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Saved Package Sizes

A saved package is a package size you keep so its dimensions and weight are reused for rate calculation and label buying, instead of being re-measured on every order. You can save your own custom sizes or select a carrier's standard packaging, such as a USPS or UPS package. Setting one as the default means rates and labels use it automatically.

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A saved package is a package size you keep in your store so you do not measure and type it in every time you fulfill an order. Once saved, its dimensions and weight are used to calculate shipping rates at checkout and are pre-selected when you buy a shipping label, which keeps rate quotes accurate and label buying quick. Saved packages live in Settings > Shipping and delivery, in the Packages section. This article explains the kinds of saved package and how they are used, and Packages has the step-by-step of adding one.

Before you begin

  • Your role includes Shipping settings, the permission that lets you change the store's shipping configuration.
  • You know the packaging you ship in, whether your own boxes or a carrier's standard packaging.
  • Open Settings, open Shipping and delivery, and find the Packages section.

Why save package sizes

Saving the packages you ship in means the sizes are entered once and reused, rather than re-measured per order. That has a few benefits.

  • Accurate rates. The saved dimensions and weight are what a carrier uses to price a shipment, so quotes match what you will be charged.
  • Faster labels. Your default saved package is pre-selected when you buy a label, so you are not re-entering sizes each time.
  • Consistency. Everyone fulfilling orders picks from the same known sizes, so shipments are measured the same way.

Two kinds of saved package

A saved package is either your own packaging or a carrier's. Both are saved and reused the same way; what differs is whether you measure it or pick it from a list. On a store with no carrier account connected, the dialog offers the custom kind only, so the choice below appears once a carrier is connected.

Kind What it is
Custom package Your own packaging, where you set its type as a box, an envelope or a soft package, then its dimensions, weight and name
Carrier package A carrier's standard packaging that you select rather than measure, such as a USPS package or a UPS package

A carrier package saves you from measuring when you ship in the packaging a carrier provides. On the Carrier package tab you pick from the carrier's predefined packages. This tab appears only once you have connected a carrier account; without one, the dialog adds custom packages only.

The Add package dialog with Custom package and Carrier package tabs across the top, Carrier package selected, offering USPS package and UPS package to expand, the Use as default package checkbox with its note about checkout rate calculations and label purchases, and Cancel and Add package at the foot (opens full size)

The default saved package

One saved package can be set as the default, marked in the list as the store default. The default is the package used for checkout rate calculations and the one pre-selected when you buy a label, as the dialog notes. Setting your most-used package as the default means rates and labels use it without you choosing it each time.

Managing your saved packages

Saved packages appear in the Packages section, each showing its name, dimensions, and weight. From there you add a new one, or edit an existing one to change its details. Delete sits beside a package you no longer ship in, though not beside the one marked Store default, so the package your rates and labels rely on cannot be removed while it holds that role. The full add flow, including the fields for a custom package, is covered in Packages.

Best practices

  • Save the few packages you use most. A short list of real sizes is quicker to pick from than many rarely-used ones.
  • Use a carrier package when you ship in carrier packaging. It avoids measuring and matches what the carrier expects.
  • Set a default. Make your most common package the default so rates and labels use it automatically.
  • Keep sizes current. Edit a saved package if you change the packaging you use, so rates stay accurate.

If something goes wrong

  • The wrong size is pre-selected at label buying. Set the package you use most as the default so it is pre-selected.
  • A carrier package is not what you expected. Confirm you picked the correct carrier's package on the Carrier package tab.
  • You cannot change these settings. Your role may not allow managing store settings. Ask an owner or admin.

Next steps

Still stuck?

More in Shipping

  • Locations

    Locations are the places you hold stock and ship orders from, and the rest of the store is built on them. This article covers the Locations page and its plan-limited active count, creating a location and the two toggles that decide what it may do, and the location page itself, where you edit the address, see which delivery methods it offers, bind it to a market, or deactivate it.

  • Create a Shipping Profile

    A custom shipping profile lets you set different shipping rates and rules for specific products, instead of the general rates every other product uses. You give it a name for your own reference, add the products it covers, choose the fulfillment locations, and add shipping zones and rates. Products you do not add to a custom profile keep using the General shipping profile.

  • General Shipping Profile

    The General profile is the default every product ships under unless you move it to a custom profile. This explains what it holds, its fulfillment locations, shipping zones and rates, and why a zone left without a rate quietly blocks checkout for customers there.

  • Create and Edit Shipping Zones

    The steps to add a shipping zone to a profile and keep it current: name it, choose the countries and regions it covers (down to individual provinces), and save, with how to edit or delete a zone afterwards.

All 23 articles in Shipping

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