I have USPS (Discounted rates from Shopify Shipping) set up in my shop, so when someone has items in their cart, they will see the available USPS shipping prices (media, first class or priority).
Today I had someone order 2 items and they paid $18.28 for USPS priority mail shipping.
When I went to buy the shipping label, it came up as $12.75, less the Shopify discount of $3.93, for a net shipping cost of $8.82, which is nearly $10 cheaper.
The package weight is the same in my product setup and shipping label purchase. I also went to the USPS website and checked the price there (package is 12.5"x12.5"x1" and weighs 1b 13 oz) and got the same price as the shipping label ($12.75 before discount).
I’ve seen this happen a few times where the price displayed in the cart is higher, but cannot figure out what the problem is. I end up refunding the difference to buyers, but wonder how many sales I’ve lost because the shipping price is too high.
Package weighing 2 lbs 15 oz, customer was charged $27.29 for priority mail, but the shipping label will only cost $15.83 ($18.90 less $3.07) Shopify discount (not to mention that I will actually send this in a flat rate envelope for $8.30 ($10.60 less $2.30 discount)).
Package weighing 1 lb 6 oz, customer was charged $25.44 for priority mail, but I can mail it for $13.46 ($17.10 less $3.64 discount).
There’s definitely something wrong with the priority mail prices being fetched in the checkout process.
Thank you for posting to the forums. I hope your day is going well!
These situations generally occur when the Shopify Shipping settings are different than the label you purchase. For example, our system only uses one default box to calculate the rates in the cart, but you can purchase a label for a smaller package size when fulfilling.
The first step is to check your default package size. It sounds like it is larger than the package you are using when purchasing the label. You can check this by heading to Settings > Shipping > Default Package.
Secondly, you could have handling charges that are being added to the shipping rate at checkout. You can check this by opening your rates under Settings > Shipping > Manage > Edit Rate (for the applicable rate.) If there is a handling fee, remove the fee, and save.
If this does not resolve the issue, we will need to take a closer look at your account. I would be happy to assist you here if you can provide screenshots of the label information and your shipping rate. When providing screenshots make sure to block out any sensitive information.
Or, you can also reach out to our live advisors who can look directly at the applicable information. To do so, visit our Help Center and log in to your account to create a support request through live chat, email, or callback. Once you have logged in to your account, type your request in ‘Ask about a topic’, scroll down to ‘Get Support’, and then click ‘Continue.’
Thanks for the reply. I ended up chatting with someone in support and we figured out what the issue is.
I have different shipping profiles for different products (for example, I ship records and they can go via media mail or priority mail, but then something like a CD is first class or priority mail). When someone orders items that are in different shipping profiles, for example, a record and a CD, the cart calculates a priority mail cost for each item separately and then adds together, instead of calculating one price for the combined order.
Unfortunately there is no easy fix. I need to change my shipping profiles, which would eliminate certain shipping options for certain products…I’m not sure I want to do that.