Shipping profiles define the rules that determine what your customers are charged for shipping.
Each profile contains one or more shipping rates (also called "zones"), and each rate combines:
a price
a shipping method (selected from your pre-configured methods — this is the label pushed to your ecommerce system, such as "UPS Ground" or "Standard Shipping")
a geographic zone (the states or countries where the rate applies)
Because Zest shipping profiles are configured entirely within Zest — not imported from Shopify — you'll need to set them up manually before assigning them to your products.
Getting your shipping profiles right from the start reduces checkout errors, ensures accurate order data in your ecommerce system, and gives you the flexibility to offer different rates by region, product type, or customer segment.
Before you begin, make sure you have:
A clear sense of which products need different shipping rates (e.g., free shipping on large bundles, regional surcharges for Alaska/Hawaii).
Your shipping methods already created in Settings > Shipping under the Shipping Methods card. Each method has a Name (what you see in Zest) and a Value (what gets pushed to your ecommerce system). Make sure the Value matches what your fulfillment system expects, including correct capitalization.
A flat rate in mind for any products that will be sent as e-gifts, since the recipient's address isn't known at purchase time.
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Managing Shipping Methods
Shipping methods are managed separately from shipping profiles. You must create your shipping methods before you can assign them to rates within a profile.
Navigate to Settings and select Shipping.
In the Shipping Methods card, you'll see your existing methods listed.
Click Add to create a new shipping method.
Enter a Name (a human-readable label for this method) and a Value (the value that will be pushed into your ecommerce system — depending on your system, it may be the same as the Name or a different identifier).
Click Save.
You can edit or delete existing shipping methods from this same card. Note that you cannot delete a shipping method that is currently in use by a shipping zone — you'll need to update those zones first.
Creating a Shipping Profile
Navigate to Settings and select Shipping.
Within the Shipping Profiles section, click Add profile to create a new profile.
Enter a descriptive name for the profile (e.g., "Standard Domestic Shipping" or "12-Pack Free Shipping"). Customers will not see this name.
You'll be taken to the new profile's detail page. The page is divided into two sections: Direct-ship rates and E-gift flat rate.
Click Add rate in the Direct-ship rates section.
Enter a Name for this rate (e.g., "Continental US" or "Alaska/Hawaii"). Customers will not see this name.
Enter the shipping Price for this rate.
Select a Shipping Method from the dropdown. If you haven't created the method you need yet, you can create one directly from the dropdown by clicking Create new shipping method.
Use the Geography selector to choose which states or countries this rate applies to. Use Quick select continental US? to select the lower 48 states plus DC quickly.
Click Save.
To add rates for additional regions within the same profile (e.g., a surcharge for Alaska and Hawaii), repeat steps 5–10 with the new name, price, method, and geographic zone. The system will prevent you from assigning the same state to more than one direct-ship rate within a single profile.
Setting Up Regional Rates
You can manage different rates for different geographic zones within a single shipping profile. A common setup looks like this: one rate at $15 for the continental U.S. and a second rate at $50 for Alaska and Hawaii.
Open the shipping profile you want to edit in Settings > Shipping.
Click Add rate to add your first zone.
Set the Name, Price, Shipping Method, and select the applicable states using the geography selector.
Click Add rate again for each additional zone, adjusting the name, price, method, and states accordingly.
To exclude regions you don't ship to (e.g., Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands), simply leave those states or territories deselected. Customers who enter an excluded address will see an error notifying them that shipping is unavailable to their location.
Click Save when all zones are configured.
Configuring E-Gift Shipping Rates
E-gifts require a flat rate because the recipient's address isn't known at checkout — the gifter pays upfront and the recipient provides their address later. Without an e-gift rate in the profile, the "Send as E-Gift" option won't appear for products using that profile, and customers may encounter checkout errors.
Open the relevant shipping profile in Settings > Shipping.
In the E-gift flat rate section, click Add flat rate.
Enter a flat Price that covers your average shipping cost across all regions you allow for e-gifts.
Select a Shipping Method from the dropdown.
Use the geography selector to restrict eligible regions if needed (e.g., exclude Alaska and Hawaii to avoid losses on expensive shipments).
Click Save.
Note: You can only have one e-gift flat rate per shipping profile, since the destination is unknown at checkout. The e-gift zone is allowed to overlap geographically with your direct-ship zones. If you need different flat rates for different scenarios, create separate storefronts with distinct profiles.
