Zones & Rates screen
Once your custom shipping zones have been configured, your Zones & Rates screen should look similar to what you see here — with your shipping zones listed in the Zone name column on the left, and no shipping rates added yet on the right side of the table:
If this does not happen and instead, after installing the app, you see the following banner:
most likely, your store doesn’t have access to the Carrier Service API and the Carrier-Calculated Shipping (CCS) feature required for the app to work properly. In most cases, this means that you’ll need to upgrade your Shopify plan in order to be able to use the app. Please follow the instructions in the banner or learn how to enable Carrier-Calculated Shipping in your Shopify store →
Adding a custom shipping zone
To add a new custom shipping zone for the first time, click the Configure your first shipping zone button in the middle of the screen:
Later on, you’ll be able to add more zones anytime if needed, using the Add shipping zone button at the top:
Once clicked, you’ll be redirected to the shipping zone configuration screen.
Configuring a custom shipping zone
Zone details
Zone name – enter a name for this shipping zone for easier identification. It will be used only in the Zones & Rates table for app configuration purposes and will not be shown to store customers.
Countries – select the countries this zone should cover from those you ship to.
If a country you ship to isn’t currently listed in the drop-down, e.g., because it was added later in Shopify’s Shipping and delivery settings, click the Refresh country list button to update the list and make it appear there:
If, in turn, after reaching the shipping zone configuration screen, the Countries option and the ones below it are grayed out:
it usually means that shipping zones or destination countries have not been configured yet in your Shopify Shipping and delivery settings. To resolve this, go to Shopify Shipping and delivery settings and create shipping zones that include your destination countries there first, so you can select them later here. If you’ve already done this, click Refresh country list button to reload the page and unlock the disabled options.
Limit the selected countries to the following – decide whether to further narrow the shipping zone for the country or countries selected above by choosing one of the available options:
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ZIP / Postal codes – the shipping zone will be narrowed to cover only the postal codes from the previously selected country or countries that you enter in the text field below:
If selected, please enter the Postal / ZIP codes one per line or separated by commas.
Different ways of entering postal codes
Please note that you can enter the postal codes to which the shipping zone should be narrowed in three different ways:
- directly, by typing the full postal codes manually, one per line or separated by commas, e.g.:
2600 2610 2614 2616, 2617, 2618
- by defining their ranges and placing an ellipsis between the starting and ending postal codes of the range, e.g.:
2619...2898
If used, the shipping zone will cover all postal codes from 2619 to 2898 such as 2619, 2620, 2621, 2622, and so on, up to 2898.
using so called wildcards and placing an asterisk sign * in right place of the postal code, e.g.:
3* 42* 574*
The 3* wildcard will cover all postal codes starting with 3 (e.g., 3000, 3124, 3999).
The 42* wildcard will cover all postal codes starting with 42 (e.g., 4201, 4215, 4299).
The 574* wildcard will cover all postal codes starting with 574 (e.g., 5740, 5742, 5749), etc.The same rule applies to postal codes containing letters, such as UK postcodes. For example, SW1* wildcard will cover all codes starting with SW1 phrase (e.g., SW1A 1AA, SW1E 6QP, SW1H 0ET), and B2* wildcard will cover all codes starting with B2 (e.g., B2 4QA, B2 5EP, B2 6LG).
We highly recommend using ranges and wildcards instead of listing each postal code separately when configuring shipping zones, to optimize the amount of data that Shopify needs to process on their side.
How to configure a shipping zone covering all postal codes in a selected country
You can use the wildcards described above to easily configure a shipping zone that covers all postal codes in a given country. To do this:
- In the Countries field, select the country this zone should cover,
- Choose Limit the selected countries to the following: ZIP / Postal code,
- Enter an asterisk * in the text field at the bottom.
Using the wildcard this way will make it cover all postal codes for the selected country.
Here’s an example of a shipping zone configuration using a wildcard to cover all postal codes in France:
- directly, by typing the full postal codes manually, one per line or separated by commas, e.g.:
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Cities – the shipping zone will be narrowed to cover only the specific cities from the previously selected country or countries that you enter in the text field below:
If selected, please enter the city names one per line or separated by commas.
If you finished configuring your custom shipping zone (like the ‘UK Mainland’ example below), make sure to save changes with the Save button at the top of the screen.
Once it’s done, you should see the success banner confirming the shipping zone has been successfully created. From here, you can either click the Add shipping rates for this zone button to immediately add a rate for the zone you just created:
or use the ‘Back’ button ← to return to the Zones & Rates screen and create another zone there:
While on the Zones & Rates screen, you can also use the plus button + in the Actions column next to a zone to add shipping rates for it.
Please note that, for now, custom shipping zones created this way will only support the shipping rates added by Shipping Rates Rules & Shipping Zones app.
How to edit an existing shipping zone
If you want to edit an existing custom shipping zone and change how it is currently configured, click the Edit icon next to its name to reach its configuration screen:
Once you’re done there with all the adjustments, confirm the changes with the Save button in the top bar.
How to delete an existing shipping zone
To delete an existing custom shipping zone, while on its configuration screen, click the More actions button, select the Delete shipping zone action, and then confirm it by clicking the Delete button in the popup window which should appear next.
Please note that deleting a shipping zone is irreversible. Once a zone is deleted, it cannot be restored and will need to be recreated the same way it was originally added.
How to duplicate an existing shipping zone
To duplicate an existing shipping zone click the ‘More actions’ button … next to the zone you’d like to copy, and choose Duplicate shipping zone from the dropdown menu:
The ‘More actions’ button … becomes available when the shipping zone has at least one rate added.
The duplicated shipping zone will include all the rates from the original one, but they will remain inactive until manually activated:
Shipping zone matching – How it works
When the customer enters their shipping address at checkout:
the app matches it to the shipping zones you’ve configured in the Zones & Rates table, in the order they are listed there, starting from the top to the bottom:
The first zone that matches the entered shipping destination will have its shipping rates applied.
As shown in the example above, the customer entered United Kingdom as the shipping country and the postal code AB33 8AD at checkout. The first shipping zone (Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Isles of Scilly) was checked but not matched, since it does not include the postal code entered by the customer. The app then checked the next zone in order — Scottish Highlands and Islands. This zone covers postal codes starting with AB33*, which includes AB33 8AD:
As a result, this zone was matched with the customer’s shipping address, and the shipping rates added to it (Economy delivery and Standard delivery) were displayed at checkout:
Therefore, it’s important to make sure that more specific zones — for example, those containing exact postal codes — are placed above the broader ones that include postal code ranges, wildcards, or covering entire countries. This ensures they are matched first and helps avoid incorrect matches.
How to change the order in which shipping zones are matched
To manage the position of shipping zones in the Zones & Rates table — and so the order in which they’re matched — you can use the arrows in the Position column to move them up or down:
Excluding specific locations from shipping
If you need to exclude a specific shipping zone — for example, a region you don’t ship to — you can easily do so by following these steps:
- Place the zone you’d like to exclude from shipping at the top of the Zones & Rates table to ensure it is always considered first.
- Make sure that no shipping rates are added to this zone, and delete any if necessary.
If configured this way:
when a customer enters a postal code belonging to a zone you don’t ship to, they will see the standard Shipping not available message at Shopify checkout, stopping them from placing an order:
