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Free shipping

Customers may often abandon their shopping carts because of the extra shipping costs. By offering free shipping options at checkout you can encourage your customers to complete their orders. There are a few different ways that you can set up free shipping options in your online store.

By destination

Usually free shipping is offered within a certain area. For example, you might want to offer free delivery in your city with a paid delivery to suburban areas or free shipping across your country with no shipping to other countries, etc.

To add a free shipping option for a certain area:

  1. From your store admin, go to Shipping & Pickup.
  2. Click + Add Shipping.
  3. Select how you ship your goods (by a suggested shipping carrier or other carriers) and click Set up.
  4. In the “Free shipping” section, click Set Up Free Shipping.
  5. Fill in the Shipping name at checkout, it will be displayed for customers.
  6. Optional: Click Add description for customers and enter the details you want to display at checkout. For example, enter the delivery speed and time it takes for orders to arrive when shipped with this method.
  7. Optional: Click Limit availability by order subtotal, if you want to offer this shipping option only to customers with bigger carts. Then specify the minimum order subtotal, i.e. the sum of all items in the cart before adding shipping costs and discounts. When this limit is reached, customers will be able to choose this shipping option at checkout.
    If you want to offer free shipping for all order subtotals, leave the field with the default 0.00 amount.
  8. Optional: Click Show approximate delivery date at checkout to display the approximate delivery date next to shipping options at the checkout.
    When it comes to shipping, customers want to know when they will receive their order. A specific delivery date at checkout gives your buyers a better customer experience — they can clearly understand when to expect to receive their order, resulting in a higher number of successful sales.
    Then set it up:
    • In the Estimated transit time, specify how long it usually takes for the package to be delivered after being handed to the shipping company. You can find the information at the carriers’ website.
    • In the Days when packages are delivered, specify days of the week when your orders can be delivered. These days will be taken into account when calculating and displaying the approximate delivery date for customers at checkout.
    • In the Order preparation time specify how many days it usually takes for you to prepare an order. That time will be taken into account when calculating the delivery date for customers.
    • In the Days when you pack orders specify when you pack orders for shipment. Also, set the final time to pack orders in the I pack orders received past this time on the next day box. Your schedule will be taken into account when calculating the delivery date for customers.
    Your store will automatically calculate the delivery time and show it at the checkout so your customers can clearly see it.
  9. Click Set Shipping Region and choose the area where you want to offer free shipping:

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If you haven’t yet segmented the areas where you deliver, click Manage zones and create different delivery zones that should get their own shipping rates. After that select the zone for your free delivery option.

If you leave the default World zone, your free shipping option will be available to all shipping addresses at checkout.
  1. Click Save & Finish.

Now the free shipping option will be offered for all orders that should be shipped within the selected area:

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For your local customers you can also offer a free in-store pickup.

Over a set subtotal

You can offer free shipping for orders over a certain sum. This can motivate customers to buy more than they have planned to. For example, you can offer free shipping for all orders over $130 and $5 shipping for orders below that subtotal.

To add a free shipping option for orders over a certain subtotal:

  1. From your store admin, go to Shipping & Pickup.
  2. Click + Add Shipping.
  3. Select how you ship your goods (by a shipping carrier or a local delivery service) and click Set up.
  4. In the "Conditional free shipping" section, click Set Up Conditions.
  5. Enter the Name at checkout that will be displayed for customers.
  6. From the Table based on, choose Subtotal:

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  1. Set the subtotal range over which the shipping will be free. Click the Add Row button to add other ranges and rates for them.

    Here is an example of how to set up free shipping on all orders over $130 subtotal and with $5 shipping costs for the rest:

Free_shipping__4_.png

  1. (Optional) Click Add description for customers and enter the details that you want to display at checkout. For example, enter the delivery speed and time it takes for orders to arrive with this shipping option.

  2. (Optional) If you want to promote this shipping option at checkout, click Limit availability by order subtotal and enter the subtotal amount at which this shipping option can be chosen for an order. If order subtotal is below the specified amount, the shipping option will be greyed out at checkout showing the required subtotal.

  3. (Optional) Click Show approximate delivery date at checkout to display for your customers the approximate delivery date next to delivery options at the checkout. Then set it up: specify how long it usually takes for the shipping company to deliver the package (estimated transit time), at what days of the week your orders are delivered (days when packages are delivered), how many days it usually takes for you to prepare an order (order preparation time) when you pack orders for shipment (days when you pack orders). This time will be taken into account when calculating the delivery date for customers.
  4. Click Set delivery zone to specify the area where you offer this shipping option.
  5. Click Save & Finish. Repeat the above steps for another delivery zone, if necessary.

Now your customers with orders over the set subtotal range will be offered free shipping at checkout.

On a per-product basis

You can promote particular products (or product categories) in your catalog by offering free shipping for them.

To set up free shipping for a particular item in your store:

  1. From your store admin, go to CatalogProducts.
  2. Open the details of a product that you want to ship for free.
  3. Switch to the Shipping & Pickup tab.
  4. In the Shipping rates section, check the Free Shipping option.

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  1. Click Save.

When the option is enabled for a product, customers won’t be charged for this item's shipping at checkout.

You can let your customers know that a product has free shipping by adding a Free Shipping Icon (app) to the product details page.

With a discount coupon

You can offer free shipping to all or certain customers by creating a discount coupon for Free Shipping and giving it to them.

Shoppers can enter their coupon code in the special field in the shopping cart to get free shipping on their order:

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Learn about creating discount coupons and informing customers about ongoing promotions.

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