Virtual Product is charging customers for shipping

Technical Q&A

Topic summary

A virtual product was incorrectly charging shipping fees at checkout despite having “This is a physical product” unchecked.

Initial Workaround:

  • Marked the product as physical with 1000 lb weight
  • Created a “shipping not applicable” option at no charge
  • Set up a shipping rule for free shipping on items 1000-100,000 lbs

Root Cause & Solution:
The issue stemmed from having two ship-from locations configured. When one location wasn’t checked/enabled for the virtual product, Shopify charged shipping fees. Enabling the product at both locations resolved the problem.

Additional Troubleshooting Steps Suggested:

  • Toggle physical product setting on/off with wait periods between changes
  • Clear browser cache or check for server-side caching issues
  • Verify no duplicate products exist in admin
  • Review all shipping profiles to ensure product isn’t mistakenly included
  • Check apps affecting carrier rates or shipping settings

Status: Resolved. A follow-up question asks whether the fix involved removing the second location or enabling the digital product at both locations.

Summarized with AI on October 29. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
2

I figured out a workaround. I checked the box that it’s a physical product and put the weight in at 1000 pounds.

I then created a shipping option called “shipping not applicable” at no charge.

I then created a shipping rule that offered free shipping for any item that is 1000 pounds up to 100,000 pounds.

No other product that we offer weighs more than 1 pound and nobody is ordering a thousand of any of our products so the rule will never affect our shipping charges other than for this 1 item.

If anyone else has any other ideas, we will keep this work around activated.

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