I had to turn off the express payment options (Google Pay, Apple Pay etc) because it kept doing this too!!
I’ve also been having the same issues when customers checkout using Paypal Express - so frustrating! If we could just select the default shipping option it would be all sorted.
Topic summary
Merchants report that express checkout (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shop Pay, PayPal Express) auto-selects the first shipping rate—often a free “collect in store”/pickup option—without prompting customers to choose shipping. They say they cannot reorder rates via code, so the default remains pickup, leading to unintended pickup orders.
Impact: extra manual work to re-invoice for postage, customer confusion (“I wanted it shipped”), and some merchants disabling express checkouts to avoid errors. One merchant noted a significant drop in sales after disabling express options.
Workarounds tried: turning off express payment methods (effective but reduces conversion and payment choices). Issues also appear with PayPal Express and now Shop Pay.
Recent update: Shopify introduced a built-in “collect in store” option, removing the need for a custom zero-cost shipping rate. One merchant plans to re-enable express to test if this helps, but results are not yet shared.
Status: No confirmed way to set a default standard shipping rate or force selection within express checkout. Discussion remains unresolved.
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