If you want to evolve and innovate sadly Shopifty is not for you.
Shopify is very flawed in general for a so-called leading eCommerce platform.
We are using workarounds for now but will be going to Woocommerce.
Even the bundles module for Woocommerce is lightyears ahead of what anything in Shopify offers.
I’m a new user and running into the exact same issue. It’s extremely hard to understand why this isn’t a basic standard feature. I’m somewhat regretting my decision to go with Shopify for my business and will likely start looking into other options before I get too deeply invested if Shopify isn’t willing to address what is so clearly a massive problem for a huge number of its users, and something that should be a very simple fix.
For a business like mine, not having this as an opinion just simply will not work at all. There is way too much variation in my products to be able to function without this basic feature. I haven’t made my site live yet, and I’m afraid that I won’t be able to at all and that I will have no choice but to use another service that includes this basic feature.
@Lulu -
Do you have any updates on this issue? I see that this has come up many, many times over the last couple of years and appears to be very detrimental to your services. We are pending going live while we attempt a work around for package sizing and, as others as stated, seems to be a basic feature that is much needed.
Thank you 
Shopify is there a fix for this yet? We are trying to grow our business and both me and my customers are getting screwed over with inaccurate shipping calculations. Shipping and logistics are a basic part of e-commerce and you can’t be the leading e-commerce platform without mastering shipping and logistics. We’ve been a paying customer since July 22, 2017 and have been an Advanced plan customer for the last 6 months. Having to consider a new platform as we grow, because there’s no way I’m going to upgrade to Shopify Plus without such a basic feature available at the Advanced plan level. Adds to my frustration to see all these comments without even a response.
When will this feature be available without an add on?
I looked at 5 different apps and each was at least $20 extra per month!
same problem here! Whenever I get an international order I lose money because it uses the wrong box size to calculate the shipping even if I have the weight correct. International shipping costs are especially susceptible to dimensions!
There needs to be a default available functionality to input the dimensions of the items so it can at least know the cubic footage of the products purchased and a minimum box size required to fit them for purposes of more realistic shipping quotes. Should be an easily programmable feature where it could even “recommend” what box size we need from our selection of pre-defined available box sizes!
I have now also run into this issue. I sell candles and the difference in weight and size of a one candle order versus a three candle order, especially when the former is a smaller one and the latter includes any larger candles makes a massive difference. I’m disappointed I chose Shopify as this is the second very obvious feature that should be included that I’ve run into this week.
I suggest all who are following this post start addressing Shopify directly, and also make our issue known to potential New Shopify stores. This is not an oversight, and there is no way it was done with in error. I was warned that SHOPIFY can get expensive with all the APPs added, and I don’t need many apps, but for basic shipping options to be an APP required option is WRONG.
Definitely contact Shopify to demand a fix for this issue! This is basic e-commerce functionality that should be a native feature for this “high-end” platform. I contacted Shopify tech support for another issue and, when tech support asked if I needed help with anything else, I asked about the status of this issue. They confirmed there was no fix and that there’s no FREE third-party app to solve this problem. They also confirmed that Shopify is aware of this issue. I asked to add my name to the long list of dissatisfied customers looking for a solution from Shopify and I encourage everyone on this thread to do the same.
Unfortunately most reading this thread are only doing so as they have already invested in Shopify and now encountering shipping issues.
This thread is 2 years old so don’t expect any change.
The standard response I get every few weeks when I want to evolve my website and reach out to Shopify is - that’s a great idea, but we don’t currently support that, we’ll let the team know.
Shopify is great for proving your business model, but once you’re in they know moving away takes too much effort.
The biggest benefit I’ve experienced with Shopify is the $300 insurance cover for items sent using Sendle as opposed to the $100 cover if you go direct.
Apart from that if you’re looking to evolve you’ll need to either load up a heap of apps in the hope they solve some of your problems or invest in custom code on a solution you don’t own or control.
Good luck to all and I’m hoping I get time soon to invest in moving on…
Hello Shopify, I agree this thread is important and needs attention.
For us, we learned to use Dimensional Weight calculations paired with actual weights thus entering which came in first as our actual weight per piece. This always worked with our previous platform and here too until we switched from the Basic plan to the Shopify plan. Suddenly the Default Box Size seemed to be active and the driving component towards the USPS shipping rate the customer paid.
