Charge different shipping rates by country with shipping zones

A shipping zone is a group of countries you treat the same way at checkout — domestic, the region you mostly ship to, and the rest of the world, for example. Each zone has its own rate, so a buyer in your home country and a buyer overseas can see two different prices for delivery.

How zones work

• Pick the countries that belong in the zone.
• Set one rate for that zone (flat, weight-based, or price-based) along with a name and an optional description.
• At checkout, the buyer's country picks the zone and the matching rate appears as a delivery option.
• Add a second zone if you need a different rate for a different rate type or a different set of countries (e.g. an express option, an international option).

Create your first zone

1. From your admin, open Settings → Shipping.
2. Click Add Shipping Zone.
3. Search and tick the countries you want this zone to cover. You can include just your home country for domestic shipping, or multi-select an entire region.
4. Click Next to set the rate.

Set the rate

On the Set Rates screen, fill in:

• Custom Rate Name (required) — what the buyer sees, e.g. "Standard", "Express", "Free shipping".
• Custom Delivery Description (optional) — short note shown next to the rate, e.g. "5–7 business days".
• Digital Product — Yes/No flag for whether this rate applies to digital orders.
• Price — the delivery charge. Set to 0 for free shipping.
• Rate Type — choose one of:

• Simple — a single flat price. Best for predictable parcels and short menus.
• Item Weight — applies when the cart's total weight falls between a Minimum Weight and Maximum Weight in kilograms.
• Order Price — applies when the cart's subtotal falls between a Minimum Price and Maximum Price. This is how you create free-shipping-over-a-threshold offers.

The modal includes a checkout preview so you can see what the buyer will see before saving.

Offer free shipping over a threshold

Create a zone with the countries you want it to apply in, set the rate type to Order Price, set Minimum Price to the threshold (e.g. 50), Maximum Price high enough to cover any cart, and set the price to 0. Name it "Free shipping". Buyers in that zone see the free option only once their cart crosses your threshold.

Offer more than one rate to the same country

Each zone holds one rate. To offer both standard and express to the same country, create two zones that include that country — one for each rate. At checkout, both options appear as choices.

Exclude a country

If you don't ship somewhere, leave that country out of every zone. Buyers from there won't see any shipping options at checkout and the cart will warn that shipping isn't available — that's expected.

Edit or remove a zone

On the Shipping page, each zone row has edit and delete icons. Editing lets you change the name, description, rate type, price, and Min/Max bounds. Deleting removes the zone immediately; past orders that used it are unaffected because their shipping line is frozen on the order record.

FAQ

Do apps fit into shipping zones?

Yes. Apps can inject custom shipping rates at checkout — useful for same-day delivery, scheduled slots, or carrier integrations — and can also hide or rename your standard rates for specific carts. Look for shipping rate apps in the LaunchMyStore App Store.

Is tax applied to the shipping charge?

Tax behaviour for shipping depends on your tax configuration. Review the tax setup help article for how to enable or disable tax on shipping for your region.

What if the buyer's country is in two of my zones?

A country can be listed in more than one zone, with each zone offering a different rate. The buyer sees one shipping option per zone at checkout and picks the one they want.

I deleted a zone — what happens to orders that used it?

Nothing. Historical orders keep the shipping price they were charged at the time. The zone only affects future carts.