Skip to content
Visit ShipperHQ.com
  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

How to Offer Free Shipping in ShipperHQ

Overview

Find the right way to offer free shipping — unconditional, tied to cart value, or reserved for specific products, zones, or customers

Table of Contents

Free shipping is one of the most effective levers for reducing cart abandonment, but "offer free shipping" can mean very different things depending on the business. A merchant selling furniture might want free shipping on every order over $150. A merchant selling both retail and wholesale might want it reserved for wholesale accounts. A merchant running a spring promotion might want it available only through a discount code, or only to customers in the continental US.

ShipperHQ supports all of these scenarios. This guide explains the two underlying mechanisms available and links to a scenario-based index so you can find the setup that matches your goal.

Two Ways to Offer Free Shipping

ShipperHQ offers free shipping through two different mechanisms. Understanding which one fits your scenario before you start configuring will save you time.

Free Shipping Carrier is a dedicated carrier that always returns a $0 rate. It's best when free shipping is unconditional, or when it's controlled entirely by which products or shipping groups are assigned to it. Set it up once, then manage its visibility through carrier assignment, shipping groups, and shipping rules.

→ See Free Shipping Custom Carrier

Free Shipping via Shipping Rules dynamically overrides an existing carrier's rate to $0 when specific conditions are met — cart price, weight, quantity, destination zone, customer group, and more. This is the better fit when free shipping is conditional and needs to coexist with your paid shipping methods.

→ See Creating Shipping Rules

Most merchants that need free shipping tied to a threshold, a promotion, or a customer segment will use Shipping Rules. Merchants that want a permanently free option — such as local pickup-style delivery or a dedicated "always free" method for a subset of products — are better served by the Free Shipping Carrier.

Free Shipping by Scenario

The scenarios below are grouped by the type of condition they use. Each links to a step-by-step guide for that setup.

Condition-Based

Product & Group-Based

Zone-Based

Customer & Promotion-Based

Platform-Specific

Troubleshooting Free Shipping

If free shipping isn't behaving as expected, start with the general diagnostic flow, then check the platform-specific guidance below if it applies to your store.

Additional Resources