear about the type of business you're operating, and I'd love to see the site you've built! Feel free to drop your link here for us!

[Zunyi_Jiang]

Thanks

[Leelandsoto]

What if your trial has ended? I’m attempting to pick a plan but can’t due to not being able to select the correct country. And I’m unable to access the settings due to the trail having ended. 
I have the same issue, stuck on USA. Works fine for my credit card details but not for business address. 

[Imogen]

Hi there, @MohdYabrudi and @Leelandsoto! Thanks for jumping in on the convo!

@MohdYabrudi I'm happy to hear that the steps outlined here were useful for you! Let me know if you have any questions about anything!

@Leelandsoto So, the issue being discussed in this thread is in regards to Shopify Markets, and not quite this billing situation. However, I'm happy to lend you a hand here with whatever issue you're facing. 

Can you let me know what location you're trying to pay for your Shopify Subscription from? Do you mind also sharing what method of payment you're trying to use? When you created your account, did you say that your business was operating out of the US? Do you happen to have any screenshots of the screen you're on when trying to pay for your plan?

Get back to me when you can!

[MaatLuxeHome]

I apologize I do not know how to properly jump in on this convo so I'll reply here in hopes you can help me out. I have set international shipping rates in three countries but have no option at checkout to pick a country, only states in the USA. I have gone to settings>markets>international and it says active in the countries that I have selected. I have a flat-rate shipping profile set up. Can you please advise? Thanks! 

[TwiX]

I keep getting this message, anyone know how to solve?

[Imogen]

Hey there, @TwiX. Thanks for taking the time to jump in on our thread here with your question. It's good to meet you.

Your question and screenshot are actually related to your 'Shipping Settings', and not Shopify Markets, which is what this thread is centered around. In the theme of keeping our thread on topic, I'm going to provide you with two options to get support with your question:

1.) Create a new thread looking for help - One recommendation I have is that you take your question here and make a thread devoted to it. This will allow folks from all across the Shopify Ecosystem to jump in and assist you specifically with your question. It also helps keep the Community clean and well-organized for future users

2.) Seek help via Live Support - You can also consider reaching out to our Live Team for assistance with your question. That specific error in your checkout can be caused by a few different factors such as not having shipping rates assigned to the product, not having a shipping zone built for the region that the address is located, or that you don't have your product set in the right shipping profile. Reaching out to our Live Team would give us the opportunity to jump into your admin and work on determining the specific cause.

I hope you take the time to action one of the recommended steps I advised you on. If you have any questions about what I've suggested, just reply here and let me know.

[MohdYabrudi]

Very Helpful.. just solved the problem.

Thank you very much @Imogen .

[IvanTR]

Hey, I need some help. The “Active” button can’t be clicked. What can i do?

[IvanTR]

Activate*

[Imogen]

Hey there, @IvanTR! Thanks for joining in on the thread here! I hope you're doing well!

It's been some time since you posted about encountering this. Are you still experiencing this issue? If so, I have an idea as to what may be going on.

It's likely that you don't have any shipping rates currently set for the marketing you're trying to set up. Shipping rates are required for you to be able to click that 'Activate' button that you can't interact with. Please check to see if you have shipping rates enabled, and let me know if you still encounter this issue. I also have our help document on Markets  for you here, as you may find this helpful for additional troubleshooting.

Do you mind if I ask why you're looking to set up a new Market? Are you looking to expand into a new area for selling? I'd love to hear about your store and your goals and see if I can advise you on anything! Feel free to follow up with me here!

[Imogen_The_Goat]

Common Imogen W. Absolute Legend in the game

[javarox]

Hey I'm having the same issue, my activate button is grey, I don't have any uncompleted steps either.

What could be the issue, would appreciate some help!

[javarox]

Could you help me too, please? I don't have any uncompleted steps. 

[Imogen_The_Goat]

go to setting > markets > turn on international market 

[Imogen]

Hey there, @javarox and @MaatLuxeHome. Apologies for the incredibly delayed response here. I'm taking some time to check in on threads that haven't had a response from our team lately, so I'm happy to reconnect with you folks here!

Are you folks still facing the issues that you've mentioned in your posts? I know that it's been some time since you've both originally posted, so I wanted to touch base to see if you were still seeking support for your questions.

