Hi David.
May I ask how did you add the rural surcharge at checkout?
Is this after calculating all the product costs and shipping rate?
Topic summary
Main Issue:
New Zealand Shopify merchants need solutions for calculating shipping costs (distinguishing rural vs. urban areas) and printing shipping labels, as native Shopify features primarily support North American carriers.
Key Challenges:
- Shopify cannot automatically detect rural addresses or apply rural surcharges
- NZ Post and local couriers (NZ Couriers, Fastway) lack native integration
- Rural pricing requires manual postcode management
Recommended Solutions:
For Label Printing:
- GoSweetSpot (free app for NZ Couriers) - mentioned as working well but some users report it’s no longer available
- Multi Carrier Shipping Label (PluginHive) - integrates with NZ Post for real-time rates and label printing
- ShipStation/eShip - for purchasing shipping tickets
For Shipping Calculations:
- Bespoke Shipping app ($15 USD/month) - most discussed solution
- Allows zone-based pricing using postcode rules (North Island Urban/Rural, South Island Urban/Rural)
- Requires manual setup with rural postcode spreadsheets
Community Support:
Multiple users (@benocray, @David_Moore) offer to share pre-formatted NZ postcode spreadsheets for Bespoke Shipping setup. The postcodes capture ~95% of rural areas but require ongoing updates as different couriers define “rural” differently.
Status: Ongoing discussion with users actively sharing resources and requesting postcode lists.