Shipping Zones & Rates | Help Center

Configuring Shipping

Shipping zones and rates determine how shipping costs are calculated for your customers during checkout.

What Are Shipping Zones?

A shipping zone is a geographic area (one or more countries) that shares the same shipping rates. For example, you might create a "Domestic" zone for your home country with lower rates and an "International" zone with higher rates.

Creating a Shipping Zone

Navigate to Settings → Shipping and click Add Shipping Zone:

Enter a zone name (e.g., "United States", "Europe", "Rest of World")
Select the countries included in this zone
Add one or more shipping rates

Shipping Rates

Each zone can have multiple shipping rates. For each rate, configure:

Name — The label shown to customers at checkout (e.g., "Standard Shipping", "Express Delivery")
Price — The shipping cost in your base currency
Conditions — Optional conditions based on order weight or price range

Rate Types

Flat rate — A fixed shipping cost regardless of order size (e.g., $5.00 flat rate)
Weight-based — Rates vary based on the total order weight (e.g., $5 for 0-1kg, $10 for 1-5kg)
Price-based — Rates vary based on the order subtotal (e.g., $7 for orders under $50, free for orders over $50)

Free Shipping

Set up free shipping by creating a rate with a $0 price. You can add a condition to make it apply only above a minimum order amount (e.g., "Free shipping on orders over $75"). This is one of the most effective conversion tools — customers often add more items to qualify for free shipping.

Carrier-Calculated Rates

If you have a shipping carrier integration (e.g., Shippo) connected, Cartly can fetch real-time rates from carriers like USPS, UPS, and FedEx. Carrier rates are merged with your configured zone rates and displayed together at checkout, giving customers more shipping options.

Checkout Experience

During checkout, Cartly determines the customer's shipping zone based on their address, then presents all applicable shipping rates. The customer selects their preferred option. If no zone matches the customer's country, they see a message that shipping is not available to their location.

Local Pickup

Enable local pickup as a shipping option for customers who want to collect their order in person. Add a local pickup rate with a $0 price and a descriptive name like "Local Pickup — 123 Main St".