one box size to calculate ALL YOUR DIFFERENT SIZED PRODUCTS?!?!?!

[calenknauf]

Hi, so I have contacted customer service several times and I still refuse to believe this, but is it honestly true? that you can only choose one box size to calculate the shipping for ALL of your many different sized products? this is so stupid that it cant be real. there is no way that a grown adult presented the concept of shopify to a board of investors and they didn't laugh them out of the room with this concept. this is one step away from designing an ecommerce site that doesn't allow you to post photos of your products. I also dont believe that this is true as  I dont see how shopify could exist and be successful if this is the case, unless the only people that use shopify only sell one product in one size. Please tell me this isnt the case as I will be super annoyed that I chose to waste my money and time setting up a shopify store. PS. please dont respond with "just go to all the different couriers sites with all (many) products and find the rate and then add those rates to your products" cause that is just nonsense. its 2023, ebay has been able to calculate real time shipping in accordance with the specified box size for each individual item in your store for over 15 years. 

[Shay]

Hi @calenknauf 

Thank you for sharing your feedback here. Shopify is always looking to improve our platform for all our merchants and your feedback is appreciated.

You are correct that the standard experience at the checkout when using calculated rates based on weight is that a default package size will be used to calculate the weight of the order. You can still add additional packaging options for when you are buying the labels through Shopify Shipping directly. There is only one package size that can be used at the checkout though. 

You can read more about how this is setup in our Help Center: Setting up your packages · Shopify Help Center.

For stores that require a more advanced shipping setup at checkout, we recommend upgrading your plan so you can have Carrier Calculated Shipping (CCS) enabled and to use an app like Boxify: Boxify - Real-time shipping rates done right.

[calenknauf]

Ok, well that is totally unacceptable. I dont see how this can be acceptable to any one. this is so silly I feel like there is a miscommunication here. so If I have 3 products, one is a candle and it fits in a 2x2x10” box and a lamp that goes in a 30”x30”x30” box. how is it possible for a customer to buy my candle if the shipping gets calculated with the lamp box? or a lamp purchase calculated using the candle box if you can only choose one box to calculate shipping? Ill be moving on to another ecommerce platform if this is the case, cause that is ridiculously antiquated and makes shopify pretty much useless.

[Shay]

There are many shipping strategies you can apply to your business if not having the ability to scale your packaging size with calculated rates doesn't work for your business. 

You can have products with free shipping, price based shipping or set up shipping profiles so that you can scale your shipping costs across multiple items. If you ship both small and large products, you can add handling fees to your shipping costs to make up the difference on the larger items. 

I recognize that is not the answer you were looking for, but I hope some of these alternate suggestions can work for you. 

[calenknauf]

yeah, sorry, but suggesting “free shipping” or wasting a TON of time visiting 5 or more shipping companies websites, entering all the information over 15 different times for each item, each 3 different times to find the international, domestic and American costs, then enter all this information as a solution to this problem, that every other online ecommerce platform has, and has had for more then 15 years is unacceptable. ill be leaving shopify as soon as I can. this is so insane its crazy. I mean I know that my other business i work with, stussy, that runs off shopify has many products and they all come in different boxes, and our customers can easily order and have their shipping calculated based on what they bought and where they live. it is crazy that you or no one else can help me do this on my site. this is nuts.

[OKJIM]

Calenknauf...

You are correct, it is completely nuts. Sellers on Shopify have been complaining for many years. Shopify's "one default box size fits all" is ludicrous! Many of us transferred over from Ebay, Etsy and such, where the box size and weight can be changed per item - totally perplexed. How can we run a business when the shipping cost is way to low (profit lost), or way to high and the sale is lost?

Yeah right, the Shopify answer is to offer free shipping or some app that does not exist. What a joke. Great!... then do not send me a bill for the labels I purchase through Shopify shipping... can't Shopify ship our items for free?

Pretty insulting, when Shopify owner Tobias Lutke brags about not working long hours. We small business owners should only work 5 hours a day...and lose money on shipping.

[dupreesjo]

The suggestion to upgrade your plan so you can use a third party app is equally insulting.  You have to upgrade to the plan that is $399 a month!!! I own a brick and mortar vintage store.  Everything I have on my website is a one off.  The items range from a sample tin of chapstick from the 60s that is smaller than a quarter to a vintage shadow box that is 42x23x4 and only weighs 11 pounds.  I just took a $35 loss on the shadow box today when Shopify only charged them $19 for the shipping! I can't offer free shipping either.  My profit margin is slim already without that loss on top of it.  I'm going to have to go back and mark the oversized items as non-shippable.  I don't have time to create 100s of shipping rates and apply them to my 3,000+ item inventory!  Seriously ridiculous!

[edasibrands]

COMPLETELY Agree!!