Grouped (Tiered) Rates

Set up tiered pricing for a single shipping option by grouping multiple rows with the same rate name.

Grouped rates let you create a single shipping option that changes price depending on the order value or weight. Instead of one flat price, you can offer, for example, £3.50 for orders under £50, £1.99 for orders £50–£99.99, and free from £100 — all under one “Standard Shipping” option at checkout.

Grouped rates are only available when New Shipping Options is enabled. See Enabling New Shipping Options if you haven’t turned it on yet.

How grouping works

There is no extra column to fill in. Grouping is automatic: any two or more rows in the same shipping zone with the same rate name are submitted to Shopify as a single shipping option with multiple price tiers.

Name matching is case-insensitive and ignores leading or trailing spaces. Royal Mail Tracked 24® and royal mail tracked 24® are treated as the same group.

Example

The following three rows create a single “Standard” option with subtotal-based tiers:

Name	Price	Order Subtotal >=	Order Subtotal <=
Standard	5.99 GBP	0	49.99 GBP
Standard	2.99 GBP	50.00 GBP	99.99 GBP
Standard	0.00 GBP	100.00 GBP

Zone,Country Code,Country Name,Province,Postcode,City,Name,Description,Price,Order Subtotal >=,Order Subtotal <=,Weight >=,Weight <=,Transit Time Min Days,Transit Time Max Days,Free Min Order Amount
UK Standard,GB,United Kingdom,*,*,*,Standard,,5.99 GBP,0,49.99 GBP,,,,,
UK Standard,GB,United Kingdom,*,*,*,Standard,,2.99 GBP,50.00 GBP,99.99 GBP,,,,,
UK Standard,GB,United Kingdom,*,*,*,Standard,,0.00 GBP,100.00 GBP,,,,,,

The top tier has a blank Order Subtotal <= — this is an open-ended tier, meaning it covers all orders above £100 with no upper limit. The open-ended tier must always be the last (highest) tier in the group.

Rules

Follow these rules to avoid import errors when using grouped rates.

Tiers must be contiguous

Each tier’s lower bound must immediately follow the previous tier’s upper bound, with a gap of exactly £0.01 for subtotal tiers or 0.0001 for weight tiers.

For the example above:

• Tier 1 ends at 49.99 — Tier 2 must start at 50.00 ✓
• Tier 2 ends at 99.99 — Tier 3 must start at 100.00 ✓

If there is a gap or overlap, you will see an error message that tells you the exact value the next tier must start at.

Use one condition type per group

All rows in a group must use the same type of condition — either all subtotal-based (Order Subtotal >= / Order Subtotal <=) or all weight-based (Weight >= / Weight <=). Mixing the two types in the same group is not allowed.

Use one currency or weight unit per group

All subtotal tiers in a group must use the same currency (e.g., all GBP). All weight tiers must use the same weight unit (e.g., all kg). If a row uses a different unit, it will be rejected.

The open-ended tier must be last

Only the highest tier — the one with the largest lower bound — may have a blank upper bound. If an earlier tier in a group has a blank upper bound, the import will fail.

No duplicate flat rates

Two rows with the same name, the same country, and no conditions cannot coexist in the same zone. If you want multiple price points for the same country, add Order Subtotal or Weight conditions to each row to create tiers.

Listing the same rate for multiple countries is fine. A rate applies to every country in its zone, and the expected way to express that is one row per country:

Zone,Country Code,Country Name,Province,Postcode,City,Name,Description,Price,Order Subtotal >=,Order Subtotal <=,Weight >=,Weight <=,Transit Time Min Days,Transit Time Max Days,Free Min Order Amount
Europe,FR,France,*,*,*,Colissimo International,,15.00 EUR,,,,,1,3,
Europe,DE,Germany,*,*,*,Colissimo International,,15.00 EUR,,,,,1,3,

These two rows create one “Colissimo International” rate that covers both France and Germany. The rows are deduplicated — Shopify receives a single rate, not two.

A rate and its Free Min Order Amount apply to all countries in the zone. If you need a different threshold (or no threshold) for a specific country, put that country in its own zone.

Free shipping thresholds must match across the group

If you set a Free Min Order Amount on any row in a group, every row that has a value must use the same amount. Rows with a blank Free Min Order Amount are fine — only rows with a non-blank, conflicting value are rejected.

Common errors

Rate "X" in zone "Y" mixes price and weight tiers — a tiered shipping option must use one type

Cause: Some rows in the group have subtotal conditions and others have weight conditions.

Fix: Split the rate into two separate names — one for subtotal-based tiers and one for weight-based tiers.

Tier subtotal range starts at X but previous tier ends at Y — next tier must start at Z

Cause: There is a gap or overlap between two consecutive tiers. The error message tells you the exact value Z that the next tier must begin at.

Fix: Update the lower bound of the affected tier to the value shown in the error.

Only the highest tier of "X" in zone "Y" may omit the upper bound

Cause: A tier that is not the last in the group has a blank upper bound (Order Subtotal <= or Weight <=).

Fix: Add an upper bound to all tiers except the final (open-ended) one. Sort your tiers from lowest to highest to identify which one is missing its upper bound.

Duplicate shipping rate "X" in zone "Y" — rates with the same name must be tiered

Cause: Two or more rows have the same name, the same country, and no conditions — making them identical flat rates for that country.

Fix: If you want multiple price points, add Order Subtotal or Weight conditions to each row to create tiers. If they were meant to be different rates, give them different names. If you were trying to list the same rate for multiple countries, make sure each row uses a different Country Code — that is valid and will not trigger this error.

Tier currency 'X' must match group currency 'Y' for shipping option ...

Cause: One or more rows in the group use a different currency to the rest.

Fix: Make sure all rows in the group use the same three-letter currency code in their price and subtotal columns.

Free Min Order Amount X conflicts with Y for shipping option ...

Cause: Two rows in the same group both have a Free Min Order Amount set, but the values are different.

Fix: Use the same threshold value on all rows in the group, or leave the column blank on all rows.

Free shipping thresholds with tiered rates

You can combine a free shipping threshold with tiered pricing. Set the same Free Min Order Amount on all rows in the group. When a customer’s order reaches the threshold, Shopify makes the entire rate free — regardless of which tier the order falls into. The tier prices still apply for orders below the threshold.

Single-rate behaviour is unchanged

If a rate name appears only once in a zone (no other rows share the name), it continues to work exactly as before — as a flat rate with optional conditions. Grouping only applies when two or more rows share the same name in the same zone.

What to do next

New CSV Columns

Transit times, free shipping thresholds, and the full column layout.

Import Guide

Step-by-step instructions for uploading your CSV.