I have Europe shipping from US set to UPS because it won’t allow me to set up carrier rates for DHL it gives no reason for why it won’t allow DHL, yet when someone bought from Ireland it gave UPS express option $27.95 USD and when I went to print ship label the only option given was DHL. Now this customer is confused because she thought UPS express meant 1-3 days and it’s been 2 weeks and DHL has not delivered yet. There is no time listed at checkout. And why did shopify only give me DHL option. I can’t set shipping to weight because its not determined until I know what they bought. Any way to resolve setting up DHL? and then there is a Collection Carrier Rate option and I have no idea what that is. Anyone know?
What you’re seeing is usually caused by the difference between checkout carrier rates and the shipping labels available through Shopify Shipping.
If Shopify is showing UPS rates at checkout, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be able to purchase a UPS label afterward. The carrier used to calculate the shipping charge and the carrier available for label purchase can be different depending on your Shopify Shipping setup, origin location, destination, package details, and available carrier partnerships.
Regarding DHL not appearing in your shipping settings, I’d first check:
- Whether DHL is supported for your store’s shipping origin country.
- Whether you’re using Shopify Shipping rates or your own DHL account.
- Whether carrier-calculated shipping is enabled on your plan.
- Whether all required package and shipping origin information has been configured.
For the Ireland order specifically, the customer likely saw a UPS-calculated rate at checkout, but Shopify determined DHL was the available label option when fulfillment was created. Unfortunately, that can create an expectation mismatch if the customer associates “UPS Express” with a specific transit time.
Also, you mentioned:
“I can’t set shipping to weight because it’s not determined until I know what they bought.”
Shopify automatically calculates total shipment weight from the products in the order, so weight-based rates can still work as long as each product has an accurate weight entered in its product settings.
As for Collection Carrier Rate, that’s generally a carrier-calculated shipping rate that can be limited to products in a specific collection. It’s a more advanced setup and usually isn’t necessary unless you’re applying different shipping logic to certain product groups.
My recommendation would be:
- Verify whether you’re using carrier-calculated rates, Shopify Shipping labels, or both.
- Run a test checkout to a European address and note exactly which carrier names are displayed.
- Check your product weights and package settings.
- Contact Shopify Support and ask them specifically why DHL isn’t available in your shipping-rate configuration while DHL labels are available during fulfillment. They can review the shipping profile and carrier eligibility on the account.
Based on your description, I suspect the issue is not that DHL is broken, but that the checkout carrier shown to customers and the carrier available for label purchase are not aligned, which is causing confusion about delivery expectations.
OK, I am checking into my issues with support. thx
Yeah, I can see why the customer is confused. What shows at checkout and what Shopify offers when you buy the label don’t always match. The UPS Express rate was likely coming from your checkout rate setup, but when it came time to create the shipment, Shopify may have only had DHL available based on the destination, package details, or carrier availability. As for DHL not showing up for carrier-calculated rates, Shopify unfortunately doesn’t give much detail when something isn’t configured correctly. For your case, you might need to get in touch with support to see what’s not working.
Although one suggestion I can give you is to stop relying on Shopify’s carrier rates and instead pull rates directly from your own carrier accounts. There are apps that do this, and one I can recommend is PH Multi Carrier Shipping Label. You can connect major carriers like UPS and DHL, and rates are pulled directly from the carrier APIs. That means only services that can actually be used to generate labels are shown at checkout, which helps avoid situations where a customer pays for one carrier, but you end up having to ship with another. It also keeps the checkout rates and label costs much more consistent.
Thanks, that’s great info. For my store, I may sell 1 or 2 overseas a year so the cost $9 a month is prohibitive, but I will keep in mind. Looks like great app.
Hey there @Debra_Jambor
From what you’re describing, the problem seems to be more related to shipping configuration and label fulfilment options rather than checkout itself. Shopify Shipping rates displayed at checkout (UPS Express) are different from the carrier from which you purchase the label, which can be DHL if you have it enabled in your shipping settings or through an app.
DHL is also not reliably available as a livecarrier on Shopify Shipping for every configuration, so a lot of sellers rely on third party app solutions like Shippo or the DHL Express Integration for real-time rates.
Collect carrier rates are shipping profiles that are based on particular product collections, allowing you to control the rates for a set of items.
Yes, I contacted Shopify and got DHL added and fixed this issue. Thanks for the answer.