Articles on: Timesact V2

Shipping Profiles and Locations

Shipping profiles control which shipping rates a customer is offered, based on which products they are buying and which location those products ship from. They matter for pre-orders because pre-order items often ship later, or from a different location, than your in-stock items, and you may want them priced or handled differently. This is all set in Shopify.


What a shipping profile is


A shipping profile is a set of shipping rules for specific products and locations. Every Shopify store has:


  • The General shipping profile, which covers all products by default. Every new product sits here unless you move it.
  • Custom shipping profiles (you can create up to 99), for products that need their own rates.


If a product is not in a custom profile, it uses the General profile's rates.



This is the key connection. Inside a profile you do not set one flat rate, you set shipping zones and rates for each location that fulfills those products. Locations that ship to the same destinations are handled together as location groups.


So the rate a customer is quoted depends on two things together: which location fulfills the product, and the destination zone. If a product can ship from more than one location, each location has its own rates within the profile.


Why this matters for pre-orders


  • To give pre-order items their own shipping rates (a different cost, or different options, than your in-stock catalogue), put those products in a custom shipping profile and set the rates there.
  • If your pre-order stock will ship from a specific location, for example a supplier warehouse that is not your usual one, set that location's zones and rates in the profile so pre-order shipping is priced from where it will actually ship.
  • Advanced: if you want pre-order (deferred) shipping calculated completely independently from the same product's normal purchase, the pre-order can be linked to a separate delivery profile. That link is a developer or API level setup, not a simple toggle in the admin, so treat it as advanced.


Mixed carts: pre-order plus in-stock


  • When a cart holds both a pre-order item and an in-stock item from the same location under the same policies, Shopify combines the rates, and the customer sees separate shipping totals for the items shipping now and the pre-order items shipping later.
  • Pickup and local delivery are not supported for pre-order items. Those methods will not be offered for a pre-order, even if you offer them normally.


Setting up a custom profile


  1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings, then Shipping and delivery.
  2. In the custom shipping rates / profiles area, create a new profile.
  3. Add the products this profile should apply to, your pre-order products.
  4. For each location (or location group) that ships them, set the shipping zones and rates.
  5. Save.


Good to know


  • The location that fulfills the product decides which rates apply. If a pre-order ships from a location that has no rates set in its profile, the customer can see wrong or missing shipping, so keep the fulfilling location and its rates aligned. And if a fulfilling location's zone has no delivery options at all, Shopify can mark the product as Sold Out.
  • The location that ships and prices the order is a separate setting from the location Timesact reads for stock status. Make sure the location that actually fulfills the pre-order has correct rates, regardless of which location you scoped for availability.
  • Pickup and local delivery cannot be used for pre-orders.


When the pre-order button gives an error


This is the most common location-related pre-order problem, and it is a Shopify shipping setting, not a Timesact issue. If clicking the pre-order button throws an error, and you have already confirmed the app's settings and the out-of-stock / stock settings are correct, the usual cause is that the location holding the pre-order stock is set not to fulfill orders. If a location is not allowed to ship, Shopify blocks the sale, so the button errors. If the product shows Sold Out instead of throwing an error, the cause is usually an incompletely configured custom profile (see the next section).


To check and fix it:


  1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings, then Shipping and delivery.
  2. Open the shipping profile the product is in. It may be the General profile (where products sit by default), or a custom profile if you use those.
  3. Find the location, the address, that holds the stock for this product.
  4. Check whether it is set to fulfill from that address. In these cases it is usually turned off. Turn on shipping from that location and choose the zones and rates you want.
  5. Click Done to save.


Then re-test the pre-order button. Once the location is allowed to fulfill, it should work. If you are helping a customer live, have them make this change and test on the spot, it takes effect immediately.


When the pre-order product shows as Sold Out after you move it to a custom profile


If you put your pre-order products into a custom shipping profile and they then show as Sold Out on the storefront, or the pre-order button will not work, the cause is usually that the custom profile is not fully set up. If a fulfilling location in that profile has a shipping zone with no delivery options or rates behind it, Shopify treats the product as unavailable and marks it Sold Out, even though the pre-order is configured correctly in Timesact. It can look like the app, or the deposit on a split-payment pre-order, is the problem, but the fix is on the Shopify shipping side.


To fix it:


  1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings, then Shipping and delivery.
  2. Open the custom shipping profile your pre-order products are in.
  3. For every location (or location group) that fulfills these products, make sure there is at least one shipping zone with delivery options and rates behind it. The profile should be as complete as your General profile.
  4. Save, then reload the product page. The pre-order button should work again.


A quick way to confirm this is the cause: if a variant that is still on your General profile works while the ones you moved to the custom profile show Sold Out, the custom profile is the piece that needs completing.


Delivery estimates shown at checkout


If your checkout shows a delivery estimate next to a shipping rate, for example "Ships in 1 business day," on a pre-order that will actually ship much later, that text comes from your Shopify shipping rate, not from Timesact. Timesact marks the item and the order as a pre-order and shows your own pre-order wording on the product page and in the cart, but the shipping methods and their estimated delivery times at checkout are set on the Shopify rate.


To change what shoppers see:


  1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings, then Shipping and delivery.
  2. Open the shipping profile the product is in (the General profile, or a custom profile if you use one for pre-orders).
  3. Find the shipping rate for the location that fulfills the product, and edit it.
  4. Adjust or clear the estimated delivery time on that rate (Shopify's "Add estimated delivery times" option), then save.
  5. Re-open your checkout to confirm the wording.


If you want pre-order items to show different rates or estimates than your in-stock catalogue, put those products in their own custom shipping profile and set the rate and estimate there.



Updated on: 08/12/2026

Was this article helpful?

Share your feedback

Cancel

Thank you!