Shopify quotes different UPS rates to customers and merchants

Hello all. For several weeks I have noticed that Shopify is collecting one rate for UPS shipments from my customers, then charging me a higher rate when buying and printing the shipping labels. Needless to say, this discrepancy comes straight out of my payout, every time someone places an order using UPS.

After some embarrassingly forceful back and forth with Shopify’s helpbots, they eventually admit that this is entirely Shopify’s problem, and they are simply behind on syncing their quoted rates with the carrier’s updated actual rates. Of course, in the interim, the bots suggest something like a dozen entirely useless troubleshooting steps, as though users somehow had the ability to fix errors and shortcomings on the Shopify platform.

And even after they admit that users can’t do anything at all about this, and that Shopify alone has to catch up on its rate-syncing, they suggest I make Shopify aware of the problem “through standard channels”, which as we all know, is not a thing that exists.

So the point of this post is a) the hope that some actual human connected to Shopify will see this and at least start taking steps to address it, and b) to warn users who are trying to get help for this problem to not do ANY of the recommended troubleshooting, as it is nothing at all but a complete waste of time.

Recently on a different topic (the fact that the Shop marketplace literally makes it impossible for users to submit accurate sales tax returns), I got a bot to admit that they are not even there to solve user problems or generate trouble tickets for Shopify’s humans to act on. Their role is to deflect these legitimate reports of technical problems! They said that, explicitly. It is ridiculous to implement a “support” system whose function is to send users up a tree, while not one problem ever gets addressed.

To make up for the difference in UPS rates, you can charge your customers a handling fee or select to add a flat percentage to your profile rates in your settings so that your customers will be charged near what you’re paying the carrier Another workaround is by using third party shipping apps that are more reliable with syncing live rates to your customers and passes the right cost. Hope this helps

Hi @SpinTimeRecords ,

I totally get your frustration with the UPS rate discrepancy! Here are a couple of workarounds that might help you manage this situation in the meantime:

  1. Add a Handling Fee: You can set up a handling fee for your customers to cover the difference in shipping costs. Alternatively, you could add a flat percentage to your profile rates in your Shopify settings to make the charges closer to what you’re actually paying the carrier.

  2. Use Third-Party Shipping Apps: Consider integrating third-party shipping apps that are more reliable when it comes to syncing live rates. These apps can ensure your customers are charged the correct shipping costs based on the actual carrier rates.

I hope one of these solutions works for you while Shopify resolves the issue!

Best,
Felix