Wix Shipping Setup: Getting It Right the First Time

Every week, I get at least one email that goes something like: "I set up my Wix store, got my first order, and realized I have no idea what I'm charging for shipping. Help."

Wix makes it easy to build a beautiful online store. Getting the shipping right? That takes a bit more thought. But here's the good news: if you follow this guide, you'll configure it once and not think about it again for months.

Start Here: Wix Shipping vs. Wix eCommerce Plans

Before anything else, know what plan you're on. Not all Wix plans include commerce features, and shipping capabilities vary:

If you're on Core, you get basic shipping setup. Business and above unlock shipping rules, carrier-calculated rates, and more options. Most stores should be on at least the Business plan.

The Dashboard: Where Everything Lives

Navigate to your Wix Dashboard, then go to Settings > Shipping & Fulfillment. This is command central for everything shipping-related.

You'll see three main sections:

Shipping regions — Where you ship to

Shipping rules — How much you charge

Shipping settings — Default behaviors

Let's work through them in order.

Step 1: Define Your Shipping Regions

Regions are groups of countries/states that share the same shipping rates. Wix pre-creates a "Domestic" region based on your business address location and an "International" region for everywhere else.

For a US-based store, here's what I recommend:

To add a region: click "Add Region," select countries or states, and name it. You can always edit later.

The most common mistake? Leaving "International" as a catch-all without setting rates. Someone in Australia adds your product to cart, sees "Shipping: Contact us for rates," and bounces. Either set international rates or explicitly disable international shipping.

Step 2: Set Up Shipping Rules Per Region

For each region, you'll create one or more shipping rules. Wix offers several rate types:

Flat Rate

The simplest option. One price regardless of what's in the cart.

Best for stores where most orders are similar in size and weight. If you sell candles, for example, and 90% of orders are 1-3 candles in a small box, a flat $6.99 rate works fine.

Weight-Based Rates

Set price tiers based on total cart weight. You must enter product weights in your catalog for this to work.

Example setup:

Price-Based Rates

Charge based on the order subtotal. This is popular for offering free shipping thresholds:

Carrier-Calculated Rates

Wix integrates with USPS, UPS, and FedEx for real-time calculated rates. This is available on the Business plan and above.

Setup requirements:

• Product weights and dimensions entered for every item
• Your shipping origin address configured
• Package defaults set (your standard box size)

The carrier-calculated option shows customers the actual carrier rate at checkout. Wix doesn't add a markup by default, but you can add a handling fee that gets tacked on.

Step 3: Free Shipping Configuration

Wix gives you a couple ways to offer free shipping:

Always free: Create a $0 flat rate rule for the region. Simple, but eat the cost on every order.

Conditional free: Create a price-based rule where orders over your threshold ship free.

Product-specific: In individual product settings, you can mark a product as "free shipping." This is great for promotional items or digital products.

There's something most Wix tutorials don't mention: when you combine free shipping products with paid shipping products in the same cart, Wix handles it logically. The free shipping flag only exempts that specific product from shipping calculations. The rest of the cart still gets charged. This is what you want.

Step 4: Delivery Time Estimates

Wix lets you add estimated delivery times next to each shipping option. Go to your shipping rule and add a delivery estimate (e.g., "3-5 business days").

This matters more than most store owners realize. Baymard Institute found that 22% of cart abandonments happen because delivery was too slow or unclear. Showing "Standard Shipping - $5.99 (3-5 business days)" converts significantly better than just "$5.99."

The estimates are static — you type them in manually. They don't calculate based on origin/destination. Keep them realistic and slightly conservative. Promise 5-7 days, deliver in 4. Under-promise, over-deliver.

Step 5: Handling Fees and Processing Times

Handling Fees

Wix lets you add a per-order handling fee on top of shipping rates. This appears as a separate line item at checkout.

When to use handling fees:

• Special packaging materials (gift wrapping, protective packaging)
• Customs paperwork for international orders
• Oversized item processing

Keep handling fees reasonable. "$2.00 handling fee" is fine. "$8.99 handling fee" makes customers suspicious.

Processing Time

Under Shipping Settings, you can set order processing time. This tells customers how long before you actually ship the item.

This time gets added to the delivery estimate at checkout. So "2 days processing + 3-5 days shipping = 5-7 days total" appears to the customer.

Shipping Labels: The Wix Shipping Solution

Wix introduced its own label buying service called Wix Shipping. It lets you purchase USPS labels at discounted rates directly from your dashboard.

The workflow:

Order comes in

Go to Orders page

Click "Create Shipping Label"

Select package size and service

Pay for label (charged to your payment method)

Print label

Tracking number auto-updates the order

The discounts are decent — you'll save 20-40% compared to retail USPS rates. But Wix Shipping only supports USPS right now. For UPS or FedEx labels, you need a third-party service.

For stores shipping under 30 orders/month, Wix Shipping is convenient. For higher volumes, ShipStation or Pirate Ship offers deeper discounts that outweigh the inconvenience of using a separate tool.

Local Delivery and Pickup

Wix has solid local delivery and pickup features:

Local delivery: Set a delivery radius (by distance or zip codes), define available hours, and set a fee. Customers in range see "Local Delivery" at checkout.

In-store pickup: Free by default. Customers see your address and can select a pickup time. You get notified when an order is ready for pickup.

Both features appear automatically at checkout when the customer's address qualifies. No app needed.

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Mistake 1: Not testing every region

After setup, place test orders with addresses in each shipping region. I can't tell you how many times I've found a store where the "Canada" region was set up but no shipping method was attached to it. Canadian customers saw zero shipping options.

Mistake 2: Leaving product weights at zero

Weight-based rates and carrier-calculated rates rely on product weights. If they're all zero, every order gets the cheapest tier or an unrealistically low carrier quote. Go through your product catalog and enter accurate weights.

Here's a quick trick: if you sell similar products, set a default weight in your shipping settings. It's not perfect, but it's better than zero.

Mistake 3: Forgetting about product dimensions

Carrier-calculated rates use dimensional weight for large, light items. If your products are bulky (pillows, lampshades, stuffed animals), enter the dimensions. Otherwise, the carrier rate might be based on actual weight alone and you'll underprice shipping.

Mistake 4: Making checkout options confusing

Don't offer 7 shipping options at checkout. Customers freeze when given too many choices (this is called the paradox of choice and it's well documented in UX research). Offer 2-3 options max:

• A budget option (slower)
• A standard option (most popular)
• A premium option (fastest)

That's it. Name them clearly. "Economy (7-10 days)", "Standard (3-5 days)", "Express (1-2 days)."

Mistake 5: Not reviewing shipping costs monthly

Your costs change. Carriers raise rates every year (usually in January). Your product mix shifts. That flat $5.99 rate that made sense six months ago might be costing you money now.

Pull your order data monthly. Calculate your average shipping cost per order. Compare it to what you charged. If you're consistently losing money, adjust your rates.

Wix Shipping in 2026: How It Stacks Up

Wix has improved its shipping capabilities dramatically over the past few years. The platform went from "barely functional" to "solid for small-medium stores."

Wix is competitive now. It's not the best for high-volume or complex shipping scenarios — BigCommerce and Shopify still have the edge there — but for a store doing under 200 orders/month with straightforward domestic shipping, Wix does the job without forcing you onto a more expensive platform.

Set it up once, test it thoroughly, and revisit it quarterly. That's the formula. No need to obsess over shipping settings when you could be focusing on products and marketing instead.