The fact that there is no method to set Shipping Package via import or API is definately a problem.
With 30K sku and hundreds of packages, Shopify support suggestion was basically to set the package individually for each variant.
The Shopify shipping system seems to override other solutions such as ShipperHQ very frequently for no reason.
With no way to set the Package size in SOME semi-automated method is insane.
When will this change? Is there some other solution that someone has found?
@ExcelRC You’re not wrong Shopify currently doesn’t support setting shipping package sizes via CSV or API, which makes large catalogs extremely painful to manage. At scale, manually assigning packages per variant just isn’t realistic.
This happens because Shopify’s native shipping profiles always take priority, which is why tools like ShipperHQ can appear to get overridden. It’s not random, but the rule order isn’t clearly documented.
What most large stores end up doing instead:
Use one generic default package in Shopify
Handle real package logic inside the shipping app using product tags (small / medium / large, etc.)
Or bypass Shopify package profiles entirely and let the app calculate dimensions at checkout
At the moment, there’s no confirmed timeline from Shopify to change this, even though it’s a known issue for high-SKU stores.
Are your packages mostly unique per SKU, or do they fall into a smaller set of standard box sizes?
You’re correct. Shopify currently does not allow setting or updating shipping package dimensions via import or Admin API, as confirmed in Shopify’s official documentation.
Package sizes must be set manually per variant, which isn’t scalable for large catalogs. At the moment, there’s no semi-automated or supported workaround, and even third part tools can be overridden by Shopify’s native shipping logic. No timeline for a fix been shared yet.
The biggest issue is the calculation of shipping.
About 20K of our SKU are small tyvek envelope type products.
The rest range from a volumetric package weight of 1lb to about 60lb.
If Shopify is not calculating based on dimensions, it is a problem for us.