Products purchased in our physical store do not require shipping, and as such I changed “Variant Requires Shipping” to “False”. This resulted in completely unexpected outcomes, most notably the system stopped charging Tax, even when the “Variant Taxable” field is “True”. It’s extremely frustrating that Shopify is using a single field for multiple purposes and not labelling the fields clearly. When I asked, Sidekick tells me this field is used for (among other things), calculating tax, may impact inventory tracking, and potentially whether or not an order shows as “fulfilled”. Why would a field that simply looks like it’s about whether or not a product requires shipping or not be used for anything else? This is a UX issue that should be addressed.
Topic summary
Changing the “Variant Requires Shipping” field to False for in-store products led to taxes not being charged, even with “Variant Taxable” set to True.
Per Sidekick, this field influences more than shipping: it’s used in tax calculation, may affect inventory tracking, and potentially whether an order appears as fulfilled.
The core concern is mislabeling/UX: a field that appears to govern shipping requirements is also driving tax and operational logic, causing unexpected outcomes when toggled.
Impact noted: loss of tax charges and possible side effects on inventory and fulfillment status when the field is set to False.
Status: No resolution or workaround provided. The request is for clearer labeling or separation of functions to avoid hidden coupling and confusion.