How to set up a Free Shipping Promotion to only apply to Standard Shipping (not Expedited Shipping)

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment

Topic summary

Merchants want to offer free shipping promotions that apply only to standard/ground shipping rates, not expedited options. Currently, Shopify’s native free shipping discount codes make all shipping methods free when applied.

Shopify’s suggested workaround:

  • Set an exclusion for “shipping rates over a certain amount” to prevent expensive expedited options from becoming free
  • This approach fails for many merchants because:
    • Shipping rates vary by product weight, size, and destination
    • Standard shipping for large orders can exceed expedited rates for small orders
    • Error messages confuse customers (“discount not available for your address” instead of explaining rate restrictions)

Why merchants need this feature:

  • Prevents customers from exploiting free shipping codes by selecting expensive expedited options
  • Avoids manual order review to downgrade shipping methods
  • Calculated shipping rates make dollar-amount exclusions impractical
  • Multiple shipping profiles with different rate structures complicate workarounds

Current status:

  • Feature remains unavailable in native Shopify (only Shopify Plus can use scripts)
  • Support has added multiple merchants to feature requests over several years
  • No ETA provided for implementation

Available solutions:

  • Third-party apps like Advanced Free Shipping, Single Code Discount by Swiftbee, Customer Shipping Rules, or Bespoke Shipping
  • Merchants express frustration at paying monthly fees ($10+) for what they consider basic functionality
Summarized with AI on October 27. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
15

Hey, @coffeeshopping .

Thank you for following up!

With Advanced Shipping Rules, you may be able to offer shipping using their variables and robust shipping conditions. While the shipping conditions aren’t applied through discounts, it may be able to offer a solution for your store. I’d recommend exploring the shipping conditions that the app provides, or reach out to the developer through the contact information found in the Support section of their app’s page.

If you have any other questions on this topic, don’t hesitate to let me know!