How To Fix “There are no shipping methods available for your cart or destination” Shopify Error (Fast)

Shopify No Shipping Methods Available

It’s super annoying, right? You’ve set up your products, made your store look good, and now you’re testing an order. But then, boom! You get this annoying message saying “There are no shipping methods available for your cart or destination.” It’s like hitting a roadblock.

The last thing you want is for a prospective customer to make it all the way to your checkout page, but not be able to put in their shipping details.

How To Fix “There are no shipping methods available for your cart or destination” Shopify Error (Fast)

  1. No shipping zones set up for the destination address
  2. Cart contents don’t meet the parameters of your shipping settings
  3. You’re using a shipping integration and you have not changed the inventory settings

Read on to find out how to fix these issues and resolve the error.

1. No shipping zones set up for the destination address

The default setting on any Shopify store applies the same shipping rates for every country in the world.

Shopify Default Shipping Settings

But maybe you’ve set up special shipping areas to get the right prices for different places. If you missed setting up an area, and a customer tries to ship there, they’ll see this error.

Here’s how to fix this issue.

Set up Shopify shipping zones

In your Shopify dashboard, go to your Settings > Shipping and delivery > Shipping rates at checkout. Click on “Manage rates” under Custom Shipping Rates. If you have locations that are not covered by your shipping zone, you may see this message.

Shopify Not Covered By Shipping Zones

Click on the blue arrow to find out the details of the locations that are not covered.

You can edit your current profile to add a new shipping zone. Click on “Create shipping zone” to set up a new shipping zone that includes the locations you’ve missed.

Input missing rates

If you see a message like the below, you have not set up rates for some locations that are included in your shipping zone.

Shopify No Shipping Rates

Click on the “Manage rates” button. Scroll to the bottom and you should see the option to add rates for the locations that don’t already have rates.

Shopify No Shipping Rates Add Rates

2. Cart contents don’t meet the parameters of your shipping settings

You may not have set up certain parameters in your shipping settings. When your prospective customer wants to checkout, they may get the error simply because you haven’t made the shipping methods available in your settings.

Set up shipping weights for every single product

Click on Products in the left menu and click on your product. Scroll down to the Shipping section and make sure you have assigned a product weight that is not 0. Make sure the checkbox that says “This is a physical product” is checked off.

Shopify Checkbox Product Requires Shipping

If you are using a shipping integration, make sure the weight unit you use matches their settings. Some errors can be easily fixed by changing the weight unit to the one that your shipping provider uses.

You can check multiple products at a time by using the Bulk Editor.

Set up weight-based freight rates for all possible shipping weights

If your heaviest product is 5kg, make sure you have your weight-based rates set up from 0kg to 5kg. For example, you should have settings for:

0-1kg: $5

1kg-3kg: $8

3-5kg: $10

To set up weight-based rates, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery > Shipping rates at checkout. Click on “Manage rates”. Under each location, click the “Add rate” button and select “Add conditions”. You will see the option to add rates for each weight category.

Shopify Add Weight Based Rates

If your customer’s order mixes up products in a way that doesn’t fit your set shipping weights, they’ll bump into the “There are no shipping methods available for your cart or destination” error.

Remember that the weight of the default package you have in your settings will be added on to the total weight of the shopping cart. That brings us to the next thing you should check.

Set your default package weight to zero

Head back to the trusty Shipping and delivery page in your Settings. Scroll down to the Packages settings.

Make sure the weight of your Saved packages are set to zero.

Shopify Set Product Weight To Zero

Set up price-based freight rates for all possible checkout values

If you use prices, not weights, to decide shipping costs, check you’ve got a rate for every possible order total. Or, set a rate with no top price limit, so you’re ready for any big orders customers might place.

3. You’re using a shipping integration and you have not changed the inventory settings

If you use a custom fulfillment service, you might still have settings that are set to allow Shopify to manage your inventory.

Change your inventory settings

Time to tweak your inventory settings. Head to Products and pick the item your outside service handles. Scroll to Inventory. It usually says Shopify, but you’ll need to change it to your other service. Don’t forget to save!

Shopify Inventory Managed By Shopify

How Can You Set Up Free Plus Shipping Products?

You need to set up a separate shipping profile. In your Shopify dashboard, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery > Shipping at checkout page. Click on “Create new profile” under the Custom Shipping Rates section. In the Products section, add the products you intend to have as free plus shipping products. You can then include locations and rates.

Conclusion

The “There are no shipping methods available for your cart or destination” Shopify error can make you want to pull your hair out, but the issue is easily fixed by checking a few settings for individual products and your Shopify store.

If you’re looking for (free) tips to increase your Shopify conversion rate and rank higher on Google, you can follow me on Twitter 👉🏻 @bitofseo.

Please DM me if you have any questions about this Shopify article (or have some feedback to make it better 😄️).

About Jake Sacino

After working as an engineer and consultant for a bunch of big companies, Jake now works as a full-time SEO & software engineer.