Free shipping at checkout
Offer free shipping above an order subtotal, with separate amounts for domestic and international orders, while faster options stay paid.
Available on the Advanced plan and higher. Compare plans
Updated October 5, 2026
Free shipping turns the cheapest Parcello option into “Free Shipping” at $0 when a cart’s subtotal reaches an amount you set. Faster options keep their price, so customers can still pay for express.
Set it up
- Open Checkout Rates and find Rate settings.
- Enter an amount in Free domestic shipping from an order subtotal of, Free international shipping from an order subtotal of, or both. Leave a field blank to keep free shipping off for that kind of order.
- If freight orders should qualify too, tick Apply free shipping to orders that ship freight too. The checkbox appears once an amount is set.
- Click Save settings.
An order is international when any of its shipments crosses a border, meaning the ship-from location and the customer are in different countries.
How it works
When a cart qualifies:
- Parcello finds the cheapest option in its list and returns it as Free Shipping at $0. It keeps the same delivery date and description.
- All other options keep their price.
- The cheapest option is usually the slowest, so free shipping normally goes to your ground service.
A cart qualifies when all of these are true:
| Condition | Detail |
|---|---|
| A threshold is set for the order’s kind | Domestic or international. |
| The subtotal reaches it | Item prices times quantities in your store currency, before discounts. Parcello doesn’t see discount codes, so a cart that drops below the amount after a code still qualifies. |
| No item is marked No free shipping | One such item keeps the whole cart paid. |
| The cart doesn’t ship freight | Unless you ticked Apply free shipping to orders that ship freight too. |
Example
Domestic threshold $100. A $120 cart gets three options from UPS: Ground $14.50, 2nd Day Air $31.00, Next Day Air $58.00. Checkout shows:
| Option | Price |
|---|---|
| Free Shipping | $0.00 |
| 2nd Day Air | $31.00 |
| Next Day Air | $58.00 |
Keep a product out of free shipping
On the Products page, in the Checkout Lead (Days / Message) column, tick No free shipping for the variant. It saves right away. Any cart containing it gets normal prices, even above the threshold. Use it for heavy or bulky products.
What the order shows
The order keeps the price the free option replaced:
- On the order page, the Shipping card shows the checkout choice as “Free Shipping” with “Free shipping (quoted $14.50)” under it.
- With Write shipment details to the order on, the order’s Additional details in Shopify show “Free Shipping · $0.00 (quoted $14.50)” in Checkout shipping.
This tells you what the shipment would have cost the customer, so you can see what free shipping cost you.
Notes and limits
- Free shipping applies only to Parcello’s options. Other rate apps or flat rates in the same Shopify shipping zone are unaffected.
- On the Operations plan, Shipping rules run after free shipping and can change it, for example to set a price on the free option for some destinations. See Shipping rules and Try a cart.
- If Parcello returns no rates for a cart, there is no free option either; Shopify shows your other or backup rates.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| A cart over the amount shows no free option | An item is marked No free shipping, the cart ships freight, or the order is international and only the domestic amount is set | Check the product, the freight checkbox and both amounts. |
| A cart under the amount after a discount code gets free shipping | The subtotal is measured before discounts | Raise the amount, or use a Shopify discount for shipping instead. |
| Free shipping went to a slow service you’d rather not offer free | It always goes to the cheapest option | Untick that service in the carrier’s checkout settings, so the next cheapest becomes free. |