Processing Shipping with no cost

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment

Topic summary

A small candy company moving wholesale ordering online wants customers to choose a delivery method (pickup, shipping, delivery) without being charged shipping at checkout. They currently use ShipStation (shipping tool) manually to determine actual costs after packing, and then add that amount to a final invoice, with payments taken by check or over-the-phone credit card (not via Shopify).

Problem:

  • Shopify (e‑commerce platform) requires a shipping rate in Settings; leaving it blank isn’t allowed.
  • Setting $0 shows as “Free,” which the merchant feels misleads customers since shipping will be billed later.

Goal:

  • Let customers select “Shipping” during checkout with no displayed cost and no implied “free” shipping, so the charge can be added later once ShipStation provides the actual cost.

Status:

  • No workaround or solution provided yet; the merchant is asking if this is possible or if they’re out of options.
Summarized with AI on December 18. AI used: gpt-5.
1

I’m a small candy company just starting to take wholesale orders online. We have been in business for almost 100 years and this is our first time adventuring into the tech world. Prior to using an online web-based store we would take phone or email orders, process an electronic invoice and then accept payment via check cash or credit card over the phone. Currently we use ship station as our shipping partner. We manually enter in each shipping option and pay for it ourselves, and then request it from the customer on the final invoice
For my new online store I have pickup, shipping and delivery options. So far the volume isn’t enough to integrate ship station and Shopify. My goal is to have our customers place orders and choose a delivery method. Since our shipping is not consistent (weight and package size) I would like to not charge the customer at the time of order. But instead charge them later when I found out the cost from ship station and add it to the bill at the end. Currently my store is processing payments via check and over the phone credit cards. And not accepting payments via Shopify.
In Shopify when I go to shipping under settings I cannot have the shipping cost blank. If it’s zero dollars, then it says free. I basically just want them to be able to click shipping but not charge anything. Because it says free I feel like I’m going to give the wrong impression to my customers. Is there anything that I can be done or am I at a loss?