Feel free to reply to me here and I'll get back to you right away to lend a hand!

[AgeofTarot]

I'm literally in tears....i only want to sell in Canada...and it just keeps USA as my market..........I have changed the Shipping to free standard and on and on and changed the currency...but still it says usa.

[AgeofTarot]

omg now it's telling customers that they can shop in usa and pay in canadian????

[AgeofTarot]

[Imogen]

Hey there, @AgeofTarot. Thanks for taking the time to follow up with us here on this thread!

Let's try to tackle the issue in the simplest way and see if that helps! If you're wanting to not ship to the United States, then let's look into deactivating that market! You can do so by using the following steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Markets.

2. Click Manage beside the market that you want to deactivate.

3. From the More actions list, click the Deactivate market.

4. Click the Deactivate to confirm.

I also have a link to the help doc that I pulled those steps from here. Give the steps a try, and let me know if you run into any difficulties!

[worldofmim]

Hi Imogen,

I activated International shipping, can you tell me why some countries are missing? I am trying to ship to Croatia it's EU and Schengen, but when I try to create a new zone, its not on the listed countries. What should I do? Thank you!

[Imogen]

Hi there, @worldofmim. Thanks for jumping into this thread here!

I decided to jump into my test store to see if I was able to create a new shipping zone with Croatia, and was able to do so successfully. I'll let you know the steps I used below:

• Login to your Admin
• Go to 'Settings' > 'Shipping and Delivery'
• Click 'Create New Profile'
• Click 'Create New Zone'
• In the country search bar, type in 'Croatia' and it should appear for you to allow you to set up a shipping profile for that specific country.

Let me know if you run into any issues using these steps, or if I misunderstood where you are trying to add Croatia. I'll keep my eyes peeled for your reply!

[threegypsees]

Hi Imogen,
I am having the same problem. My Other Countries are showing as Active but purchases can't be made to anywhere except the U.S. Please help 😞

Christina (Three Gypsees)

[Imogen]

Hi there, @threegypsees. Thanks for following up on this older thread here!

Thanks for giving me some information about the issues you're facing. Can you provide me with a link to your store so I can see how things look from a customer perspective? I'd like to get some more understanding about the issue,and this should help with that!

Follow up with that URL here whenever you have the chance!

[threegypsees]

Sure!

www.threegypsees.com<>

Hope you can help x

[threegypsees]

Hey!

Thank you for responding. Yes, my store is www.threegypsees.com

Hope you can help!

Warmest,

Christina 

[Imogen]

Hey again, @threegypsees. Thanks for following up with me here and providing that URL to your store.

I went through your store as if I was a customer, and was able to select from a wide array of countries within your checkout, so it appears that customers not just within the United States, but abroad, are able to complete purchases in your checkout.

Can you provide me with some additional context around why you feel only U.S Customers are able to complete their purchases?

[threegypsees]

Hi Imogen,

I'm able to select a multitude of countries, but when I type in an address in Australia, i'm left with an error message. Whereas when I type in a USA address, the shipping options populate.

Not sure how to fix this 😕 I've attached screenshots.



Warmest,
Christina

[Imogen]

Hey, again @threegypsees. Thanks for following up with me!

I plugged in some test addressed in your checkout and did see that a shipping error is generating. This suggests to me that some of your products are not in a shipping profile that has shipping rates for these regions. You'll want to create shipping profiles, and shipping zones, for these international countries so international customers can complete their purchases.

You can refer to this document here for some information on creating shipping zones, and this document here for information on making shipping profiles. This should get you on the right track!

[threegypsees]

Hi Imogen,

I've gone through the documents and it really seems like I've done everything I can, so I'm not sure what i'm missing. Here are some screenshots of my shipping zones. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?

Warmest,

Christina

[Imogen]

Thanks for following up with me, @threegypsees.

Have you tried adding another shipping carrier service to that 'Australia' shipping zone? The error could be due to the fact that DHL doesn't offer shipping to the particular test address you're using. I recommend giving this a try, and seeing if the test address then works for you.

Shipping errors like these are often mutli-faceted. It helps to speak to our Authenticated Support Team when dealing with shipping issues like these, as our Authenticated Support Team can access your account and check all potential causes, where I'm not able to do so here. You can reach out to the Authenticated Team using this link if the addition of another carrier doesn't resolve the issue.