ShipStation can select the lowest-cost shipping service for your shipments with our Rate Shopper feature in supported countries. There are three default options: Best Value, Cheapest, or Fastest. With certain plans, you can also create your own customized Rate Shopper configurations. To start using Rate Shopper, you'll first create a Rate Shopper rule (or multiple rules) in your ShipStation Shipping settings. Review the sections below to learn how to create and use Rate Shopper.
Enable or disable your Rate Shopper configurations at any time by going to Settings > Shipping > Rate Shopper.
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🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇨🇦 🇦🇺 🇳🇿 A US, UK, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand-based account. Rate Shopper is not yet available for accounts in other countries.
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If you signed up before July 8, 2025, Rate Shopper is included with High Volume plans and available as a customizable Add-on for other plan types.
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If you signed up after July 8, 2025, customizable Rate Shopper is included in the Standard and Premium plans. Starter plans have access to the default Rate Shopper settings, but need to upgrade to access the customizable version.
ShipStation's Rate Shopper defaults conveniently include the most-used services from ShipStation Carriers.
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Default Option |
Details |
Carrier/Service List |
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Best Value Domestic Shipments |
Searches for the lowest cost option arriving on a specified date within 4 days. Includes $100 Carrier Insurance. |
USPS Priority Mail, UPS Ground, UPS 3 Day, UPS 2nd Day Air, FedEx Ground, FedEx Home Delivery, FedEx 2 Day, FedEx 2 DayOne Rate, FedEx Express Saver, and FedEx Express Saver One Rate. |
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Best Value International Shipments |
Searches for the lowest cost with a 10 Day timeframe that supports DDP. Includes $100 Carrier Insurance. |
UPS Ground (International), UPS Standard, UPS Worldwide Saver, UPS Worldwide Expedited, FedEx International Economy, FedEx International Connect Plus, DHL Express Worldwide. |
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Cheapest Domestic Shipments |
Searches for the lowest cost option. |
USPS Ground Advantage, USPS Priority Mail, UPS Ground, UPS Ground Saver, UPS Next Day Air, UPS Next Day Air Saver, UPS 2nd Day Air, UPS 3 Day Select, FedEx Ground, FedEx Ground Economy Parcel Select, FedEx 2Day One Rate, FedEx 2Day, FedEx Home Delivery. |
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Cheapest International Shipments |
Searches for the lowest cost option. |
GlobalPost Go, GlobalPost Plus, UPS Ground (International), UPS Standard, UPS Worldwide Saver, FedEx International Connect Plus, GlobalPost Economy International, GlobalPost Standard International, GlobalPost Plus, USPS First‑Class Mail International, USPS First‑Class Package International, USPS First‑Class Mail International. |
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Fastest Domestic Shipments |
Searches the following services for the fastest option at the lowest price. Includes $100 Carrier Insurance. |
USPS Priority Mail Express, UPS Next Day Air, UPS Next Day Air Saver, UPS Next Day Air Early, FedEx Standard Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight, FedEx Standard Overnight One Rate, FedEx Priority Overnight One Rate, FedEx First Overnight. |
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Fastest International Shipments |
Searches the following services for the fastest option. |
UPS Worldwide Express, UPS Worldwide Express Plus, UPS Worldwide Expedited, FedEx International Priority, FedEx International Priority Express, DHL Express Worldwide, USPS Priority Mail Express. |
You cannot edit or delete these defaults. If needed, you can hide a Rate Shopper default from the service drop-down menus across ShipStation by setting the Available toggle found on the top corner of each Rate Shopper rule on the Rate Shopper settings page to the inactive state.
Some examples of different service rules you could create with Rate Shopper include:
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Compare different carrier services that estimate transit time within 2 days
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Compare different carrier services that will arrive by a set deliver by date
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Compare different overnight or 1-day services
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Compare different economy services
Once you've defined which services belong in each strategy, you either select the Rate Shopper rule when you configure a shipment manually or create an Automation Rule to do it for you. Create as many different rules as you need. Be sure to give them descriptive names so you and your staff can easily identify which rule to select for a shipment.
