# Understanding Product Shipping Profiles

Product Shipping Profiles is a sub-section of the __[Shipping Profiles beta](https://help.bigcartel.com/shipping-profiles-beta "Shipping Profiles beta guide")__ feature. It’s an optional tool that can be used to set unique rates for specific items that need to ship separately from the majority of your products that use the default rates. 

__Default shipping rates__ must be set in the main Shipping Profile settings __before__ you can add Product Shipping Profiles. The default rates will be applied to all products in your shop, including any new products you add. Once your default shipping rates are set, you can opt to __use Product Shipping Profiles to override your default rates__ for any specific items in your shop that will need to ship in separate packages. 

>Need help determining your shipping rates? Use our __[How to Set Up Shipping ](https://help.bigcartel.com/charge-shipping-for-a-product "How to Set Up Shipping guide")__ guide for more information on calculating shipping rates.

## An example for when to use Product Shipping Profiles 

If you sell t-shirts, mugs, and posters, and t-shirts and mugs can ship together in a box, you would set your default rates to charge the appropriate shipping fee for those items. But if posters must ship in tubes, you can use Product Shipping Profiles to set a different rate to account for posters shipping separately in a different type of container. This means that customers that order a mug and a poster would pay shipping for both a box and a tube.

>⚠️ Product Shipping Profiles are separate from __Product-level Shipping__ settings. To set a unique rate for each product in your shop, follow the steps in our __[Product-level Shipping](https://help.bigcartel.com/product-level-shipping "Product-level Shipping guide")__ guide. Keep in mind that enabling Shipping Profiles will hide Product-level Shipping rates.

# Create Product Shipping Profiles 

You can use our __[Shipping Profiles](https://help.bigcartel.com/shipping-profiles-beta "Shipping Profiles guide")__ guide to set your default shipping rates first. Then once you have at least one default rate, you can use the steps below to create any override rates in the Product Shipping Profile section. 

After creating an override rate, you will need to assign that Product Shipping Profile to the applicable product or product variants within the __individual product’s settings__. Find [__steps below__](#steps) for Web, iOS, and Android that will walk you through adding override rates and assigning those to products.

>💡 When naming your Product Shipping Profiles, be descriptive rather than using the generic “Product Shipping Profile 1” that the system auto-assigns. Something like “Posters” or “Framed Prints” will help ensure that you’re assigning the correct products or variants to their corresponding Product Shipping Profile. And those names will be visible to the customer on the checkout page, so be clear and concise when naming your Product Shipping Profiles.


How to Set Up Product Shipping Profiles

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