Our first example was a 25" x 7" x 10" box (5 pieces inside) weighing 15.0 lbs. (a US East Coast to West Cost Shipment). Shopify allowed a customer to select a USPS rate of $9.40 (UPS quoted $23.45) for the same when we simulated the order again on our site. The actual dimensions and weight led to a charge of $54.24 vis USPS and UPS was as expected just over $23. This started happening to us on August 18 or August 19, we had no prior mis-quotes before this date. Similar orders as mentioned above always chose UPS which was the best rate offered as USPS was always two-fold in similar orders. I also want to mention, we never changed the “Default” box size set in Shopify since we implemented the platform around 6 months ago. On August 15th we upgraded the account to the Shopify Plan. Maybe this is connected as is a concern?
We spoke with two Shopify associates which created a ticket. Each associate agreed our case seemed to be “out of the ordinary”. Later that day we received an email reply that the platform is working as designed. This forced us to switch USPS off as of 8/19/21. Prior sales of items that weighed 2-3 lbs were always cheaper via USPS. We also often found that weights up near 5-6 pounds but less than 18" in length and let’s say 6"W and 3" H would ship USPS as well. It was always cheaper than UPS.
Maybe we’re missing something here, but I respectfully disagree and our reply and request here for help.
I have an update to mention.
Today I again spoke with customer service. We always offered UPS and USPS as shipping options.
I learned that when a customer moves from a Basic Plan to the Shopify plan, Shopify enables the “Default Box Size” feature. Good or Bad you will now have to select One Default Box Size for all your products if you are using USPS. UPS rates are the same and does not use “Default Box Size” (not sure why?)
We always considered the dimensional weight (WxLxH divided by 166) against actual weight for our shipping costs. Then, whichever was greater is the weight we plugged into the product weight field (this always works for the consumer and the store owner). In order words for us, this will no longer be considered if you’re on the Shopify plan and use USPS as a shipping option.
Anybody else?
So maybe I can help with this with what I have been doing which seems to help.
I have a few stores that ship small and large items. The default package I have set up is a poly bag (10x13x0.5)
I made shipping profiles for the for the items that use specific box’s.
-skateboards, hats, shirts
I made a sample order with a shipping address furthest from me (I’m in south florida) selected an address in Oregon with the default package and went to go ship the item. Once I’m the shipping screen I recorded the price it said it was going to be then I changed the package size and weight for what it would be (skateboard box at 5lbs) then wrote down the price of what it would be now. I did that for multiple packages and weights for the most common combos I ship for that store.
I took the pricing difference and went into my shipping profiles. I’m the profiles you set up you can add a price in the backend. For example. Skateboard profile I added 18$ to the back end of that profile. Box is 33x10x8 and 6lbs.
since I’ve done this. My customers store hasn’t lost any money the shipping cost is usually a dollar or so less than what the customer payed. Hope this makes sense. A little bit of work saves the 30$ a month.
After all the effort I put into building my store with Shopify, I’ve just opened an Etsy account. My Shopify store is down (password protected) until I make a decision as to whether or not I continue with this platform. I feel like I’m moving backwards by going to Etsy, but with Shopify’s shipping restrictions, I’m definitely not moving forward if I continue with this route.
Absolutely ridiculous.
Thanks PCP for your feedback. I’m working with your suggestions which looks promising. Question, what happens to the rate if a customer purchases more than one piece, let’s say they order 5 skate boards. Does the rate (for the customer) stay the same in your testing, or does it increase as weight changes?
We frequently have customers purchase multiple pieces and from different categories, for example 5 skateboards and 2 hats. In my test, the Shopify USPS quoted price stayed the same for the customer, but when actual weights and box size entered, the shipping label rate was unreasonable.
Here’s what I got after pushing them to give me a non-b*****t response. It was… another empty response. Alternatives to Shopify welcome, as soon as I have a day free I’m getting off. Can’t believe they don’t let you assign different boxes to different products. Hilariously inept.