Follow the steps below to use the recommended Rate Shopper configuration:
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Click the Create New button.
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Click Start from Recommended.
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Name the Rate Shopper rule. This name will be what appears in the Services menu when you configure a shipment.
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Use the Select Service dropdown to select a service to compare, and click Apply. Services you select will appear under the 'compare these services' section. Click the X by a service name to remove it from the comparison list.
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Optional: Choose a Transit Time from the dropdown. This will restrict eligible services to make delivery within a specified time. The default is No Restriction.
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Optional: Choose a Fallback Transit Time if you chose Use Deliver by Date from the Transit Time dropdown.
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Optional: Preference - Activate the Preference toggle if your would prefer to ship with a proven, reliable service or customer-favorite service. Then choose your preferred service from the Use this service dropdown and set an amount range for If cheapest label is within to use that service.
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🇦🇺 🇳🇿 For Australia and New Zealand-based accounts: Select your package type.
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🇦🇺 🇳🇿 For Australia and New Zealand-based accounts: Select a confirmation type, if applicable to your selected service.
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🇦🇺 🇳🇿 For Australia and New Zealand-based accounts: Click Add another service to include more services in the comparison.
The services you define here are the set of services ShipStation compares when you select this rule for a shipment.
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Click Publish to complete setting up your Rate Shopper rule.
Follow the steps below to use the build from scratch Rate Shopper option:
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Click the Create New button.
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Click Build from Scratch.
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Name the Rate Shopper rule. This name will be what appears in the Services menu when you configure a shipment.
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Select services from the Services to Compare dropdown, then click Apply. The services you select for the comparison will be listed beside the menu.
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Optional: Choose a Transit Time from the dropdown. This will restrict eligible services to make delivery within a specified time.
The default is No Restriction.
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Optional: Choose a Fallback Transit Time if you chose Use Deliver by Date from the Transit Time dropdown.
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Optional: Activate the Preference toggle to ship with a proven, reliable service or customer-favorite service.
Then choose your preferred service from the Use this service dropdown and set an amount range for If cheapest label is within to use that service.
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🇦🇺 🇳🇿 For Australia and New Zealand-based accounts: Select your package type.
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🇦🇺 🇳🇿 For Australia and New Zealand-based accounts: Select a confirmation type, if applicable to your selected service.
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🇦🇺 🇳🇿 For Australia and New Zealand-based accounts: Click Add another service to include more services in the comparison.
The services you define here are the set of services ShipStation compares when you select this rule for a shipment.
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Click Publish to complete setting up your Rate Shopper rule.
You can include a Custom Package Type when you set up Rate Shopper automation rules if your account is based in Australia or New Zealand. The following scenarios are possible with rates competing rates between Custom Packages and Standard Packages.
Custom Package-based rate wins in the Rate Shopper: When the custom package rate is lower than the standard package rate
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If a custom package-based rate wins, we will automatically use the dimensions from the Custom Package.
Standard Package-based rate wins in the Rate Shopper: When the standard package rate is lower than the custom package rate
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If the Standard Package-based rate beats the custom package-based rate, we will use the dimensions that were entered in the Configure Shipment widget (CSW).
Edge Case: Custom Package-based Rate is used together with Standard Package-based rate
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If you use BOTH the Custom package and the default standard package, and then the rate with the Custom Package wins AFTER you put in the dimensions, we will use the custom-package dimensions you set up and not use the default standard package.
However, if you do not enter ANY dimensions in the Configure Shipment widget, by default, the winning rate will be the Custom Package-based rate. This rate wins because it has dimensions, and there are no dimensions to get a rate for the Standard Package type.
Once you have created a Rate Shopper rule, it will appear at the top of the Services menu drop-down. When you select a rule, ShipStation will compare the services you defined for that rule and apply the lowest rate to the shipment. The "winning" service will appear in the rate section of the shipment widget.
