No Flat Rate Additional item shipping feature? Are you joking!

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment

Topic summary

Main issue: Shopify lacks a native “flat rate + additional item” shipping option and product-specific packaging settings, creating conflicts with Printify’s per-item flat-rate model. Weight-based rates are calculated using a single default packaging that can’t be assigned per product, and Shopify’s flat-rate option can’t add per-extra-item fees; conditional rates are weight-based only.

User feedback: Participants voice frustration at relying on paid apps for basic shipping needs and note WooCommerce supports per-unit shipping out of the box. Concerns are raised that Shopify has little incentive to add these features.

Workaround shared: A temporary method approximates per-item shipping using price-based tiers in shipping profiles.

  • Create a shipping profile for a product group.
  • In each shipping zone, set min–max price conditions to represent 1 item, 2 items, 3 items, etc.
  • Make price ranges wide enough to cover discounts/sales; orders above the top range get the highest tier rate.

Outcomes/status: No official solution or acknowledgment from Shopify in the thread. A feature request is implied; discussion remains open, with one user considering headless approaches as a future direction.

Summarized with AI on December 16. AI used: gpt-5.
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So, here I am, again, in this forum bringing another big issue to the table. I am seriously getting sick of Shopify and their complete lack of development for simple features that have been requested many times throughout many years. It’s like they do not care and, instead, want the customer to have to use apps for simple features.

I just linked Printify to my store. They have their app’s shipping plan that is created for whichever products you import into your store. But I also sell my own products. So, there is a default packaging within my store already set, which by the way you cannot remove. This default packaging is used to determine weight-based shipping rates.

Printify, on their end, has a flat rate, plus an additional fee they charge if more than one item of the same supplier and kind is ordered. Simply a flat rate for the first item, and another flat additional rate for the additional items ordered.

Well, on their plan they upload to Shopify, it’s based on weight. Why is this a problem? Because the weight rates are calculated by the default packaging!!! There is zero adaptability to the calculation. You cannot link certain packaging to certain products to calculate the most accurate weight for weight-based rates. The only way to get around this is to have a flat rate shipping plan, but here is where that ends: Shopify doesn’t have a flat rate additional item option! The conditional pricing that you can add to it, is based on weight!

You have to be f******* joking. The fact that such a simple feature is not on Shopify’s platform makes Shopify either look completely ignorant and dumb or completely insidious with their lack of simple functionality. Are people at shopify even aware of the options that are commonly explored to save money when shipping?

You have zero excuse to not have this feature for everyone and every plan. Not to mention, you have zero excuse not to have the ability to attach common packaging to different products. One single default packaging that is used to determine the cost of shipping for your entire catalog is the most idiotic functionality I have ever seen. It’s almost pathetic.

You should be able to link commonly used packaging to every single product plus additional settings to apply conditional packaging based on how many are ordered of the same type/size.

I really hope employees see this and read it to its entirety. You need to get it together because this is simply pathetic. No, we don’t want to install plugins.

1 Like
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I have nothing to add other than I, too, am absolutely gobsmacked at how some basic features are lacking from Shopify. Then, of course, app vendors are ready to sell subscription to a product that solves what should have been baked in. I have too many subscriptions in life and some of these lack of features are either absolute ignorance at best or perversely malicious. I was trying to set up “per unit shipping cost” and apparently it’s like splitting an atom on Shopify, but it’s baked in to Woocommerce at a basic level.

Anyway, I’m sorry I can’t solve your issue, but I can commiserate. I’m starting to have some major doubts about Shopify.

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Thanks for your reply.

Yeah, the reality is that Shopify has little incentive to fix some of these basic features. Whether it’s due to the fees they collect or the commissions from app companies, they’ve chosen not to address these issues. It seems more likely they’re pushing users toward higher-tier plans that allow third-party apps to handle things like shipping estimates, which are probably more accurate anyway.

This shouldn’t be one of those complicated features, though. I’ve found a temporary workaround by using the pricing min/max conditions for the rates within a shipping zone on a shipping profile.

Here’s how it works: You create a shipping profile for a group of items, whether it’s a collection or a product type. In the shipping zone, you use the min-max pricing conditions to set rates based on the total price. So, you define rates for 1 item, then 2, then 3, etc., being purchased together. The price range you set (min-max) should cover any possible cost variations, including sales. For example, if multiple items exceed the max, it charges the rate tied to that range.

I hope that helps, but it’s ridiculous that we have to resort to these workarounds. I’ve seen Shopify employees try to justify the lack of functionality, and the explanations are just as frustrating.

Your point about WooCommerce is valid. Shopify should view it as a threat, but they don’t seem to. Personally, I can’t stand WordPress anymore. It used to be great, but it’s built on outdated PHP and is too vulnerable to security issues. I’m leaning more toward a headless approach for the future.