Magento 2 Shipping Methods

Magento 2 is equipped with more than 7 shipping methods for your store out-of-the-box. Let's see how to configure shipping for your Magento 2 store.

Shipping Settings

First, you need to configure the shipping origin settings so that Magento 2 is able to calculate the shipping costs for the shipments made from your store, and also calculate the tax for your products.
Go to Stores -> Configuration - SALES ->Snhipping settings and specify all the necessary details here.

To access Magento 2 get available shipping methods configuration, switch to the «Shipping Methods» section from the left menu. There are more than 7 shipping methods in Magento 2:

• Free Shipping
• Flat Rates
• Table Rates
• UPS
• USPS
• FedEx
• DHL

When it comes to Magento 2 set default shipping method, the only method that is enabled is the Flat Rate shipping method, and other Magento 2 shipping methods not showing.

Each shipping method can be enabled or disabled separately. Magento 2 set shipping method programmatically is also available, just as Magento 2 disable shipping method programmatically. Other settings depend directly on the selected method and may include applicable countries, sort order, or error message text to display. Usually, all the methods are pre-configured. You only should define some extra details.

Magento 2 hide shipping method in frontend may also get required. Amazingly, Magento does not allow you to disable a shipping method on the frontend but keep it in the admin area out-of-the-box. In Magento, shipping methods get disabled and enabled on the global and website level. On the store level, you can’t usually Magento 2 hide the shipping method but edit its title only, for example. By default, you won’t be able to Magento 2 remove the shipping method step from checkout. Nonetheless, it can be achieved programmatically.

Free shipping method

Let's review the settings for the Free shipping method in Magento 2.

• Enabled―this setting enables/disables the shipping method.
• Title―the title of the shipping option that is visible on the frontend. See the screenshot below: "Free shipping" is the title.
• Method Name―the title of the shipping method inside the shipping option. See the screenshot below: "Free" is the method name.

• Minimum Order Amount―this setting allows you to restrict the free shipping for the order below the specific amount., i.e., the free shipping will be shown for the orders with subtotals equal or more than this value.
• Displayed Error Message―this message will be shown if the given shipping method is not available for a certain order but the setting "Show Method if Not Applicable" is enabled.
• Ship to Applicable Counties―this setting determines the countries, for which this shipping method should be available.The country in the shipping details is checked here.
• Ship to Specific Countries―this multi-select allows you to choose the countries this method should be available for. It is enabled if the setting above is set to "Specific Countries".
• Show Method if Not Applicable―this setting allows you to display the method even if it is not applicable to a current shipping country or disabled by the other shipping rules.
• Sort Order―this order defines the sorting order of the shipping method among other methods in the cart and in the checkout.

Flat rate shipping method

Flat rate is a simple shipping solution with a predefined price per item or per shipment. Most of the settings are described above. Let's review some of the settings:

• Type―this setting defines how the shipping charge should be added. The possible values: None, Per Item, Per Order.
  - The "None" means the price will be disabled and the method will be free.
  - The "Per Item" means the shipping price will be added for each item in the cart. The "item" in Magento 2 is a separate product row in the cart.
  Example: if there are 2 products in the cart with 5 quantities of each product, it is 2 items, i.e. the quantity of each product is not counted.
- The "Per Order" means that the shipping price will be added once for the entire order.
• Price―shipping price of the given method.
• Calculate Handling Fee―this setting allows you to define how to add an additional handling fee to the order if it is required. It can be Fixed or Percentage. The percentage handling fee will be calculated from the order subtotal.
• Handling Fee―the amount of the handling fee.

In cases when the customer qualifies for free shipping, you may want to Magento 2 hide shipping method if free. It happens based on “Flat Rate”.

Table rate shipping method

The table rate shipping method calculates the shipping cost based on a combination of different conditions. Most of the settings are described above. Let's review some of the settings:

• Condition - the setting defines how the shipping price is calculated:
  - Weight vs. Destination -
  - Price vs. Destination -
  - # of Items v. Destination -
  
• Include Virtual Products in Price Calculation―enable this setting if you want to be able to include the virtual products in the calculation. Note that the virtual products cannot affect the calculations if the "Weight Vs. Destination" is chosen, because they do not the weight. However, the virtual products can affect the "Price vs. Destination" and "# of Items v. Destination" modes.

Mageworx shipping method

Our Shipping Suite extension has it all to Magento 2 create new shipping method. You can rename and configure it as you need if you need Magento 2 create custom shipping method.

Custom shipping carriers & methods

Magento 2 add custom shipping method and/or carrier can be sometimes required. You can do this either programmatically or use Magento 2 shipping extension, which allows you to Magento 2 add new shipping method in few clicks, avoid cases when a new custom Magento 2 shipping method not showing on frontend, easily add Magento 2 multiple shipping methods, and enjoy Magento 2 add custom field to shipping method possibilities that the extension offers.

See this guide for more details how to add custom shipping methods in Magento 2 with Shipping Suite.