Still Losing Sales to Shopify's Multi-Location Shipping Glitch? There's a New Fix.

If you manage inventory across multiple warehouses, use dropshipping suppliers with different origins, or have multiple retail locations fulfilling online orders, you've likely encountered the frustrating reality of Shopify's default multi-location shipping calculations.

It's a common scenario we hear about daily: a customer orders products shipping from two different locations. They meet your "$100 free shipping" threshold based on their total cart value. But at checkout? They get charged shipping. Twice.

Why Does This Happen? Shopify's Split Cart Problem

Behind the scenes, Shopify's default system splits the cart when items come from multiple inventory locations. It sends separate shipping rate requests for the items at Location A and the items at Location B. Neither partial request meets the $100 threshold on its own, so your free shipping rule fails. Often, the rates returned for each partial request are simply added together, leading to unexpectedly high or doubled charges for the customer.

This isn't just annoying; it's costing you sales. Customers seeing unexpected or doubled shipping fees are far more likely to abandon their carts. This issue primarily affects complex rules based on the total cart, such as:

• Price-based thresholds: (e.g., Free shipping over $X)
• Weight-based tiers: (e.g., Higher rates for total cart weight over Y lbs)

Per-product or per-variant rates are less affected, as they are calculated individually, but the final combination and application of other rules can still be inaccurate.

The Old Workaround is Gone, But the Problem Persists

Previously, merchants could ask Shopify Support to enable a special "Single Origin Shipping" mode. This forced Shopify to calculate rates as if everything came from one place, fixing the rule logic issue, even if fulfillment still happened from multiple locations.

However, Shopify no longer offers this Single Origin mode. Merchants with multiple active inventory locations are back to facing the original calculation problems with native Shopify rules or even standard app functionalities that rely on Shopify's split requests.

Introducing the Better Shipping Solution: Unified Cart Calculation (Beta)

Recognizing this critical gap for merchants managing complex inventory setups, the Better Shipping team has been developing a feature specifically designed to overcome Shopify's limitation. We're excited to introduce our Unified Cart Calculation feature, currently available in Beta for interested merchants.

How it Works:

Instead of relying on Shopify's split requests, our new feature intelligently identifies when a single customer's cart contains items from multiple locations configured in your store. It then intercepts these requests and performs a single, unified calculation based on the entire contents of the customer's cart.

This means:

• Price-based rules (like "Free Shipping over $X") work correctly: The rule sees the total cart value, not just the value from one location.
• Weight-based rules are accurate: The total weight across all items is considered for rate calculation.
• Complex conditional rules function as expected: Rules based on combinations of products, tags, price, or weight operate on the complete order.
• No more unexpected "double charges" caused by summing separate location-based rate calculations.

Essentially, Better Shipping ensures your carefully crafted shipping rules apply logically to the customer's entire order, regardless of how many locations are involved in fulfilling it.

Is the Beta Feature Right for You? (Current Limitations)

While this feature is proving highly effective for merchants already using it, it's important to understand its current beta status and limitations:

• Subscription Products: Currently, subscription items processed through recurring order apps may default to free shipping when this feature is active. Compatibility is under review.
• Product Options/Builder Apps: Apps that allow customers to heavily customize or "build" products might interfere with accurate cart detection needed for unified calculation. Testing is essential.
• "Buy It Now" / Dynamic Checkout Buttons: This feature currently requires customers to use the standard "Add to Cart" button and proceed through the normal cart/checkout flow. Dynamic checkout buttons bypass necessary steps for the unified calculation to work correctly.
• Shopify Bundles: Native Shopify bundle products are not currently supported with this calculation method.
• Split Shipping Setting: Shopify's "Split Shipping" setting (if enabled) must be turned off, as the goal of this feature is to provide a single, unified rate based on the entire cart.

We are actively working on refining this feature and expanding compatibility based on feedback from our beta users.

Getting Started with Unified Cart Calculation

Because this feature is in beta and requires careful understanding of the limitations, it is enabled by request only.

1. Install Better Shipping: If you haven't already, install the app from the Shopify App Store. You can explore all standard features, and it is free to install and test.
2. Contact Support: Reach out to our support team via email ([email protected] or the contact link in the app). Mention you're interested in the "Unified Cart Calculation beta feature" for multi-location shipping.
3. Discuss Your Setup: We'll briefly discuss your store's setup (number of locations, types of products, use of subscriptions/options apps) to ensure the beta is a potentially good fit and explain the activation process.
4. Configure & Test: Once enabled, you can configure your shipping rates and rules as normal within Better Shipping, knowing the calculations will now consider the entire cart. Thorough testing with various cart combinations and addresses is crucial before relying on it for live orders.

Stop Letting Multi-Location Errors Kill Your Conversions

Don't let Shopify's default calculation quirks drive customers away. With Better Shipping's unified calculation feature, you can finally implement accurate, complex shipping rules that work seamlessly across multiple warehouses and locations, reflecting the true value of your customer's order.

Ready to fix your multi-location shipping headaches? Contact Better Shipping Support today to inquire about the Unified Cart Calculation beta.