"I understand that you’re looking to be able to associate specific packages to specific products. You’re absolutely right that there are plenty of forums of merchants that are requesting this feature and us here at Support would provide any additional details if they were known to us. I personally think we’re quite transparent when we can but in this particular situation I only know that Hepa has added your feedback into the feature request/feedback tracker.
Typically, if a request is made by many merchants and our team looked into implementing the feature into the platform but cannot - they usually post to let us Support Advisors know so that we can also inform merchants when they reach out to us via our support channels. For this particular request, we haven’t received any type of indication so truthfully, Hepa’s response of not having any sort of ETA is the most accurate.
Although Hepa or myself cannot promise that the request will become a feature for the platform, we can promise that we’re making your feedback heard by our developers and they’re taking our merchant’s feedback seriously. I know that this isn’t the response you’re looking for but I do hope that it provides a bit more context."
I am new to Shopify and in the process of building my first store on the 14-day trial. After doing a lot of work, all the integrations with accounting, Amazon Pay, and other things, I thought that setting up shipping would be the easy part. I am astonished that the shipping functionality is so limited. With the Basic plan, it is “one box fits all”, which I can’t imagine suits anyone’s needs. It’s truly pathetic and I can’t believe that it can’t even provide the most basic functionality. Why wouldn’t you simply enter the box size and weight for each product in their respective product profiles? I could see the added functionality of packaging multiple items in the same/different sized box or some other decision tree calculations for a multi-line item order as being an “advanced” feature and costing extra. Even eBay can calculate shipping from all major carriers for free based on the weight and package size you enter. And Shopify can’t? So each product can’t have it’s own associated box size? Really? Come on now. I am really disappointed so far and considering dumping this before the 14-days are up. I never thought to investigate this functionality when comparing ecommerce platforms.
As I have gone through each step of setting up this online store, I feel nickel-and-dimed to death. Shopify should change their slogan to: “There’s an app for that.” Seriously, looking at the Shopify offering from an outsiders perspective, how can a “fully featured” ecommerce product have a thriving third-party app store just to enable basic functionality like this. Paying extra for themes that third-party developers are selling is something that enticed me to pick Shopify and makes sense. Paying for a third-party app that handles basic shipping information and calculations is just absurd and unacceptable. Lastly, service providers like UPS provide robust API kits for developers. So it’s not like this is a herculean task to add this. I hope that Shopify reads these posts and improves their product instead of enhancing their app store.
I’m new to Shopify but I’m worried that such a basic function is not already a part of the platform. A post with 8600+ views and 6 pages of replies all dealing with the same issue? And that’s not counting at least six other posts I’ve seen that ask the same question. Shouldn’t that be a clear message that it’s an important issue to your CUSTOMERS that it should be added as a basic feature? We as a community rely on Shopify to be the front line for our businesses, shouldn’t Shopify be responsive to it’s community and continue to improve and maintain the platform?
Just a sort of PSA-- i’ve been in touch with Shopify and yes, they suck on this issue and offer nothing of detail. I escalated somewhat far up the ladder and ultimately got something to the tune of “we know about the problem an nobody has chosen to fix it”.
MY SOLUTION has been a combo of Boxify and ShipStation. So via ShipStation I get the discounted rates (can’t use the shopify rates) and can also hook up my FedEx account (USPS too if you use it). Getting dimensions loaded into Boxify was a hassle but simple-- spreadsheet out all product dimensions and send them the info, they’ll populate it to Shopify. With a few more tweaks (adding all box sizes in, etc.), it will estimate shipping cost for your customer and tell you what box to use.
BOXIFY DOES NOT show discounted rates to the customer, which blows. I set UPS to a 65% discount, and FedEx to a 35% discount. On average, that hits more more or less what I later pay via ShipStation, I have what I would guess are the lowest end of the discounts, as I don’t ship a lot (5-10 items/week).
FINALLY you need to pay Shopify annually (!!!) for the “privilege” of using the Boxify app to workaround their sh**ty underdeveloped platform, and then call them on the phone and ask them to allow shipping app integrations as a reward for paying annually and not monthly. So it’s an immediate outlay of a few hundred bucks. So much for supporting small businesses, right?
Shopify is all show and no substance, unfortunately, but that’s my workaround. It costs time and money. Alas. Really hope this helps y’all.