You can manually apply a rule to any shipment either individually or in bulk. You can also automate this selection with an Automation Rule.
For locations outside of the US and for carrier accounts where package dimensions are necessary to generate a rate, we recommend creating a series of Automation Rules, one to automatically apply dimensions to a package and then another to apply a Rate Shopper rule.
Creating an Automation Rule to apply dimensions removes the task of manually updating dimensions for each order. After you have created a rule to apply dimensions to packages, you can then create a Rate Shopper rule that will apply to your orders.
The sequence of these rules is crucial as Automation Rules run according to their sequence in the rules list. The dimensions rule must come first to ensure that all orders generate the appropriate rate. Then, the Rate Shopper rule can be applied.
The following is an example Automation Rule that applies dimensions, followed by the Rate rule:
Package dimensions are necessary to generate a rate for some countries outside of the US. Use this rule to set the package dimensions for orders as long as the quantity is under a certain threshold. For example, if you only sell shirts and know that any order of 10 shirts or less will be shipped in a 30cm x 30cm x 15cm box, this rule would automatically set the box dimensions on those orders.
This example rule will apply to orders when the total quantity of all items is 10 or less, and it will set the package dimensions to 30cm x 30cm x 15cm.
Select Only apply these actions to orders that match specific criteria. Set the criteria to Total Quantity is Less Than or Equal to 10.
Add the action to Set Package Dimensions, then enter the dimensions of your box.
Now you can create a Rate Shopper rule.
Click Create a Rule, then select Set Rate Shopper from the Action Type drop-down menu. Select the Rate Shopper strategy you want the rule to apply then click Save Rule.
The Delivery Time restricts eligible services to those that have a carrier delivery estimate within the specified time.
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If the carrier gives us a range of delivery dates, ShipStation uses the later date to be conservative and give your package the best chance of getting to your customer on time.
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If the carrier does not provide an estimate for delivery dates, then we do not include them as an eligible service for the shipment
Rate Shopper shipments use this formula to calculate the time for delivery to your end customer:
Delivery Time = Time in transit from the business day after the ship date.
The delivery time starts counting on the business day after the ship date.
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By default, the ship date is set to be today. This means tomorrow will be day 1 when Rate Shopper runs on any order unless you have adjusted this ship date.
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The delivery calculation includes business days only. Weekends are not included.
For example, if you have a 2-business-day delivery window, and your ship date is on a Monday, we will choose the lowest-cost service that can estimate delivery before the end of the day on Wednesday.
If you have included a service that can deliver on a Saturday in your shipping strategy, and have also enabled a delivery time, the Saturday service will simply be included with the services that can deliver by Monday because the delivery time is based on business days.
For example, if you have a 2-day delivery time, and your ship date is on a Thursday, we will choose the lowest cost service that can estimate delivery between Friday-Monday.
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Rate Shopper only compares services. It does not compare different package types.
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Rate Shopper rules can also be applied via Automation Rules. When you create an automation rule, select Set Rate Shopper from the Action Type drop-down menu, then select the Rate Shopper rule you want the Automation Rule to apply.
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You can view the Rate Shopper strategy, carrier, and service selected for a shipment in the Orders grid. Make sure you have enabled those columns in your Orders grid view.
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Bulk updates to package type and confirmation type will not apply to orders with Rate Shopper.
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If you use the Delivery by Date and your selected carrier services will not arrive in time, an error message will show in the Rate Calculator: Rate Shopper could not find a matching service.
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Within Rate Shopper, you can set up a Service Preference that will override the otherwise selected rate IF your preferred service is only a certain amount more expensive.
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Service Preference is a "less-than" calculation. It does not include the exact price set. It will only include prices that are at least 1 penny cheaper.
For example, if you have set your service preference to choose UPS Ground if the rate is within 1 dollar of the cheapest, it would select UPS Ground® if it were up to $0.99 more expensive than the cheapest rate.
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The Rate Shopper pop-up will show the configuration as well as a "story" visualization of the preference.
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