shopify / shipping / policies
Shopify Shipping Policy: The Page Is Not Your Shipping Rates
The shipping policy explains what you promise; Settings → Shipping and delivery is what checkout actually charges—those two have to match.
If you run a Shopify store, the shipping policy is a page of promises. The shipping rate is what checkout charges. They live in different settings, and saving one does not update the other. When they disagree, the customer meets the rate at the worst moment.
This is a merchant alignment page, not a legal opinion and not a paste of Shopify’s template. Paths below follow Shopify Help on adding store policies and shipping zones and rates.
Policy page vs shipping rates: A shipping policy is the written promise: what you ship, what you do not, how long you say it takes, and what you do if a parcel is lost or delayed. Add it under Settings → Policies → Shipping policy. The amount at checkout comes from Settings → Shipping and delivery (a shipping profile, its zones, and its rates). Saving the policy links it in the checkout footer. It does not calculate shipping.
The policy page and the shipping rate are different jobs. The page is the written promise; checkout charges whatever is set under Shipping and delivery.
Two settings, two jobs
| Job | Where | What the customer gets |
|---|---|---|
| Explain the promise | Settings → Policies → Shipping policy | A page at /policies/shipping-policy |
| Charge for delivery | Settings → Shipping and delivery → a shipping profile → zone → shipping option | The price and method at checkout |
What checkout can charge is the option on that profile: a flat rate you set, or a carrier-calculated rate. Free shipping is one of those rates at zero (or Help’s “offer free shipping”), not a third kind of rate and not something the policy page turns on. The policy page cannot override a zone you forgot to create.
Write the policy after you can point at the live rate, not before. If the page says “free over $75” and the profile’s free-shipping rate starts at a different amount, the page is wrong even if the sentences sound polished.
Publish the policy without borrowing Shopify’s wording
- In the admin, go to Settings → Policies.
- Under Written policies, open Shipping policy.
- Write your own text. Insert template only if you want Shopify’s starter as a private scratch pad—you still have to replace it with what this store does. This article does not reprint that template.
- Review it against the rates, zones, and timelines you can actually fulfill.
- Save.
This is not legal advice. Shopify’s consumer protection note says store owners need public contact information, a refund policy, and fulfillment timelines, and that a customer should be able to tell how long an order will take before they pay. Use that as a reminder to be specific. It is not a ruling on your policy.
Where the link shows up
After you save policies, Help says they are linked automatically in the checkout footer. A shipping-policy link is also listed on product pages and the cart. Help adds that free themes downloaded after November 2018 include a product-page link to shipping policies once you have added them, so extra cost or shipping conditions are visible on the product. Do not assume a paid or heavily edited theme does the same until you check the product page.
If you also want the link in a menu, Help’s path is Content → Menus, then add the policy. The storefront path shape is /policies/shipping-policy.
Putting the link in the footer does not move the price earlier in the visit. If the first time a shopper sees the real charge is checkout, and that surprise is why they leave, the checkout problem is covered in Shopify checkout optimization. Fixing the sentence on the policy page does not fix a rate that appears only at the last step.
What the page should settle
Use this as a heading list you rewrite. It is an outline, not policy text.
- Where you ship, and where you do not. Match the countries and regions in your shipping zones. A sentence that says “worldwide” while a zone excludes a region is the mismatch this page is about.
- What the customer pays. Name the rule (flat, free over a threshold, calculated at checkout) in the same terms as the shipping option. Do not invent a second threshold.
- When it leaves and how long you say it takes. Only state a window you can support. Help’s consumer-protection page treats fulfillment timing as something the buyer should see before purchase.
- What you do not ship. Oversized, hazardous, or location-restricted items belong here if your profiles already exclude them.
- Lost, delayed, or refused parcels. Say who looks first and what you will and will not replace. Do not promise a carrier outcome you do not control.
- How this relates to returns. Point to the return policy if returns are a different page. Do not merge two policies into one vague paragraph.
Check the two screens against each other
- Open the shipping profile and write down each zone’s options and prices, including any free-shipping condition.
- Open the shipping policy and mark every number, country, and time claim.
- Delete or rewrite any claim that the profile does not implement.
- Open a product page, the cart, and checkout and confirm the policy link is where you expect it for your theme.
- Place a test checkout into a zone you actually sell to and read the rate next to the policy sentence.
FAQ
Does the shipping policy set my shipping rates?
No. Rates are on Settings → Shipping and delivery. The policy explains them. Checkout uses the rate.
Where do I add a Shopify shipping policy?
Settings → Policies → Shipping policy, then Save. Help links saved policies in the checkout footer. The page path is /policies/shipping-policy.
Can I paste Shopify’s template and publish it?
You can insert Shopify’s starter in that screen, but a template that does not match your zones and rates is the failure this article is about. Rewrite it to the profile you already saved. This page is not that template.