Before your Shopify store moves to Markets: a shipping checklist for Australian merchants

Shopify is moving shipping settings out of shipping profiles and zones and into Markets. From 1 October 2026, Shopify begins moving stores to the new system, with a target of every store moved by 1 July 2027 (Shopify says the dates may shift). (Shopify dev docs, Shopify blog)

Shopify migrates your rates for you, and says most merchants won't need to do anything. I believe them. I've also run stores long enough to know that "most merchants" and "your store" aren't always the same thing, especially if you ship bulky gear, use a shipping app, or have built up a few years of zone tweaks.

If you want the background first, read Shopify shipping is moving to Markets: what's changing and when. This post is the practical bit: what to check before your store is upgraded, and what to test straight after.

It takes about an hour. Most of it is screenshots.

1. Find out which system you're on

Go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

Shipping profiles with zones and rates: you're on the current system.
A Shipping options section organised by market: you've already been upgraded. Skip to section 8.

(Shopify Help Center)

2. Take a "before" snapshot

You'll want this if something looks off afterwards, or if you're deciding whether to switch back.

[ ] Screenshot every shipping profile, location group, zone and rate (name, price, conditions, free shipping thresholds).
[ ] Note which products sit in which profile. Bulky, fragile and "ships separately" profiles are the ones to watch.
[ ] Record your Split shipping setting (on or off).
[ ] Write down five or six real carts you ship often, with the shipping each one gets charged today. You'll re-test these later.

3. Audit your apps

This is the most important section.

[ ] List every app that touches shipping: live-rate apps, label and booking apps, apps that set up zones or rates for you, delivery-date apps, dropshipping or 3PL apps with their own locations.
[ ] For each one, work out what it does:
- Shows live rates at checkout (carrier- or app-calculated rates). This rate type is supported in the new system.
- Creates or edits your shipping profiles or zones. Shopify says these apps need an update. (Shopify dev docs)
- Doesn't touch shipping settings at all (for example, it only books labels after the order). Usually not affected by this change.
[ ] Check each app's compatibility with shipping options by market. Look for a notice in the app, its help docs or changelog, or just ask the developer.
[ ] Watch for the banner on Settings > Shipping and delivery. Shopify shows it if an installed app isn't compatible. (Shopify Help Center)
[ ] Uninstall shipping apps you're not using any more. One less thing to go wrong.

Why it matters: Shopify says stores that rely on shipping apps might be upgraded later, once those apps are compatible. If you opt in early yourself while an app isn't ready, its rates might not show at checkout, and that can stop customers completing their order.

4. Tidy up your rates

The upgrade changes how rates combine, so it's worth cleaning up first.

[ ] Check your rate names. During the upgrade, rates that share the same name are consolidated into one shipping option. Inside one option, the customer pays the highest matching rate instead of the sum. (Shopify Help Center) If you've got "Standard" in three profiles at three prices, think about what you'd want a mixed cart to pay.
[ ] Look at the carts you noted in step 2. If a cart currently pays two added-together rates (say, a regular item plus a bulky item), it may pay less after the upgrade. For some stores that's a nice fix. For others it's margin quietly leaving the building.
[ ] Check weights. Weight-based and carrier- or app-calculated rates rely on accurate product weights, and package sizes for calculated rates. (Shopify Help Center) Missing weights were a problem before this change and they'll still be a problem after it.
[ ] Check free shipping. Shopify folds free shipping into a shipping option where it can. Where it can't, it keeps it as a separate free option. Make sure your thresholds still make sense.

5. Review your shipping profiles and zones

[ ] Zones by state. Plenty of Aussie stores have zones like "Metro", "QLD only" or "WA/NT". Shopify says the upgrade might create sub-region markets, such as a market for a specific state, to match what your old zones covered. That's expected: those markets carry your migrated shipping options. (Shopify Help Center)
[ ] Product-based profiles become collections. Your profile groupings turn into unpublished collections with a [Shipping] prefix. Don't delete or rename them without checking which rates use them.
[ ] Selling outside Australia? Each market has its own shipping options, and a child market inherits from its parent. Check every market you sell to has at least one rate, because a region without an active market or a matching rate means the customer can't check out. (Shopify Help Center: setting up shipping options)
[ ] Multiple locations? Rates get a "Ships from" condition instead of location groups. And because split shipping is switched on for every upgraded store, check your locations are set up so items that can ship together aren't split for no reason.

