Anyone else have shipping calculations issues?

[Girlvic]

I've just had an order come through and it's allowed the customer to select free shipping which should not have been the case. 

I have weights set up on all my products.  The weight for the 3 products combined is 3.4kg.
You can see from the shipping profile below they should have to pay $10.95.
I've done a test order and I'm getting the below image.

I've had an order come through yesterday (19th Feb 2025) where they selected the $4.50 shipping option, so I know it was working OK then, but now it's giving the default value of zero when it's a heavier weight, which I'm sure it was not doing before as I've never had someone get free postage like this!

I can't go back to the customer and say hey, you need to pay postage, so I'm barely going to cover costs on this order! I'll send an email to support as well, but wanted to see if others are experiencing the same issue.

[Girlvic]

So an email back from support says just have one shipping option.  That's not going to work and is not an OK response! 
I hadn't changed anything and it has changed somehow.  I've had to remove the lower priced options to stop people getting the free shipping option, but that means people who are ordering small items are going to pay more postage than they need to.

This is not OK and I replied to the email saying so. 😞

[Laurie_]

Hi @Girlvic,

I recently had a similar discussion with another Seller in this thread regarding managing multiple conditions under one shipping profile.

It seems that what our Support Team is suggesting here is to remove the variable that's causing some orders to default to the free shipping rate, which is set for all items under your "Free Registered Post on Orders over $150" offer. Looking at your shipping profile, you're currently offering free shipping, registered post rates, and standard post rates, two of which are determined by weight and one by order value.

To reduce the potential for errors, we generally recommend using a single condition per shipping profile (e.g., weight or order value) and offering free shipping rates through a coupon for Square Online orders instead. There’s a prompt on the Shipping Profile page that includes a link on how to set up a coupon using the free Square Marketing tool.

I hope this provides some additional context to the advice given by our Support Team. If you have any further questions about implementing the recommendations or need help following up on your case, please don’t hesitate to let us know in your reply! 

[Girlvic]

Re-reading your response @Laurie_ and it's not the free shipping for items over $150 that is the issue. 

If you look at the screenshot, it's the standard letter options which are also weight based.  I've had to remove those options for now to stop anyone else getting free shipping but that means someone buying a small item that can go as a letter is now paying for a parcel. This will put people off shopping with me. 

[Katie_SQ]

Hi @Girlvic, 

Just jumping in here while @Laurie_ is away. Apologies for the delay in responding!

I’ve added some weighted items to my cart, and it seems that the other shipping rates based on weight are adjusting correctly.

I'm wondering if you've tried incorporating the Standard Letter Postage rates within your existing Registered Post weight range options to see if it will successfully charge $4.50 and $7.50 respectively, based on the order weight?

Appreciate that including these rates within the Registered Post section makes it a bit more challenging to differentiate between Registered and No Tracking/Liability, however, this approach might help us identify the specific issue. Temporarily removing the Free Shipping over $150 rate from within the General Shipping Profile may also help to further isolate the problem.

Here's a potential setup:

General Shipping Profile:

• “Postage (Tracking not available for orders under 0.5kg)”
  • 0kg-0.2kg: $4.50
  • 0.2kg-0.5kg: $7.50
  • 0.5kg-4.9kg: $10.95
  • 5kg-8kg: $14.95
  • 8kg and up: $18.95

Custom Shipping Profile:

• “Free Shipping for Orders Over $150”

This setup might help resolve the issue while maintaining fair shipping costs for your customers. 

If you need further assistance or have more questions, please let me know!

[Girlvic]

Thanks for your reply.
My biggest issue is that it has been working fine for a couple of years and now, without me changing anything, it's not working.  Something has changed in the back end and Square aren't helping. 😞

I want it set the way it was. Why should I have to change something that was working?

I can't say Tracking not available on orders under 0.5kg because they don't know what it weighs, and the weights I put in are not actual weights, they are estimates that I use to fudge the system for how I want it.

All these changes Square is making is just making it harder to use 😞  I'm now having other issues with uploading updates to my items 😞

[Laurie_ · Accepted solution]

Hi @Girlvic,

I wanted to update you regarding your use case and the expected behaviour for Square Online Shipping Profiles. After inquiring with the Square Online Team, the advice we received remains the same: the preferred approach for offering Free Shipping is through a coupon, based on your current setup.

Additionally, I’ve learned that the Free Shipping rate works best when the conditions align with those of the Default profile. For instance, if you're using weight-based shipping rates, including a weight-based Free Shipping rate will be more effective than using a cost-based Free Shipping rate.

It seems this is a limitation within Square Online at the moment. Have the workarounds we've discussed in this thread been helpful in addressing these issues so far?

If you're still facing challenges with your Shipping Profiles, we can have someone from our Support Team reach out to explore alternative solutions.