Free Shipping Threshold

What is Free Shipping Threshold?

Free shipping threshold is the minimum order value that a shopper needs to get free shipping and order discounts. When an order at checkout has items that offer Prime and others that don’t, the value of Prime items don’t count towards the total order value that qualifies for a free shipping threshold on your site. For example, if you offer a $50 free shipping threshold on your site, when a shopper adds a $30 Prime item and another $30 item that doesn’t offer Prime, the value of the Prime item doesn’t count towards the free shipping threshold. In this case, the shopper has two options:

· Pay a shipping fee for the item that doesn’t offer Prime.

· Add more items that don’t offer Prime with a value of at least $20 to qualify for free shipping on the total purchase.

Set up Free Shipping Threshold with Prime items

If you want to have Prime items automatically count towards the free shipping threshold, you can create an Automatic Discount that activates free shipping when the total order value, including Prime items, applies for the free shipping threshold. Follow these steps to create Automatic Discounts:

Go to Shopify admin.
Go to the Discounts tab.
Click Create Discounts.
Click Free Shipping to go to the discounts setup page.
Select Automatic Discount, and enter “Free shipping” as Discount Code.
Select United States as country.
Check mark Exclude Shipping rates over a certain amount.
Enter a shipping rate value slightly over your lowest shipping option price tier. For example, if your shipping rates are: Standard= $5 and Expedited = $8, then enter $6 as shipping rate value.
Select Minimum purchase amount.
Enter Free Shipping Threshold. If your site advertises free shipping on orders above a certain amount, use that value to set up a free shipping threshold. For example, if your site says Free shipping over $59, then enter $59.
Under Combinations, check mark both Product discounts and Order discounts.

Deactivate automatic discounts towards free shipping threshold

To stop Prime items value from automatically counting towards a free shipping threshold, follow these steps to deactivate automatic discounts.

1. Go to Shopify admin.
2. Go to the Discounts tab.
3. Click the Discount that you want to deactivate.
4. On the Discount details page, click Deactivate.

Free Shipping Threshold FAQ

Get answers to common questions about Free Shipping Threshold.

If you have a dynamic shipping rate that’s connected to your fulfillment service or any other 3P rate provider, it’s best practice to offer a shipping rate that your business is willing to absorb. For example, if $10 is the maximum shipping cost that your business can absorb for any order above the free shipping threshold, then that should be the value that you should set up as your dynamic shipping rate.

Yes, you can exclude Prime items from the total order value against the free shipping threshold. However, it’s best practice to allow shoppers the ability to add as many items into the cart without worrying about which items apply for free shipping threshold and which don’t. You know your business and shoppers better than we do and it’s up to you to define your free shipping threshold. Offering your shoppers more ways to receive free shipping usually results in a better shopper experience. To include the value of Prime items in orders at checkout, create Automatic Discounts by following the steps on Set up Free Shipping Threshold with Prime items.

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