6. Local pickup and local delivery

Shopify hasn't listed pickup in store or local delivery as things that move into Markets. Its current help articles still set them up under Settings > Shipping and delivery. (Pickup in store, Local delivery) Even so, I'd still check them:

[ ] Screenshot your pickup locations, pickup times, pickup instructions and any local delivery zones.
[ ] Remember the old workaround for the error "Your order isn't available for pickup". Shopify's current fix is to add an empty shipping zone for the pickup location. Shopify hasn't said how that applies once zones are gone, so if you rely on it, test pickup straight after your upgrade.
[ ] Separate change, same timeframe: Shopify is also rolling out ship and pickup in one order. It opens to new shops from January 2027 and is switched on for eligible existing shops between April and 1 July 2027. (Shopify blog)

7. Staff permissions

[ ] Give the Markets permission to anyone who manages shipping. Shopify says it isn't granted automatically and isn't included in existing staff roles. (Shopify Help Center)
[ ] Tell your team (and your VA, agency or freelancer) that shipping will be edited in Markets > [market] > Shipping after the upgrade. Old SOPs that say "Settings > Shipping and delivery > edit zone" won't match.

8. After the upgrade: test checkout

This is where you find problems before your customers do.

[ ] Open Markets > Australia > Shipping and compare what's there to your "before" screenshots.
[ ] Check your live-rate apps are switched on. Apps that provide calculated rates show up in your market's shipping options, and you can activate or deactivate them but can't edit their details. (Shopify Help Center) If you install a new live-rate app later, you may need to add its rate yourself (see our app compatibility post).
[ ] Run new test checkouts for the carts from step 2. Don't reuse an abandoned checkout: Shopify says it keeps the rates from when it was created. (Shopify Help Center: troubleshooting)
[ ] Test addresses that matter to you: metro, regional, a PO Box if you allow them, WA or NT if you ship there, and a business address if you ship bulky items.
[ ] Test a mixed cart (for example a regular item and a bulky one) and a cart that should split across locations.
[ ] Test pickup and local delivery if you offer them.
[ ] Check the [Shipping] collections look right.

If anything's wrong, you've got three options: fix it in Markets, switch back during the opt-out window (this removes any changes you made after the upgrade), or contact Shopify Support. (Shopify Help Center)

Should I opt in early?

If you've got a quiet week, a simple setup, and every shipping app you use says it's compatible, opting in early lets you find issues on your own schedule. Shopify's blog also suggests being ready to opt in from 1 October 2026. (Shopify blog)

If you're heading into a busy sales period, or any of your shipping apps isn't confirmed compatible, I'd wait. There's no prize for going first.

FAQ

Do Australian stores need to do anything before the move to Markets? Shopify says most merchants don't need to take any action because rates are migrated automatically. It's still worth taking a snapshot of your current setup, checking your apps are compatible, giving staff the Markets permission and testing checkout after the upgrade.

Will my state-based zones survive the upgrade? Shopify says the upgrade might create sub-region markets, such as a market for a specific state, to match the regions your zones covered. Check them after the upgrade.

What happens to my bulky or fragile shipping profile? Its products become an unpublished collection with a [Shipping] prefix, and your rates are linked to that collection with product conditions.

Does local pickup move to Markets? Shopify hasn't said it does. Current help articles still set up pickup in store under Settings > Shipping and delivery. Test it after your upgrade anyway, especially if you've used the empty-zone workaround for pickup errors.

How do I test shipping after the upgrade? Run new test checkouts (not abandoned ones) for carts you ship often, to the addresses that matter to you, and compare the results with your "before" snapshot.

Should I opt in early? Only if your setup is simple, all your shipping apps are confirmed compatible and you have time to test. Otherwise it's fine to wait for Shopify to upgrade you.

Sources

Shopify Help Center, "Upgrading from shipping profiles to shipping options by market": https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/setup/shipping-options/whats-changing-with-shipping
Shopify Help Center, "Understanding shipping options by market": https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/setup/shipping-options/understanding-shipping-options-by-market
Shopify Help Center, "Setting up shipping options for a market": https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/setup/shipping-options/setting-up-shipping-options
Shopify Help Center, "Troubleshooting and testing shipping rates": https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/setup/shipping-rates/troubleshooting
Shopify Help Center, "Setting up pickup in store for online orders": https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/setup/delivery-methods/pickup-in-store
Shopify Help Center, "Setting up local delivery for online orders": https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/setup/delivery-methods/local-delivery
Shopify, "Shopify's new fulfillment: How to prepare for what's coming in 2027" (24 Aug 2026): https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/blog/shopify-fulfillment-2027
Shopify dev docs, "Upgrade your app for market-driven shipping": https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/build/orders-fulfillment/market-driven-shipping/upgrade-your-app

Dave Granfield is the founder of Pack to the Future, a Shopify shipping app for Australian merchants, based on the Gold Coast. Pack's focus is accurate rates at checkout and fewer costly shipping mistakes. If you get stuck on any of this, send me a message and I'll help where I can.