TL;DR

  • Shopify is moving shipping setup out of shipping profiles and into Markets. Shopify calls this market-driven shipping.
  • The rollout started on 1 October 2026. Every store is planned to be on it by 1 July 2027. Shopify says these dates are targets and may shift.
  • Your rates are meant to stay the same. What changes is where you manage them: per market, not per profile.
  • You can upgrade early and switch back until 1 July 2027. Review your custom profiles first, then test checkout after switching.

What Shopify Is Changing

Until now, Shopify shipping has been organised around shipping profiles (Shopify's API calls them delivery profiles). You put products into a profile, and each profile has its own zones and rates. Most stores use only the General profile. Stores with heavy, fragile or oversize items often add custom profiles so those products get different rates.

In Shopify's words, market-driven shipping "moves merchant-owned shipping configuration out of delivery profiles and into Markets". Instead of starting from a group of products, you start from where you sell. Each market (for example, United States) gets its own shipping options, and product-specific pricing becomes a variation inside those options.

Key Dates

Date What happens
July 2026 Feature preview for app developers on development stores.
1 October 2026 Rollout to merchants begins. New stores start on Markets shipping. Existing stores can opt in early and are moved in stages.
Until 1 July 2027 Stores that upgraded can still switch back to shipping profiles.
1 July 2027 Every store is on market-driven shipping.

These dates come from Shopify's developer upgrade guide, which also notes that the dates are targets and may shift. I checked them on 23 October 2026. If you are reading this later, check that page for the current timeline.

Old Model vs New Model

Shipping profiles (old) Market-driven shipping (new)
Starting point A profile containing products A market you sell to
Structure Profile > location group > shipping zone > rates Market > shipping options > rate variations
Product-specific rates Move products into a custom profile Rate variations targeted with collections
Location-specific rates Separate location groups inside a profile Rate variations with location conditions

The important detail for most merchants is the collections part. Product-specific rates in Markets are targeted with collections, and Shopify creates those collections for you when you upgrade. If you later switch back, the dialog warns: "Collections created for market-driven shipping will be deleted."

What I Saw When I Upgraded a Development Store

I upgraded a development store to see what a merchant actually sees. The option is in Settings > Shipping and delivery, labelled Upgrade.

  • After upgrading, the Shipping profiles section was gone from Shipping and delivery.
  • Shipping was managed per market instead. For example, United States showed its own shipping options, such as Standard and Express.
  • A Switch back option was available, with the warning about deleting the collections created for market-driven shipping.
  • Apps that use merchant shipping profiles can show a warning in the admin along the lines of "<App> may not work with Markets".

According to Shopify, your rates stay the same when you switch. What changes is where you manage them. That matches what I saw, but "should stay the same" is not the same as "checked". If shipping costs matter to your margins, test before you trust it.

Before You Switch: A Short Checklist

  • List your custom profiles. For each one, note which products and variants are in it and the rates per zone. A screenshot of each profile is enough.
  • Note your special cases. Heavy, oversize, fragile, local-only or free-shipping products are the ones most likely to show a problem.
  • Find split products. Look for products whose variants are spread across different profiles (more on this below).
  • Check your apps. Look for any "may not work with Markets" warning, and ask the app developer about their plans if you depend on that app for shipping.
  • Pick a quiet time. Upgrade outside a sale or a busy weekend so you have time to test.

After You Switch: What to Check

  • Open each market and compare its shipping options with your notes.
  • Check the product-based rate variations and the collections Shopify created for them. Make sure the right products are in each one.
  • Place test orders (or go as far as the shipping step in checkout) for products that had special rates, to a few addresses in different zones.
  • Re-check any app that showed a compatibility warning.
  • If something is wrong and you cannot fix it quickly, remember you can switch back until 1 July 2027.

The Split-Variant Problem Worth Fixing First

There is a quiet issue in the profile model that a lot of stores have without knowing it. When you add a new variant to a product, the new variant goes into the General profile, even if the product itself sits in a custom profile. Over time, one product can end up split: some variants on your "Heavy items" rates, and the newest ones on your standard rates.

Customers usually do not notice until a heavy item ships for the price of a light one. Before you migrate, it is worth finding these products and deciding which profile each one should really be in. That way the collections Shopify builds during the upgrade start from a clean, intentional setup instead of years of accidental drift.

If You Build or Maintain Shopify Apps

Shopify has deprecated the merchant-owned delivery profile APIs for stores on market-driven shipping. On those stores, the legacy profile API can return an old snapshot, and writes do not change live checkout rates. Shopify notes that app-owned delivery profiles are not affected.

Detect which model a store uses before reading or writing shipping settings:

query {
  shop {
    features {
      marketDrivenShipping
    }
  }
}

If it returns true, read shipping from the delivery field on Market and write through marketCreate and marketUpdate, as described in the upgrade guide.

A Tool for the Split-Variant Check

Disclosure: I built this app. Splitcheck: Shipping Profiles finds products whose variants are split across shipping profiles, and after you confirm, it can put all of a product's variants into one profile. It works on stores still using shipping profiles (until July 2027). On stores already on Markets shipping, it tells you there is nothing to check.

The scan is free. Pro is $4.99/month with a 7-day trial. The app is currently in Shopify App Store review, so for now you can find details on the Splitcheck support page.

Need Help With Your Shipping Setup?

I am a developer who works with Shopify stores and apps. If you would like a second pair of eyes on your shipping profiles before switching, help planning the move to Markets shipping, or an app updated for the new APIs, email me or read more about my work.

FAQ

When do Shopify stores have to move to market-driven shipping?

Shopify started rolling it out on 1 October 2026 and plans to have every store on it by 1 July 2027. Shopify says these dates are targets and may shift.

Will my shipping rates change when I switch to Markets shipping?

According to Shopify, no. Your rates stay the same, and you manage them inside each market instead of inside shipping profiles. It is still worth testing checkout for products with special rates.

Can I switch back to shipping profiles after upgrading?

Yes, until 1 July 2027, using Switch back in Settings > Shipping and delivery. Collections that Shopify created for market-driven shipping are deleted when you do.

What happens to product-specific shipping rates in Shopify Markets?

They become rate variations inside a market's shipping options, targeted using collections. Shopify creates those collections when you upgrade, so check that the right products are in them.

Will my shipping apps still work with market-driven shipping?

It depends on the app. Apps that read or change merchant shipping profiles need updating, and the admin may warn that an app "may not work with Markets". Apps that use their own app-owned delivery profiles are not affected.

Sources

Links and dates checked on 23 October 2026.