Shipping is one of the most important — and most underestimated — decisions in setting up an ecommerce store. The model you choose affects your margins, customer expectations, and checkout conversion rates. Here’s a breakdown of the main options.
Free Shipping
No shipping fee is added to the order at checkout — the store owner absorbs the delivery cost in their pricing.
Free shipping is highly appealing to customers and can significantly reduce cart abandonment. It works best in B2C markets where you have enough margin to cover delivery, or where the average order value is high enough to subsidise it.
Flat Fee Shipping
A standard, fixed delivery charge (commonly $9 or $9.95 in Australia) is applied to every order, regardless of size or weight.
This is simple for customers to understand and easy to manage. Some businesses use prepaid Australia Post satchels as a baseline for pricing. Just be aware that for multi-product orders requiring larger packaging, you may find yourself covering a gap.
Free Local Delivery
Orders from specified postcodes receive free delivery, while orders outside that area pay a flat rate. This is popular for businesses that have a strong local customer base and use their own delivery resources within a set radius.
Note: this option works on postcodes, not suburb names or regions.
Simple Table Rate
Tiered delivery fees based on order value or weight. For example:
- Orders under $100 → $9 delivery
- Orders over $100 → free delivery
This model rewards larger orders and is easy to communicate to customers. It’s a practical middle ground between free shipping (which can hurt margins on small orders) and flat fees (which feel unfair on large orders).
Custom Table Rates
More complex shipping structures — for example, different rates by product category, weight, dimension, or destination — can be configured as custom table rates. This requires a conversation with your developer to scope properly.
Courier API (Real-Time Rates)
This option connects your store directly to a courier’s pricing system and calculates the exact delivery cost for each order based on product weight, dimensions, and delivery destination.
It requires accurate product weights and measurements in your database, and typically involves higher setup complexity. The advantage is precision — customers pay exactly what delivery costs, which is particularly useful for businesses with a wide range of product sizes and weights.
The downside: customers don’t see the final shipping cost until they’re at checkout, which can cause drop-off if the price is higher than expected.
Not sure which model suits your business? Get in touch with Blue Platypus — we’ll help you design an ecommerce shipping strategy that works for your margins and your customers. You can also explore our web design services to see what we build for Australian online retailers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best shipping option for a small online store?
Flat-rate shipping suits most small stores: it is simple to set up, easy for customers to understand, and avoids checkout surprises. Move to real-time courier rates only once product sizes and weights vary enough that flat rate costs you money.
Should I offer free shipping?
Free shipping reliably lifts conversion, but the cost has to live somewhere. Most stores build it into product pricing or set a minimum order value, which also lifts average order size.
How do real-time courier rates work?
Your store queries the courier's API at checkout using the cart weight, dimensions and destination, returning live pricing. It is the most accurate option but needs correct weights and dimensions on every product to work properly.
Can you set up shipping on my existing store?
Yes. Shipping configuration is one of the more common things we are asked to fix on WooCommerce and Shopify stores, particularly where rates were set up once and never revisited as products changed.
