I contacted shopify support twice and they advise there is nothing they can
do at this time.
Topic summary
Multiple merchants are struggling with Shopify’s combined shipping rates when using multiple shipping profiles. The core issue: when customers order items from different profiles (e.g., value-based vs. weight-based, or different warehouse locations), Shopify automatically adds the shipping costs together rather than selecting the highest rate or charging a single consolidated fee.
Key Problems:
- Heavy items mixed with light items result in double shipping charges
- Multi-location fulfillment causes exponentially higher shipping costs as customers add items
- Merchants want to charge one shipping fee based on the largest/heaviest item or total order weight
Official Response:
Shopify support and community moderators confirm this is a platform limitation with no native solution. The only workarounds suggested are:
- Using third-party apps (though original poster resists due to high app fees)
- Consolidating everything into a single shipping profile (loses granular control)
Status: Unresolved. Multiple users continue seeking solutions, with some considering migration from other platforms (like Wix) where this isn’t an issue.