Shopify is a hosted ecommerce platform that lets you build an online store, take payments and ship orders from one dashboard, with no hosting or coding to manage. You can start with a 3-day free trial that needs no credit card, pick a theme, add products, connect payments and set shipping rates, and most sellers can have a basic store ready to launch in a day.
This guide walks through the seven setup steps, then covers the part that decides your margins on physical products: how Shopify shipping works and how to cut label costs. It also links to our detailed Shopify shipping guides.
What is Shopify and who is it for?
Shopify is an all-in-one store builder used by merchants in more than 175 countries. It hosts your site, provides the checkout and payment processing, and includes product, inventory, order and customer management, so you don’t need separate plugins for the basics the way you do on a self-hosted platform.
It suits sellers who want to launch quickly and grow without managing servers: makers, brands moving off a marketplace, and businesses adding online sales to a physical shop. If you mainly sell secondhand fashion or handmade goods to an existing marketplace audience, a marketplace such as Etsy, Poshmark or Depop may be a simpler place to start, and many sellers run Shopify alongside them.
How do you build a Shopify store in 7 steps?
Shopify’s setup guide in the admin walks you through these steps in roughly this order. Doing them in sequence avoids rework, especially for shipping, which depends on accurate product weights.
| Step | What you do | Where in Shopify admin |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Start a trial and choose a plan | Create an account, then pick a plan before the trial ends | Settings, Plan |
| 2. Choose and customize a theme | Pick a free or paid theme, then edit sections, colors and fonts | Online Store, Themes |
| 3. Add products | Titles, photos, descriptions, variants, inventory, and weight | Products |
| 4. Set up payments | Activate Shopify Payments or connect another provider | Settings, Payments |
| 5. Set up shipping | Create zones and rates, add package sizes, choose a label source | Settings, Shipping and delivery |
| 6. Add policies, taxes and a domain | Refund and shipping policies, tax settings, custom domain | Settings, Policies / Taxes / Domains |
| 7. Test and launch | Place test orders, check emails, then remove the storefront password | Settings, Payments (test mode); Online Store, Preferences |
Step 1: Start your trial and choose a plan
Sign up at shopify.com for the 3-day free trial; no credit card is required to start. Shopify’s plans run from Starter (selling through social media and links, without a full online store) through Basic, Grow and Advanced to Shopify Plus for enterprise brands. Higher plans add staff accounts, reporting and lower transaction costs, and plan prices change, so compare current plans on Shopify’s pricing page.
Step 2: Choose and customize a theme
The Shopify Theme Store has free and paid themes, all mobile-responsive. The theme editor lets you add, remove and reorder sections, change colors and fonts, and upload a logo without code. Pick a theme built for your catalog size: a single-product brand and a store with hundreds of SKUs need different layouts.
Step 3: Add your products
For each product, add a clear title, photos, a description, price, variants (such as size or color) and inventory tracking. Enter an accurate shipping weight for every variant now, because Shopify uses it for weight-based and carrier-calculated rates and for the labels you buy later.
Step 4: Set up payments
Shopify Payments is Shopify’s built-in processor and supports cards plus wallets such as Shop Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay where available. You can also connect providers such as PayPal. Shopify charges an extra transaction fee when you use a third-party processor instead of Shopify Payments, so check the fee table for your plan before choosing.
Step 5: Set up shipping
Under Settings, Shipping and delivery, create shipping zones for the places you’ll ship to and add rates for each. Add your most-used box sizes as packages, and decide where you’ll buy labels: Shopify Shipping inside the admin, or a discounted shipping app. The next section explains the options.
Step 6: Add policies, taxes and a domain
Add refund, privacy, terms of service and shipping policies; Shopify can generate templates you then edit. Review tax settings for the regions where you have obligations, and connect a custom domain so the store doesn’t run on its default myshopify.com address.
Step 7: Test and launch
Turn on test mode in Shopify Payments (or use Shopify’s Bogus Gateway) and place a few test orders to check checkout, shipping rates, taxes and order emails. When everything works, remove the storefront password under Online Store, Preferences, and your store is live.
How does Shopify shipping work?
Shopify shipping has two parts: the rates customers see at checkout, and the labels you buy to send the order. You can set them up independently, which is useful because the cheapest place to buy labels isn’t always the tool that sets your checkout prices.
| Checkout rate type | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Flat rate | A fixed charge per order in a zone | Similar-size products |
| Weight-based | Rate tiers by total order weight | Catalogs with a wide weight range |
| Price-based | Rate tiers by order value, including free shipping over a threshold | Encouraging larger orders |
| Carrier-calculated | Live carrier prices from the order’s weight and destination | Heavy, bulky or far-flung orders; availability depends on your plan |
| Local delivery and pickup | Delivery radius or in-store collection | Stores with a physical location |
For labels in the United States, Shopify Shipping supports USPS, UPS, DHL Express, DHL eCommerce and FedEx, with some limits by region (for example, UPS isn’t available for Puerto Rico through Shopify Shipping). Our explainer on ecommerce shipping platforms, rates and integrations compares how this works across Shopify and other storefronts.
