Simple Shipping

Simple Shipping lets you set your own flat-rate shipping prices by destination. You control exactly what customers pay based on where they live. No API keys, no third-party accounts — just your prices, your destinations.

Methods vs. Options: know the difference

This is the most important thing to understand about Simple Shipping. Methods and Options serve completely different purposes, and confusing them is the most common setup mistake.

Shipping Methods

A method is a set of destination zones with prices. You can create multiple Simple Shipping methods and assign different ones to different products. Use multiple methods when different products cost different amounts to ship.

Example: You sell both jewelry and pottery. A ring costs $4 to ship, but a large vase costs $15. Create two methods:

  • Method 1: “Small Items” — By Itself: $4.00, With Another: $1.00
  • Method 2: “Large Items” — By Itself: $15.00, With Another: $5.00

Assign rings to Method 1 and vases to Method 2. When a customer buys both, the system automatically uses the most expensive “By Itself” rate ($15) as the base, then adds the “With Another” rate for the other item ($1). Total shipping: $16.

Shipping Options

An option is a service-level choice within the same method. Options give customers a choice at checkout, like Standard vs. Express. Use options when you want to offer faster delivery for an extra charge.

Example: You want to offer both Standard and Express shipping:

  • Standard: By Itself: $5.00, With Another: $2.00
  • Express: By Itself: $12.00, With Another: $4.00

At checkout, the customer sees radio buttons to choose between Standard ($5.00) and Express ($12.00). Both options exist on the same method — the customer picks which one they want.

Which do I need?

Situation Use
Different products cost different amounts to ship Multiple methods
You want to offer Standard and Express choices Shipping options
All products ship for the same price One method, no options needed
Different products AND Express upgrades Multiple methods + options

Common mistake: Adding a shipping option when you really need a second method. If you’re not offering the customer a choice between service levels, you probably need a separate method instead.

Setting up a Simple Shipping method

  1. On the Dashboard, go to Settings > Integrations > Simple Shipping
  2. Click Add Destination
  3. Select a Country or Region. You can also narrow it to a specific state or province.
  4. Enter a By Itself price — what the customer pays when this is the only item (or the most expensive item) in their order
  5. Enter a With Another price — what each additional item using this method adds to the shipping total
  6. Repeat for each destination you ship to
  7. Click Save

Rate Label

The Rate Label is the name customers see at checkout (e.g., “Standard Shipping” or “USPS First Class”). If you have shipping options set up, this becomes the name of the Standard option.

Rate Description

An optional description that can appear on product pages next to the shipping information. To display it, enable Show Shipping rate descriptions on product pages in Dashboard > Settings > Design > Store.

Understanding destinations

Adding destinations

Each destination is a country (or country + state/province) with its own By Itself and With Another prices. Add as many destinations as you need for the regions you ship to.

Everywhere Else

Important: Selecting “Everywhere Else” as a destination adds every country in the world to your shipping zones. This means customers from any country can place an order, and the country dropdown at checkout will list all 200+ countries. If you only ship to a few countries, this creates a very long and cumbersome dropdown for your customers. Only use “Everywhere Else” if you genuinely ship internationally to all countries. Otherwise, add only the specific countries you actually ship to.

Exclude Destinations

If enabled for your store, you can exclude specific countries or regions from shipping. This is useful if you ship to most countries but need to block a few.

How “By Itself” and “With Another” work

This two-price system lets you charge fairly when customers buy multiple items:

  • By Itself is the base shipping cost for the first (or only) item. Think of it as the cost of the box and postage.
  • With Another is the cost to add each additional item to the same shipment. This is usually lower because the box and base postage are already covered.

Example: By Itself = $5.00, With Another = $1.50

  • 1 item: $5.00
  • 2 items: $5.00 + $1.50 = $6.50
  • 3 items: $5.00 + $1.50 + $1.50 = $8.00

Tip: Set the “With Another” rate to $0.00 if your shipping cost doesn’t increase when more items are added. This is common for small handmade items like jewelry or stickers.

How it works with multiple methods

When a customer’s cart has products using different Simple Shipping methods, the system combines them intelligently:

  1. It finds the method with the most expensive “By Itself” rate
  2. That method charges its full By Itself price, plus With Another for its additional items
  3. All other methods charge only their With Another rate (no By Itself) since the base shipping is already covered

This prevents customers from being charged multiple “By Itself” base rates when buying different types of products together.

Adding Shipping Options

Shipping options let you offer different service levels (like Standard and Express) for the same method. Customers choose between them at checkout.

  1. On the Simple Shipping settings page, click Add Shipping Options (this opens in a new tab)
  2. Enter an Option Name (e.g., “Express” or “Priority”)
  3. Click Add Option for each service level you want to offer
  4. You can rename the Standard Option Title (defaults to “Standard”)
  5. Click Save Configuration
  6. Go back to your Simple Shipping method — you’ll now see additional By Itself and With Another columns for each option, per destination
  7. Fill in the prices for each option and destination
  8. Use the toggle switch next to each option to enable or disable it for specific destinations

At checkout, customers see radio buttons for each enabled option with the calculated price for their order.

Local Pickup

Check Allow Local Pickup to add a free “Local Pickup” option at checkout. This is useful if you have a studio or shop where customers can pick up orders in person. The customer must be located in the same state as your shop.

Tips

  • Free shipping: Set both By Itself and With Another to $0.00 for any destination where you want to offer free shipping.
  • Test your rates: Place a test order with items from different methods to make sure the combined shipping total looks right.
  • Keep destinations specific: Only add the countries you actually ship to. Avoid “Everywhere Else” unless you truly ship worldwide.
  • Per-product shipping: If your store uses per-product shipping (configured in Settings), you can assign different Simple Shipping methods to different products. If it uses global shipping, one method applies to everything.