How To Create a Shipping Policy in 2026 (Free Template)

A shipping policy tells customers where you ship, how much delivery costs, and when orders are expected to arrive. Publishing these terms gives customers a place to review delivery information before placing an order.

Shipping terms can determine whether an order happens. DHL’s 2026 E-Commerce Trends Report found that 67% of online shoppers have abandoned a cart because of the delivery offering.

Use this shipping policy template to set delivery areas, processing times, rates, and tracking terms. Customize it for your store and update it as your operations change.

What is a shipping policy?

A shipping policy, also called a delivery policy, documents an ecommerce store’s shipping and fulfillment process. It covers shipping destinations, processing times, delivery speeds, rates, and carrier options. Stores typically publish it on a dedicated page, within their FAQ page, or their terms and conditions.

A 2026 Baymard survey found 40% of US shoppers who abandoned an online purchase in the previous three months cited extra high costs from things like shipping, taxes, and fees. Publishing shipping costs and options upfront helps customers know what to expect before checkout.

What to include in your shipping policy

Your shipping policy should reflect your shipping strategy, current operations, and supply chain. State whether order fulfillment is managed in-house, through fulfillment services, or by dropshipping suppliers.

Order processing times

After an order is placed, how many business days will it take to get it ready to ship? Communicate if you’re excluding weekends and/or holidays, and if you have certain cutoff times for processing orders (e.g., orders received after 5 p.m. will be processed the next business day).

Account for extra packing time created by custom product packaging design or packaging inserts. If you’re still planning the unboxing experience, review these small business packaging ideas before publishing your processing window.

Domestic and international shipping options

List the domestic regions you serve and whether you deliver to PO boxes. Identify any destination, product, or service restrictions. If you offer multiple types of shipping, give customers the cost and expected delivery window for each one.

USPS publishes the following domestic and international starting retail rates:

Rates can vary by carrier, package size, weight, and destination. For international shipping, list the countries you serve and explain any tariffs and customs requirements. In your international shipping policy, state whether customers pay import duties and taxes upon delivery. Eligible Shopify stores can display and collect these charges at checkout.

Shipping costs

Break down your shipping costs for the customer. Compare the cheapest way to ship a package across carriers and service levels before publishing your rates.

Your ecommerce packaging changes package size and weight, which carriers use to calculate rates. Learn how to measure a box and compare cheap shipping boxes before setting flat rates or free shipping thresholds.

Use your order data to assess the relationship between free shipping and conversion before setting a threshold. If free shipping doesn’t work for your margins, flat-rate shipping gives customers a predictable delivery fee.

Local delivery options

If you offer multiple shipping options for nearby customers, such as local delivery or curbside pickup, explain the steps customers will need to follow after ordering, and clearly communicate your local delivery coverage.

Returns, changes, and cancellations

On top of accommodating returns through a dedicated return policy, summarize how your business evaluates refunds, order edits, and exchanges, and what your process is in the event of a lost or damaged order.

Potential service interruptions

Orders may take longer to arrive due to variables outside of your control. Your shipping policy page is where you can communicate timeline estimates and explain to customers why their packages could be delayed.

Order tracking details

Explain when customers receive a shipping confirmation, where they can find their tracking number, and whom to contact about delayed or lost packages. Place tracking links directly in order notifications so customers don’t have to return to your shipping policy.

Shopify’s order status page lets customers follow fulfillment progress and view real-time updates for supported carriers. You may be able to add estimated shipping speeds at checkout through your Shopify admin, which can improve cart conversion.

How to write a dropshipping shipping policy

A dropshipping shipping policy sets realistic expectations for orders fulfilled by third-party suppliers. Products often ship from overseas, so processing and transit times may be longer and more variable than orders sent from your own warehouse: 

1. Use wider delivery ranges. Separate the supplier’s processing time from the carrier’s transit time. Base each range on the supplier’s typical performance, including normal customs delays.
2. Disclose supplier fulfillment. Tell customers that products ship from a third-party supplier and identify the shipping origin when relevant. Explain that items from the same order may arrive in separate packages, each with its own tracking number.
3. Assign responsibility for costs and delays. State who pays shipping charges, import duties, taxes, and reshipment costs. Explain what happens when a supplier misses the processing window or a package is lost, including when you offer a replacement, refund, or cancellation.

Dropshipping store Subtle Asian Treats’s shipping policy separates one to four business days of processing from regional delivery estimates ranging from 5 to 30 business days. It also warns that items may ship separately from different warehouses. The policy covers outbound shipping and lost, damaged, or significantly delayed packages, but customers pay applicable duties, VAT, and customs fees.

Shipping policy template

Shopify store owners can create and publish a shipping policy from their store admin. From the Shopify admin, go to Settings, then Policies, and select Shipping policy under Written policies. Enter your own text or, if the option appears, click Insert template to add an English starter draft.

Customize the policy to reflect your business’s:

• Order processing and cutoff times
• Shipping methods and delivery estimates
• Rates and free shipping thresholds
• Local delivery and pickup options
• International duties and taxes
• Returns, lost orders, and damaged items

After reviewing the policy, click Save. Shopify publishes the policy and automatically links it in the footer of your checkout pages. You can also add the policy to your store menus to make it easier to find.

For a shorter starting point, copy and adapt this sample:

Shipping policy sample

Orders are processed within [one to three business days]. [Standard shipping] costs [$X] and usually takes [three to seven business days] after dispatch. Orders over [$X] qualify for free shipping. Customers are responsible for applicable international duties and taxes. Contact [email address] if tracking has not updated for [X days] or an order arrives damaged.

A shipping policy template provides prewritten text that merchants edit manually. A shipping policy generator collects information about a business and creates a draft from those answers. Shopify’s Insert template option adds a default draft to the policy field, but it doesn’t create a policy tailored to your operations or offer legal advice.

Stores are responsible for reviewing and following their published policies. Confirm that the final wording reflects how your business processes and ships orders before publishing it.

Shipping policy examples

These real-life shipping examples can serve as inspiration for some of the ways you can customize your own policy on your online store. We’ve included various shipping contexts so you can see how different circumstances translate into different policies.

Create a local shipping process for nearby customers

Many brick-and-mortar stores have embraced shoppers in their community by offering local delivery and buy online, pickup in store shipping options. These options each come with their own unique set of steps that must be clearly communicated to ensure a smooth customer experience.

If you’re relying heavily on business from your local customers, you can also list the ZIP/postal codes you service, or embed a map on your shipping page to communicate your local delivery ranges visually. 

For example, Magnolia Bakery offers same-day pickup or delivery options at nearby locations. They may detect where you are or ask you to submit location details before forwarding order options. 

Promote personalized tracking pages for customers

In some cases, delivery timelines need to be made explicitly clear for the customer. For example, if your products are frequently purchased as gifts for holidays or events, timely arrival is paramount to customer satisfaction.

Cookware retailer Our Place lets customers track both orders and preorders through a tracker page. 

Upsell free shipping offers on your policy page

AlixPartners’s 2026 Home Delivery Survey found that free shipping affects purchase decisions for 94% of US consumers. Nearly 70% said it has a “great impact.” Retailers often use spending thresholds and memberships to offset shipping costs—56% of supply chain professionals said they require a minimum order value for free shipping, while 22% require both a minimum order and a paid membership.

Beardbrand uses both approaches. US customers receive free standard shipping on orders over $75. Beardbrand Alliance members in the US receive free standard shipping on every order. Beardbrand Alliance is a private online community. Beardbrand says customers receive an invitation after purchasing directly from the company three times or spending $150 on one order. Or, they can pay $90 for immediate access.

Where to communicate your shipping policy to customers

It’s best practice to display your shipping policy at multiple customer touch points. It shouldn’t live only on your shipping policy page. Instead, make it easier for customers to find the information they need by communicating elements of your shipping policy wherever customers may hesitate to complete a purchase.

The following are a few ideas for where you can repurpose your shipping policy to make it easier for customers to finish checkout.

Update a website announcement bar

When you’re anticipating shipping delays or a higher volume of orders, one of the most effective ways to be transparent with customers is by communicating delays through a website announcement bar. These are banners that can typically appear at the top of an ecommerce store’s pages. Banner options are built into many Shopify themes, but you can also add them to your store via a Shopify app of your choice.

In addition to shipping delay updates, you can also use this real estate on your website to highlight any incentives that might compel customers to make a purchase. For example, use a banner to highlight free shipping for orders over $75, or announce $5 flat-rate shipping to the US and Canada.

Add a link to your website footer

Your footer is likely the first place a customer will look to find your shipping policy, along with other links to access self-serve customer support.

If shipping is a particularly important concern for your customers, it might be best to incorporate your shipping page into your website navigation’s dropdown menu to ensure it’s more discoverable. However, in most cases, a link in your footer should suffice.

Incorporate shipping details into product pages

Questions about shipping often come up as customers are browsing your product pages. Consider including high-level information about your shipping policy on each product page. For example, write up one line about your free shipping incentive, or add a dedicated product page tab for more detailed shipping info.

Feature shipping info on your FAQ page

An FAQ page can answer common shipping questions about methods, destinations, tracking, returns, and delivery estimates. It can also highlight terms that may encourage a purchase, such as your return policy or free shipping threshold.

Label your options with delivery estimates

At checkout, when customers choose their shipping options, it’s useful for them to see how long each shipping option takes. For example, your standard shipping option could take five to seven business days, while a more expedited tier could take only two days.

Having that information makes it easier for customers to select the best option for them. Including this information at checkout could be especially useful if you offer delivery time frames that are longer than a week and want to reduce the number of customers who reach out asking about their orders.

Deliver the right expectations with your shipping policy

Trust is the cornerstone of running a successful small business, and a good shipping policy ensures both you and your customers are on the same page.

Being transparent and upfront when setting expectations helps customers decide to buy from you, and when the unexpected happens and your ecommerce business operations change, a shipping policy template helps you maintain that hard-earned trust.

Shopify store owners can compare the Shopify Shipping services available to them. They can use its features to centralize day-to-day operations, set up shipping zones and rates, and buy and manage labels directly in the Shopify admin.

Here’s how to start:

1. Set up the shipping basics in your Shopify admin.
2. Create shipping zones and rates, then add the rate types customers will see at checkout. 
3. Use shipping profiles for products that have different rate structures, and assign zones and rates accordingly. 
4. Purchase labels, print labels, packing slips, and customs forms, and schedule pickups—all within Shopify.