What is a shipping zone?
A shipping zone is a named geographic grouping β a set of countries, states/provinces, or postal codes β to which you attach one or more delivery rates. Every checkout where the customerβs shipping address falls within a zone will display the rates associated with that zone. If a customerβs address does not match any defined zone, no shipping options are shown at checkout. This means you should ensure your zones cover all the regions you ship to. Products that are digital-only will skip shipping zone logic entirely since no shipping address is required.Accessing shipping zone settings
Navigate to Payments > Settings > Shipping & Delivery. This is the central hub for all shipping configuration, including zones, rates, and profiles.Creating a shipping zone
1
Open Shipping & Delivery settings
Go to Payments > Settings > Shipping & Delivery and click Add Zone.
2
Name your zone
Enter a descriptive zone name. Use names that make it clear which geographic area the zone covers, such as βDomestic US,β βCanada,β βEuropean Union,β or βRest of World.β This name is internal only and not visible to customers.
3
Select countries
Click in the country selector and choose one or more countries to include in this zone. You can select individual countries or use groupings (such as all EU countries) if available.
4
Select states or provinces (optional)
After selecting a country, you can optionally narrow the zone to specific states or provinces within that country. This allows you to create region-specific rates β for example, a separate zone for Alaska and Hawaii versus the contiguous 48 US states.
5
Add ZIP/postal code restrictions (optional)
For even more granular control, restrict the zone to specific postal codes. You can enter:
- A single code:
10021 - Multiple codes separated by commas:
10021,90210,60601 - Wildcard patterns using an asterisk at the end:
46*(matches all postal codes starting with 46)
6
Add delivery rates
After defining the zone geography, add at least one delivery rate. Rates define the actual shipping cost customers see at checkout. See the Shipping Rates guide for the full list of rate types.
7
Save the zone
Click Save. The zone is now active. Any checkout with a shipping address matching this zone will display the associated rates.
Zone rules and constraints
Exclusive state/province assignment: Once a state or province is added to a shipping zone, it cannot be included in any other zone. This prevents conflicting rates from appearing at checkout. If you need to reassign a state, you must remove it from its current zone first. Country-level vs. state-level zones: You can have a country in one zone at the country level (to cover all states not otherwise specified) and a different zone that covers specific states within that same country. The more specific zone (state level) takes precedence. Order of precedence: When a customerβs address matches multiple zones (for example, a country-level zone and a state-level zone), the most specific match applies β state/province zones take priority over country-level zones, and postal code restrictions take the highest priority.Zone examples
Domestic free shipping zone:- Name: βUnited States (Free Shipping)β
- Countries: United States
- Rate: Free shipping (no conditions)
- Name: βInternationalβ
- Countries: All countries except United States and Canada
- Rate: Flat $25 shipping
- Name: βHawaii and Alaskaβ
- Countries: United States
- States: Hawaii, Alaska
- Rate: Flat $15 (higher than standard US shipping due to distance)
- Name: βLocal Deliveryβ
- Countries: United States
- States: New York
- Postal codes:
100*, 101*, 102*(Manhattan area) - Rate: Free local delivery
Testing your zones
After configuring zones, always test the checkout by placing a test order using addresses in each zone:- Switch your store to Test Mode (Settings > Payment Mode > Test).
- Add a product to the cart and proceed to checkout.
- Enter a shipping address in each of your zones and confirm the correct shipping rates appear.
- Verify that addresses outside your defined zones show no shipping options (or a clear error message).
Shipping zones only apply to physical product orders. Digital products do not require shipping, so no zone logic is applied to carts containing only digital items.