Why isn't Shopify charging shipping rates on my orders?

Topic summary

Main issue: Orders below the free‑shipping threshold were completing without any shipping charge or shipping method selection (free shipping set over £20; items were £10). This occurred across accelerated checkouts (Apple Pay, PayPal, Shop).

Troubleshooting and findings:

  • Shipping profile included the products, but screenshots weren’t visible to support. Store link was shared; support could see shipping rates for some products and asked for exact product mixes.
  • Root cause found by the original poster: the affected item was marked as “doesn’t ship,” likely changed when editing (e.g., putting on sale). Updating this resolved their issue.

Additional resolution shared by another merchant (important general fix):

  • If a product (or its variants) has “This is a physical product” unchecked, Shopify treats it as a digital/virtual item, so no shipping or delivery fees are charged. Fix by editing the product/variant and checking “This is a physical product.”

Current status:

  • Original case appears resolved after correcting the product’s shipping/physical settings.
  • Another merchant reports the same symptom and shared their site; no final confirmation yet. Thread remains open with a clear recommended fix: verify product/variant shipping/physical flags.
Summarized with AI on January 7. AI used: gpt-5.

Thanks for the information, @NicoleMcCarron . I do not see any screenshots attached, however, if you could share a link to your store I would like to give this a test to see if I can replicate this also.

Can you also let me know the list of products your friends have tried it with and in what mix?