If you run a fairly standard store with flat rates set up in the admin, you can probably relax. If you use a shipping app, live carrier rates, a 3PL, or a bespoke integration someone built for you, read on.

Change one: shipping is moving into Markets

Shopify is replacing shipping profiles, zones and location groups with what it calls "shipping options by market" (the developer docs call it market-driven shipping). Instead of setting rates up per profile and zone, you set them up per market, inside the Markets section of the admin.

Shopify's own timeline says the merchant rollout started in October 2026 and that all shops should be on the new setup by July 2027. It also says those dates are subject to change, so treat them as a guide rather than a deadline. Stores are being upgraded gradually, and until yours is, your existing shipping profiles carry on working as they do now.

When your store does get moved over, a few things happen automatically:

  • Your shipping zones become markets.
  • Product-based shipping profiles become unpublished collections with a [Shipping] prefix. Customers can't see them, but your rates depend on them, so don't tidy them away.
  • Location groups become "Ships from" conditions on each rate.
  • Split shipping gets switched on, even if you'd turned it off.

That last one, and the way rates combine, are worth a look. Shopify says that within one shipping option, only the highest matching rate is charged rather than rates being added together. Weight-based, carrier-calculated and app rates are worked out per shipment, so a split order can cost the customer more than the same items shipped together. If your delivery pricing has been carefully tuned, check it after the upgrade rather than assuming it behaves the same.

Shopify says most merchants won't need to do anything, and that existing rates don't need recreating. We'd broadly agree. One practical gotcha: staff who manage shipping now need the Markets permission, and it isn't given to them automatically. Expect a confused message from whoever looks after despatch.

Change two: new carrier services don't switch themselves on

This is the one that bites.

A carrier service is how an app or integration feeds live delivery rates into Shopify's checkout. Think Royal Mail, DPD or DHL rates calculated on the fly, or rates coming from your 3PL or warehouse system.

Until now, when an app created a carrier service, Shopify automatically added it to your General shipping profile, and the rates just appeared at checkout. From API version 2026-10, that stops. Shopify's changelog says creating a carrier service now "only registers the carrier service". Someone has to add it to a shipping profile, either by hand in the admin or through the API. If nobody does, the rates simply don't show.

Older API versions keep the old behaviour until Shopify retires them, which is why this won't hit everyone at once. It'll hit you when an app or integration moves to the newer API version and then creates its carrier service again. That can happen when you install a new shipping app, reinstall one, or a developer updates a custom integration.

The nasty part is that it's easy to miss. The app looks connected, and Shopify's own note on the change just says merchants won't see the rates at checkout. Your checkout just offers no delivery rates for the affected products or destinations, and customers leave. You find out when orders dry up or someone emails to say they can't check out.

A quick checklist

None of this is difficult. It's just easy to miss.

  • List what feeds your rates. Shipping apps, live carrier rates, your 3PL, or anything custom. If you're not sure, check Settings, then Shipping and delivery, and look for carrier or app-calculated rates.
  • After installing or reinstalling any shipping app, run a test checkout to a few typical addresses (mainland UK, Highlands and Islands, an EU country if you sell there) and check the rates appear.
  • If you have a custom integration, ask whoever maintains it which API version it uses and whether it adds the carrier service to a shipping profile itself. If they go quiet, that's an answer of sorts.
  • When your store moves to Markets, review the migrated shipping options, the new [Shipping] collections, and your split shipping prices. Do a few test orders with mixed baskets.
  • Give the right staff the Markets permission before they need it.
  • Keep an eye on checkout conversion for a couple of weeks after any of the above. A sudden drop with normal traffic is the tell.

When it's worth getting help

If your rates come from a bespoke integration, a warehouse or ERP system, or a connection someone built years ago and nobody has touched since, it's worth having it checked before it's upgraded. Updating it to the newer API version is usually a small job. Finding out it's broken from your customers is not.

That kind of thing is our bread and butter. We build and look after integrations between Shopify and other systems, including NetSuite and other ERP connections that drive stock and fulfilment. If you'd like a second pair of eyes on how your shipping rates get into checkout, have a look at our Shopify services or just drop us a line. It's Rob or Jason who'll answer, and we'll tell you honestly if there's nothing to worry about.

Cheers, Rob