Shipping audit: Feastables

Document at least three zones in your shipping policy: domestic, expedited domestic, and international. List the carriers handling each zone, the estimated delivery window, and whether duties (DDP) are paid by you or the buyer. Shopify Markets makes the underlying setup easy; the policy page is the part shoppers actually read.

## Why it matters When a carrier can't verify actual weight at the label step, it bills the larger of (a) actual weight × rate, or (b) dimensional weight × rate. For light, bulky items (apparel, snacks, supplements) the dim-weight charge is often 25–40% higher than the true cost. ## How to fix it (Layer 2 — connected data required) This fix needs your store data connected so we can backfill weights at scale. 1. **Connect Shopify, WooCommerce, or your ERP** in ShipXray Settings. 2. We'll identify products missing weights and surface them in a worklist. 3. Bulk-import weights via CSV, or sync from your fulfillment software (ShipStation, ShipBob, etc.). 4. Re-rate a recent invoice through ShipXray's audit engine to confirm the savings. ## Quick win while you wait Even without a connection, you can: - Audit your last UPS or FedEx invoice for a "DIM" surcharge column - Pick the 20 highest-volume SKUs and weigh them on a kitchen scale - Update those 20 in your e-com platform — that alone often recovers 60% of the overcharge ## Expected savings $2–$5 per affected order. For a 1,000-orders/month brand with 50% dim-weight exposure, that's $1,000–$2,500/mo recovered.

Install a TMS (Shippo, ShipStation, or EasyPost — all roughly 30 min on Shopify). Enables rate-shopping across carriers, automatic failover when one carrier has an outage, and bulk label generation.

Add weight to every product variant in Shopify (Products → variant → Shipping → Weight). When weights are missing, carriers default to dimensional pricing on the heavy items, inflating cost 15–40% on flagship SKUs. Bulk weight upload via CSV takes ~1 hour for a typical 50-SKU catalog.

Add zone-based routing: USPS Ground Advantage for zones 1–4 (cheaper than UPS/FedEx ground), UPS or FedEx for zones 5–8 (more reliable on longer distances). Most TMS platforms support rule-based routing out of the box.

List the carriers you use for each region in your shipping policy: USPS / DHL eCommerce for sub-$200 orders, FedEx International / UPS Worldwide for higher-value. Include estimated delivery windows by region.

Consolidate support contact into one canonical /contact page. Link to it from the footer, every policy page, and the order-confirmation email. Add structured data (ContactPoint schema) so search engines surface it as a sitelink.

301-redirect duplicate variants (trailing slash, /s suffix, hyphen) to one canonical URL. Update sitemap.xml so only the canonical URL is submitted. Add rel="canonical" tags to each policy page pointing at the canonical.

Enable Shopify Markets (free on Shopify Plus, available on Standard) for native presentment currencies. International buyers see local currency, you still settle in USD. Reduces card-network FX fees by 1–3%.