This guide covers the shipping profile feature in the Merchize app for Shopify: how the app sets shipping rates for products you publish from Merchize to your Shopify store, what the Use Merchize shipping profile setting does, and how to adjust it.

Note: Check your rates after your first product is published

Merchize does not send a separate notice when it creates its shipping profile. If your General profile has no flat rate to copy, some or all of your Merchize products will ship free until you change the rate in Shopify Admin.

How it works

Products fulfilled by Merchize ship from a Merchize location in your Shopify store. Shopify only lets customers buy a product if that location has a shipping rate in the product’s shipping profile — otherwise the product shows as Sold out, even when it is in stock.

Merchize handles this by placing the products you publish from Merchize in a separate shipping profile named Merchize. Your General profile is never modified. Keeping the profiles separate also keeps shipping charges accurate: when a cart mixes Merchize products with your own, Shopify adds both profiles’ rates together, so both shipments are covered.

Whether the setting starts on or off

Your store	Default
Installed the app after this feature was released — including reinstalling it	On. Products you publish go to the Merchize profile and are ready to sell.
Had the app installed before this feature was released	Off. Nothing in your store changes. Turn it on whenever you want new products to use the Merchize profile.

The setting applies to future products only. Products already published before you turned it on are never moved.

What happens when you publish a product

With the setting on, each product you publish from Merchize to Shopify is handled as follows:

Situation	What Merchize does
The product is already in another shipping profile — one you created, or one from another app	Leaves it where it is.
The Merchize profile doesn’t exist yet	Creates it, sets its starting zones and rates (see below), and adds the product.
The Merchize profile already exists	Adds the product. Your current rates are not changed.

How the starting rates are set

When the Merchize profile is created, it uses the same shipping zones as your General profile, so Merchize products ship to the same places as the rest of your catalog. Rates are then set zone by zone:

Zone in your General profile	Starting rate in the Merchize profile
Has a flat rate	The same flat rate is copied.
Uses only carrier-calculated rates	Free ($0). Shopify cannot calculate carrier rates for app locations such as Merchize.
Has no rate	Free ($0).

If your General profile has no shipping zones at all, Merchize creates a single zone for your store’s primary market country (set in Shopify Markets), with a free ($0) rate.

Starting rates are copied once. After that, the rates are yours — Merchize never changes them.

Changing your rates

1. In Shopify Admin, go to Settings → Shipping and delivery.
2. Open the Merchize profile.
3. Edit the rate for each zone, then select Save. Enter $0.00 for free shipping.

Products published before you turned the setting on

These stay where they are — usually in your General profile. If they show as Sold out, that profile has no shipping rate for the Merchize location. You can either add a rate for the Merchize location in your General profile, or move the products into the Merchize profile:

1. In Shopify Admin, go to Settings → Shipping and delivery and open the Merchize profile.
2. In the products section, add the products you want to move, then select Save.

Moved products take the Merchize profile’s rates, so their shipping price may change.

Turning the setting off

When you clear the checkbox, Merchize warns that your products may become unavailable for sale. New products then stay in your General profile and show as Sold out unless that profile has a rate for the Merchize location. Products already in the Merchize profile stay there.

If the Merchize profile is deleted

Merchize does not re-create the profile automatically. Shopify moves its products back to your General profile, where they may show as Sold out.

To restore it, select Re-create profile in Settings and confirm. The new profile starts from your General profile’s current zones and rates, following the same rules as above. Rates you customized in the deleted profile cannot be restored.

If you reinstall the app

The setting starts on. If your Merchize profile still exists, Merchize reuses it and reconnects it to the Merchize location — it doesn’t create a second profile, and your rates stay as they are.

Shipping charges on orders

The shipping rate comes from the profile a product belongs to. When a cart contains products from more than one profile, Shopify works out a rate for each profile and adds them together, showing the customer one combined shipping charge. With flat rates, each profile’s rate is charged once per order, however many items from that profile are in the cart. See Shopify’s article on combined shipping rates.

A free shipping threshold set in your General profile may not apply when a cart is split across profiles, because each part can fall below the threshold on its own.

Customers can only check out if their country is in a zone with a rate in the product’s profile.

Frequently asked questions

Why are my Merchize products shipping free?

Your General profile had no flat rate for some or all zones when the Merchize profile was created — for example because it uses carrier-calculated rates. Set the rates you want in the Merchize profile.

Does Merchize change my General profile?

No. Merchize only creates and manages its own profile.

Will Merchize move products I have already published or organized myself?

No. Only products published after the setting is on are added, and products already in another profile are left alone.

I turned the setting on, but my older products still show as Sold out. Why?

The setting only applies to products published from that point on. See “Products published before you turned the setting on" above.

Why are my Merchize products showing as Sold out?

The Merchize location has no shipping rate in the profile the product belongs to. Check that profile in Shopify Admin.

To learn more about how shipping profiles work in Shopify, see Shopify Help Center: Shipping profiles.