Free shipping above a threshold is one of the most common shipping rules in Shopify. It works until a customer uses a discount code. Then the cart can fall below the threshold while the shipping stays free, and you pay for it.
The problem
Say your free shipping starts at 500 DKK. A customer puts 549 DKK in the cart and uses a code for 110 DKK off. The order is now 439 DKK. If the shipping app looks at the cart value before the discount, the customer still gets free shipping. Over a sale weekend, that adds up to many parcels you ship for free, on orders that never reached your threshold.
How Pakkeshopper handles it
Pakkeshopper deducts the discount code from the order value before it applies your free-shipping threshold. In the example, shipping is calculated on 439 DKK. That is below 500 DKK, so the customer sees your normal shipping price instead of free shipping.
The same value is used by every rule on order value in your shipping rules. A method that is shown only above 1,000 DKK stays hidden when a discount brings the order under 1,000 DKK. You set the threshold once, and it holds with or without a code.
Turn it on or off per shop
Not every store wants the discount deducted. Some stores promise free shipping on the cart value before discounts, and some run campaigns where the code itself is the free shipping. The setting is per shop, so you decide. Turn discount handling on, and discount codes count against the threshold. Turn it off, and your shipping rules use the order value before discounts.
Quantity-based prices
Discount handling protects your margin at the low end. Quantity-based prices protect it at the high end. A quantity-based shipping method multiplies its price by the number of qualifying items in the cart. You choose which product tags count, and you can cap the number of items. That fits bulky items that ship one per parcel, where one flat price would lose money on a cart with five of them.
How to set it up
- In the shipping method editor, create your free shipping method with a rule on order value, for example from 500 DKK.
- Create the paid method for orders below the threshold, with a rule up to 500 DKK.
- Open settings and check that discount handling is turned on.
- Test the checkout with a discount code. Shopify caches rates for up to 24 hours, so change the house number or the cart contents to get fresh rates.
The guide on free shipping and discount codes in Shopify walks through the whole setup step by step, also for stores without Pakkeshopper. Your store needs the Carrier Calculated Rates feature in Shopify. The guide on Carrier Calculated Rates explains how to get it.
Which plan you need
Rules on order value are part of every plan, also the free Starter plan for the first 100 orders per month. Pro adds all carriers and label printing, and Max adds zip code, product tag and customer tag filters.