When you offer free shipping, how can you add a $2.00 handling fee, to cover the box expense?

[WildHoney]

So, how can I add a flat $2.00 for handling if I'm not charging for shipping? That is a terrible flaw Shopify doesn't allow for a handling fee. So basically I can increase all my prices to cover for the $2.00 but I don't know which items or how many when all I need is $2.00.  Most people will not bail on a $2.00 handling fee especially when they are getting free shipping. 

[Miles]

Hi, @WildHoney!

I'm Miles from the Social Care team at Shopify. Thanks for reaching out about adding a processing fee. Although you're not able to add one in natively, there are a few options for you.

The most simple way to do this is to increase your product or shipping costs? Whilst this doesn't add a processing fee specifically, it does give you a bit more cash for anything you're trying to cover. This avoids your customer seeing extra charges in the checkout which means your less likely to see abandoned carts in the checkout. If you do decide to add it to your shipping rates, we've got a great guide on how to Mark up or discount calculated rates.

If you do wish to display a handling or processing fee, you may need to use an app from the Shopify App Store. One app I would suggest would be Order & Product Fees. Here's a small list of how this app works.

• $9.99/month. 14-day free trial.
• Offer your customers to share with you shipping and payment processing expenses
• With the app, you can create an UNLIMITED number of fees/ charges for ANY product in your store.

I'd love to understand your reason for adding a processing fee? One of the reasons we don't offer this in the admin is that customer trends show extra charges can deter customers from completing their purchases. This means a higher chance of abandoned checkouts which can affect your bottom line. I'd love to help out with any issues around costing, so please be sure to let me know if you do need a hand at all.

[dicksmixes]

Miles: I am setting up my store and I'm very surprised to find Shopify does not offer handling fees as an option at checkout. There is a lot of psychology around how to charge for different things; however, free shipping is key for some products. To help offset this, adding a small handling fee is a great way to do this. For example especially when shipping from the West Coast to the East Coast. Paying an extra $10 a mo for an app just further cuts into margins. Be great to have this as optional for merchants who want it. Thanks.

[Iris]

Hello! Thanks for reaching out. This post seems to be few years old, so I’m happy to provide some up-to-date information. Here's how to add a handling fee to your Shopify checkout:

• Go to Settings > Shipping and delivery in your Shopify admin.
• Click the shipping profile you want to add a fee to.
• Click Add rate next to the zone.
• Select Use carrier or app to calculate rates.
• In the HANDLING FEE section, add your fee.
• Click Done, then Save.

For more details, check out this Shopify Help Article. Hope that helps.

[JoesIdeas]

I have 3 ideas to solve this:

A) If the handling fee is optional, you can add that as a checkbox on your product page, or if it's per order you can use Tip Jar to show a button anywhere (cart page for example) that users can add the handling charge to their order.

B) If it's mandatory, then it's actually a shipping related charge so you can just make shipping $2, that makes logical sense to the customer.

C) If you offer "free shipping" but then charge a "handling fee", I think that will decrease your conversion rates because it's actually $2 shipping, not free shipping... so if you want to maintain the integrity of free shipping, I would work the handling fee into your product price.

[BobsMojo]

Hi @WildHoney 

Agree with both @Miles and @JoesIdeas  here. If you advertise "Free Shipping" but the customer gets to checkout and sees a $2 handling fee - you will not only lose customers to abandoned checkouts, but you will lose integrity in the eyes of those customers. Your best bet is to definitely build it into your product pricing, or advertise "$2 Shipping" instead, and just change your current free shipping rate to a $2 flat rate based on whatever the threshold is for free shipping.