Configure shipping methods

How to offer flat-rate, free, local pickup, and weight-based shipping to your customers

The Shipping tab under Store Configuration is where you decide what shipping options appear at checkout. From this screen you flip shipping on or off store-wide, offer a fixed flat-rate fee, offer free shipping above a spend threshold, let customers pick Local Pickup instead of delivery, or charge by weight. Most stores enable one or two of these; a full setup takes 5 minutes once you know your rates.

What is this for?

The Shipping panel is your delivery-options configuration screen. Its job is to hold every shipping method you want to offer and the rate for each. You reach for it on launch day to add your first shipping option, whenever your carrier rates change, when you want to run a "free shipping over $X" promotion, and when you open a brick-and-mortar location and want to offer Local Pickup.

When you save on this screen, the new shipping options are available at checkout on the next shopper's visit.

Good use cases

Example 1: Flat $5 shipping on every order. You sell the Tote Bag ($30), the Sticker Pack ($4 on sale), and the T-Shirt ($25–$29). You want a single simple shipping fee. Open Shipping, flip the Shipping System master switch on, enable Flat Rate, set the amount to 5.00, and save. Every cart that contains at least one item picks up $5 shipping at checkout. A cart with one Tote Bag becomes $30 + $5 = $35 at checkout.

Example 2: Free shipping over $50 to drive bigger baskets. You want to encourage shoppers to spend more by unlocking free shipping. Enable Free Shipping, set Minimum Order Amount to 50.00, save. Keep Flat Rate also enabled at 5.00 if you want below-threshold orders to still charge the standard rate. A shopper whose cart is $48 sees $5 shipping; a shopper whose cart is $52 sees free shipping at checkout.

Example 3: Adding Local Pickup for a small brick-and-mortar store. You have a workshop where customers can pick up in person to save on shipping. Enable Local Pickup, paste the pickup instructions into the textarea (full address, hours, what to bring). Save. Checkout now shows Flat Rate and Local Pickup as two radio options; customers who pick Local Pickup pay no shipping and see the instructions on their order-confirmation page.

Example 4: Digital-only store that disables shipping entirely. Your store sells only the Brand Book (digital) — no physical products. Flip the Shipping System master switch off and save. Checkout skips the shipping step entirely for every order.

Example 5: Pay-by-weight shipping for heavy items. Your catalogue includes heavy ceramic pieces. Set the weight unit to Kilograms in the General tab, then on this panel enable Weight-Based, set Rate per KG to 2.50. A cart of 3kg of ceramics picks up 3 × $2.50 = $7.50 shipping automatically.

What NOT to use this for

• Do not use this panel to configure zone-based shipping (ship to some countries but not others). SGEN shipping here is country-agnostic — every enabled method applies globally. If you need to block shipping to certain countries, you need custom work beyond this panel.
• Do not use this panel to integrate with carrier APIs (UPS, FedEx, USPS live rates). SGEN shipping is self-managed rates only.
• Do not enable multiple methods and expect the system to auto-pick the cheapest. When multiple methods are enabled, the customer picks the one they want at checkout — you do not preselect.
• Do not rely on Weight-Based shipping if your products do not have weights saved. A product with no weight contributes 0kg to the total, so a cart of weightless products picks up 0 × rate = $0 shipping even under weight-based.
• Do not assume Free Shipping stacks with a coupon. If a coupon already zeros out shipping, enabling Free Shipping does nothing more; if a cart exceeds the threshold, Free Shipping applies regardless of coupons.

How this connects to other features

• Your public checkout — every method you enable here appears as a radio option on the shipping step at checkout.
• General store settings — the Weight Unit (kg or lb) from the General tab controls the label on the Weight-Based method's rate. You pick rate in "per kg" or "per lb" there; saved weights on products are in the same unit.
• Taxes — the Taxes panel has a Shipping is Taxable toggle. If it is on, tax is applied to the shipping fee in addition to the product subtotal. If it is off, shipping is tax-free.
• Products — each product's Shipping tab on its edit page is where you save the weight used by Weight-Based shipping. A product marked as a Virtual product (no shipping) is skipped from all shipping calculations.
• Coupons — coupons of type "Free Shipping" override the shipping calculation. Other coupon types do not affect shipping by default.