How can you get cheaper shipping rates on Shopify?
The label is the biggest recurring cost for most physical-product stores, so it’s worth comparing label sources rather than accepting the default. ParcelPath has an official Shopify app that connects your store to UPS and USPS labels at up to 85% off UPS and up to 89% off USPS. It’s free to use, with no subscription, no per-label fee, no minimums and no contracts, and more than 44,000 customers use ParcelPath.
- Freight at checkout. For pallet-size orders, the ParcelPath Shopify app can show LTL freight quotes in Shopify checkout through PalletPath, so buyers of furniture or equipment see a freight price instead of a parcel rate that doesn’t fit.
- Printer-free labels. Show a UPS Mobile Barcode at a UPS Store or a USPS Label Broker code at the Post Office, and the label is printed for you.
- Free USPS pickups and insurance. Schedule free USPS package pickups and add Shipsurance coverage to valuable orders.
Our step-by-step Shopify shipping integration guide shows how to connect carriers and print labels, and the guide to Shopify shipping discount strategies covers ways to lower costs, from box sizing to free-shipping thresholds. To see what a typical order would cost before you set checkout rates, compare live UPS and USPS prices in the ParcelPath rate calculator.
Which Shopify apps should a new store install?
The Shopify App Store has apps for nearly every job, but a new store needs only a few. Add apps one at a time, as a specific need appears, since each one can add scripts that slow the storefront.
- Shipping: a label app with discounted carrier rates, plus tracking notifications if your label source doesn’t send them.
- Reviews: a product reviews app adds star ratings and customer photos to product pages, which builds trust with first-time buyers.
- Email marketing: Shopify Email handles newsletters and abandoned-checkout emails inside the admin.
- Sales channels: connect social and marketplace channels, such as Facebook, Instagram and Google, from the Sales channels menu.
How does Shopify compare with other ecommerce platforms?
Shopify’s strengths are ease of use, hosting and security handled for you, and a large app ecosystem. The trade-offs are a monthly plan fee, extra transaction fees if you skip Shopify Payments, and less control over the code than a self-hosted store.
| Platform | Hosting | Ease of setup | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify | Hosted | Easiest; guided setup | Sellers who want to launch fast and scale |
| WooCommerce | Self-hosted on WordPress | Moderate; you manage hosting and plugins | Content-heavy sites wanting full control |
| BigCommerce | Hosted | Moderate; more built-in features | Larger catalogs and B2B |
| Marketplaces (Etsy, Poshmark, Depop) | Hosted by the marketplace | Easiest; list and sell | Reaching an existing buyer audience |
For a broader comparison of storefronts and the shipping tools each one supports, read our guide to ecommerce platforms and shipping integration.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Shopify good for beginners?
Yes. Shopify is built for non-technical sellers: it hosts the store, the admin includes a step-by-step setup guide, and the theme editor works without code. You can start with a 3-day free trial that needs no credit card. Most beginners can have a basic store with products, payments and shipping rates ready within a day.
How do I set up shipping on Shopify?
Go to Settings, then Shipping and delivery. Create shipping zones, add flat, weight-based, price-based or carrier-calculated rates to each zone, and save your common box sizes as packages. Enter accurate product weights first, because rates and labels depend on them. Then choose a label source, such as Shopify Shipping or a discounted app.
What carriers can I use with Shopify?
For US stores, Shopify Shipping supports USPS, UPS, DHL Express, DHL eCommerce and FedEx, with some regional limits such as no UPS service through Shopify Shipping for Puerto Rico. Apps add more options: ParcelPath’s official Shopify app offers UPS labels at up to 85% off and USPS labels at up to 89% off.
Can Shopify show freight rates at checkout?
Yes, with the right app. Standard Shopify rates are built for parcels, so pallet-size orders often get prices that don’t fit. ParcelPath’s official Shopify app can return LTL freight quotes in Shopify checkout through PalletPath, its LTL service, so buyers of heavy or bulky items see a freight price before they pay.
How long is the Shopify free trial?
Shopify offers a 3-day free trial, and no credit card is required to start it. During the trial you can set up a theme, products, payments and shipping. To keep the store and launch it, you choose a paid plan, from Starter for social selling through Basic, Grow and Advanced, up to Shopify Plus.
Sources
- Shopify Help Center: Understanding shipping carriers (help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/setup/packaging/shipping-carriers)
- Shopify Help Center: Carrier-calculated shipping (help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/setup/shipping-rates/carrier-calculated-shipping)
- Shopify: Free trial page and FAQ (shopify.com/free-trial)
Part of our Ecommerce hub.
In this section:
