Articles on: Timesact V2

Shipping Profiles and Locations

Shipping profiles control what 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 falls under it 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 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 (different cost, or different options, than your in-stock catalog), 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's selling plan is associated to a separate delivery profile. That association 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 consolidates 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.


Important


  • 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.
  • The location that ships and prices the order is a separate setting from which 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 selectors 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.


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 change this and test on the spot, it takes effect immediately.



Updated on: 07/01/2026

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