Before you start

• You are signed in to SGEN as an Administrator or Site Owner.
• You know the shipping rate or threshold you want to offer.
• For Local Pickup: you have the pickup address, hours, and any special instructions ready.
• For Weight-Based: your products have weights saved on their Shipping tab, and your Weight Unit is set correctly in the General tab.

Where to go

1. Open the left navigation in your SGEN admin.
2. Click Store Management → Configuration → Shipping (or open /sg-admin/ecommerce/configuration/shipping directly).
3. The Shipping panel loads with five cards: Shipping System, Flat Rate, Free Shipping, Local Pickup, Weight-Based.

Steps

1. Flip the master switch on

The Shipping System card at the top has a single master switch. Flip it on to enable shipping store-wide. With it off, checkout skips the shipping step entirely (and every method below is ignored).

2. Enable Flat Rate and set the rate

Scroll to the Flat Rate card. Flip its switch on. Enter the shipping fee in Flat Rate Amount — for example 5.00 for $5. This fee is added to every order that contains at least one shippable item, regardless of cart size or weight.

3. Enable Free Shipping and set the threshold

Scroll to the Free Shipping card. Flip its switch on. Enter the threshold in Minimum Order Amount — for example 50.00 for free shipping on orders of $50 or more. Free Shipping is computed against the cart subtotal. You can enable Free Shipping alongside Flat Rate.

4. Enable Local Pickup and write the instructions

Scroll to the Local Pickup card. Flip its switch on. Paste your pickup instructions into the Pickup Instructions textarea (full pickup address, hours, what to bring, who to ask for). Customers who pick Local Pickup at checkout pay $0 shipping and receive your instructions on the confirmation page and in the order-confirmation email.

5. Enable Weight-Based shipping and set the rate

Scroll to the Weight-Based card. Flip its switch on. Enter the rate in Rate per KG (or Rate per LB if your Weight Unit is Pounds) — for example 2.50 for $2.50 per kilogram. At checkout, Weight-Based calculates the total weight of shippable items in the cart, multiplies by your rate, and displays the result as an option.

6. Save the whole panel

The Save Shipping Settings button in the sticky right-hand column saves all five cards together. A green success message reads Ecommerce configuration has been successfully updated! at the top.

7. Verify at checkout

Open your store in a private browsing window, add the Tote Bag to your cart, and go to checkout. Confirm each method you enabled appears as a radio option with its price. Free Shipping should appear only if your cart is at or above the threshold. Local Pickup should show the instructions you wrote on the order confirmation. Weight-Based should show a price that matches your rate times the cart weight.

What success looks like

• The green Ecommerce configuration has been successfully updated! message appears after Save.
• Checkout shows your enabled methods as radio options.
• Picking each method shows the correct price or $0 for Local Pickup.
• The Local Pickup instructions appear on the order confirmation page when you pick Local Pickup.
• Reloading the checkout after a cart price change shows Free Shipping appear or disappear based on the threshold.

What to do if it does not work

• No shipping methods appear at checkout. Confirm the Shipping System master switch is on, then confirm at least one method below has its switch on. Save after changes.
• Free Shipping is not showing at checkout even though my cart is above the threshold. Confirm the Minimum Order Amount matches what you expect. Cart subtotal is before tax and shipping.
• Weight-Based shipping shows $0 at checkout. Your cart has no weight. Open each product's edit page and save a weight on the Shipping tab. Weight-Based only charges for weighted products.
• Local Pickup instructions look wrong on the order email. Confirm the Pickup Instructions textarea has the right content and save. Older orders keep the instructions from when they were placed.
• Flat Rate is adding to orders where I expected Free Shipping. Confirm both methods are enabled and that the cart meets the Free Shipping threshold. The customer picks which method at checkout — if they picked Flat Rate, that is their choice.
• The weight-based rate label says "KG" even though I set Pounds. This is a known label cosmetic — the saved rate still multiplies against your cart's weight in whichever unit you picked in the General tab.

Next step