Setting Up Free Shipping
To offer free shipping on specific products, create a dedicated $0 shipping profile and assign it to those products. You must still select a shipping method in the profile even when the rate is zero — without it, no shipping line item will appear in your ecommerce order.
In Settings > Shipping, click Add profile to create a new profile.
Name it clearly (e.g., "Free Standard Shipping").
Click Add rate, set the Price to $0, enter a Name, and select your Shipping Method.
Assign the appropriate geographic zones.
Click Save, then assign this profile to the relevant products or variants.
You can also use variant-level shipping profiles to offer free shipping on specific sizes or quantities (e.g., free shipping on 12-packs, standard rates on 4-packs) while keeping other variants on a paid profile.
Restricting Shipping to Certain States or Regions
Open the shipping profile you want to restrict.
In each rate's geographic zone settings, deselect any states or territories you do not ship to (for example, Puerto Rico, Guam, or the US Virgin Islands).
Save the profile.
If a customer tries to ship to an excluded region, they will see an error message stating that shipping is not available to that address. For e-gifts, recipients who enter a blocked state address during gift acceptance will be notified. You can add custom shipping information text in your shipping settings to direct these customers appropriately.
Setting Up Local Pickup
Because customers in self-service storefronts cannot choose between shipping and pickup in a single storefront, local pickup requires its own dedicated storefront.
Create a new shipping profile in Settings > Shipping named for the pickup location (e.g., "Store Pickup – Downtown").
Add a rate with the Price set to $0 and select or create a descriptive Shipping Method like "Will Call" or "Store Pickup."
Restrict the geography to your local region.
Click Save.
Create a separate pickup-only storefront and assign this profile to products within it.
Customers will still be prompted to enter an address (used for tax calculation), but the $0 shipping rate will apply regardless of what they enter.
Assigning Shipping Profiles to Products
Shipping profiles can be assigned at the product level, the variant level, and overridden at the storefront level.
Go to the Products tab and select the product you want to configure.
In the product settings, select the appropriate Shipping Profile from the dropdown. This becomes the default for that product across all storefronts.
To assign a profile at the variant level (e.g., different rates for different sizes), open the variant settings within the product and assign the relevant profile there.
To override the default profile for a specific storefront, open that storefront's Product Listings tab and change the shipping profile for individual products there.
When products are first imported into Zest, they automatically inherit the "Primary" shipping profile. After import, reassign them to the correct profile to ensure accurate rates. Setting the correct profile in the Products tab first means products will import into new storefronts with the right profile already applied.
Configuring Multi-Item Shipping Calculation
When a customer's cart contains products with different shipping rates, Zest gives you two options for how the total is calculated. This setting is configured at the storefront level.
Navigate to your storefront's Pricing tab.
Under Shipping price calculation, choose one of the following options:
Use the highest item shipping price — each shipment is charged the highest shipping cost of the items in that shipment. Best when products ship together in one box.
Add up all item shipping prices — each shipment is charged the total of the individual shipping costs for all items in that shipment. Best when products ship separately.
Save your selection. This setting can differ across storefronts.
Troubleshooting Common Shipping Issues
Shipping shows as $0 unexpectedly.
Check the storefront's Pricing tab for active shipping discount rules. A rule set to discount shipping by 100% when a threshold is met will override your profile rates entirely.
Checkout errors on e-gift products.
The product's shipping profile likely doesn't include an e-gift flat rate. Add one in the profile's E-gift flat rate section under Settings > Shipping to resolve the error.
"Shipping starts at $0.00" displays on product listings.
This happens when the shipping profile includes a $0 e-gift rate, because the minimum price across all zones (including the e-gift zone) is used in the display. Remove the $0 e-gift rate from the profile, or create a separate profile for e-gift products.
Shipping method shows as "null" in ecommerce orders.
The product's shipping profile is either missing or doesn't have a shipping method assigned to its rates. Verify that every rate in the profile has both a price and a shipping method configured.
A customer's address produces a shipping error unexpectedly.
Check whether the customer's state has been accidentally deselected in the shipping profile's geographic zone settings.
ZIP code-level shipping is not available.
Zest supports state-level zones only. If you need ZIP code-specific routing, configure a generic shipping method in Zest and apply downstream routing rules in your fulfillment system.