Assigning a package to a specific product?

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment

Topic summary

Users are requesting the ability to assign specific packaging (boxes vs. bubble mailers) to individual products to accurately calculate shipping costs. This is particularly important for stores with items requiring different packaging types—fragile items needing boxes versus non-fragile items using mailers.

Current Limitations:

  • Shopify lacks native functionality to assign default packaging per product or shipping profile
  • The platform uses a single default package for checkout rate calculations based on historical selections rather than product dimensions
  • Users report significant cost discrepancies when customers can order quantities exceeding default package capacity but only pay for one package

Proposed Workarounds:

  • Use product tags (“Box” or “Bubble Mailer”) combined with shipping rules
  • Manipulate product weights to reflect packaging requirements
  • Install third-party apps like Boxify, Better Shipping, Advanced Shipping Rules, or Starshipit
  • Create multiple shipping profiles with zone-specific rates

Community Frustration:

  • Multiple users note this feature exists on eBay (20+ years), Etsy, and WooCommerce as standard functionality
  • Implementing workarounds often requires upgrading Shopify plans (approximately $1,200/year additional) plus app subscriptions ($120-1,200/year)
  • Some users considering migrating to other platforms due to these limitations and cumulative costs

Status: The discussion remains unresolved with no official Shopify response regarding native feature development. One account representative allegedly claimed the feature exists, but users cannot locate it.

Summarized with AI on October 29. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
5

What? It’s a feature they have had on eBay for 20+ years. Like, I can’t even OFFER cheaper rates to customers, which is beyond incompetence. I have items that I COULD ship in a small flat rate, I have others that would ship in a large flat rate. OBVIOUSLY the customer would always pick the cheaper and then I would have to pay the extra $ on my end.

They have us create BOX sizes in settings. An option of “what boxes would fit this product” is like a day 1 QOL, let alone YEARS of asking with no response.

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