Understanding Product Shipping Profiles
Product Shipping Profiles is a sub-section of the Shipping Profiles 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.
You'll need to assign a product shipping profile to individual items. To do this, select a product on your products page and choose the appropriate shipping profile in the Shipping section.
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 guide. Keep in mind that enabling Shipping Profiles will hide Product-level Shipping rates.
Create Product Shipping Profiles
You can use our Shipping Profiles 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.
Region selector
The region selector gives you greater control over your shipping destinations, making it easy to include or exclude specific regions and countries which simplifies the complexities of regulatory compliance and shipping preferences. Available to all sellers, this feature allows for both continent- and country-specific customization.
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 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.
Steps
Make sure you’ve added your default Shipping Profile rates before creating Product Shipping Profiles for items that must ship separately.
The Shipping Profiles tool must be enabled in order for shipping fees to appear at checkout. Only customers in the areas you set Shipping Profiles for will be able to purchase from your store. (no shipping settings = $0 shipping worldwide)
To Create a Product Shipping Profile:
- Log in at app.bigcartel.com.
- Go to Shop settings > Shipping.
- Under Product shipping profiles, click Add profile.
- Enter a name for your profile, then click Save and Close.
- Click the pencil icon next to your new profile to add rates.
- Click + Add a rate.
- Use the region selector to choose a country, region, or zone.
- Expand the location list using the downward arrow to fine-tune the destinations you do or do not ship to.
- In the Methods area:
- Give your shipping method a Name (e.g., Standard Shipping, Next Day Delivery).
- Add a Description to set expectations, such as delivery times.
- Enter your First item rate and, if needed, an Each additional item rate.
- Use + Add another method option if offering multiple methods (e.g., Customer Pickup, Next Day Delivery).
- Once your rates are finalized, click Save methods.
Assigning a Product Shipping Profile to a Product or Variant
- Go to the Products tab.
- Select the item that should use the Product Shipping Profile rate.
To assign to the entire product:
- Scroll to the Shipping section.
- From the Assign a shipping profile dropdown menu, select your desired profile.
To assign to a specific variant:
- Scroll to the Variants section and click Manage Variants.
- Select the variant you want to edit.
- From the dropdown menu, assign the correct shipping profile.
3.Click Save changes.