How do I offer free shipping only on specific products in Shopify?

What "free shipping on specific products" means

Merchants mean one of two things, and the right tool depends on which:

• The product always ships free. A $24 mug never adds shipping, whatever else is in the cart. This is a standing rate, not a promotion.
• Buying the product makes the order's shipping free. A shopper who adds the mug gets $0 shipping on a $12 rate. This is a discount you can switch on and off for a sale.

Shopify's own shipping settings cover the first meaning. Its free shipping discount covers neither, because it has no field for which products are in the cart. The rest of this page shows what each tool does and where it stops.

Shopify's free shipping discount, step by step

Shopify's Free shipping discount narrows by country, customer and order size, and its desktop steps have no product field (Shopify's free shipping help page, checked November 7, 2026). These are the desktop steps for a code, for example FREESHIP for orders over $75.

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Discounts, click Create discount, and in the Select discount type menu click Free shipping.
2. Under Method, select Discount code and enter a code, or click Generate code. For a deal shoppers get without typing, select Automatic discount and enter a title.
3. Under Countries, leave All countries selected or choose countries. Check Exclude shipping rates over a certain amount to skip expensive rates.
4. Under Minimum requirements, select Minimum purchase amount or Minimum quantity of items and enter 75.
5. Under Eligibility, choose All customers, Specific customers, Customer segments or Markets.
6. Under Usage limits, limit total uses or limit to one per customer. Set Combinations and Active dates.
7. Click Save, then test a cart that meets the minimum and one that doesn't.

There is no step that picks products or collections. A minimum purchase doesn't fix that: it tests the cart total, not which items are in it.

Workaround: a free rate in a custom shipping profile

This is the route Shopify's own help page gives for "free shipping on only certain products". You change the shipping rate for those products, so no discount is involved (Shopify's shipping rates help, checked November 7, 2026).

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.
2. In the Shipping profiles section, click Add custom profile and enter a Profile name, for example Ships free.
3. In the Products section, select the products that ship free, then click Done. A product can sit in only one profile, so adding it here removes it from the general profile.
4. Under Shipping zones, click Add zone, name it, select the regions, and click Done.
5. In each zone, click Add shipping option, enter a name, and leave Price empty or enter 0. Click Done.
6. Click Save, then check out with only those products and with a mixed cart.

What happens in a mixed cart: when an order has products from different profiles, Shopify combines their rates into one shipping rate at checkout. Rates with the same name are added together (combined rates help). Name the free rate the same as your general rate, for example Standard, so the two add as $0 plus your normal rate.

Newer route: shipping options by market. Shopify says shipping profiles and rates "are gradually moving to shipping options by market" (shipping rates help). On a store with it, you open Markets, click the market, click Shipping, then Add shipping option, set the rate type to Flat, enter 0 as the price, set Applies to to Specific collections and add the collection (setting up shipping options for a market). Shopify marks the feature "early access" and "available only to certain stores" on that page, so it may not be available to your store.

Both rate routes fit "the product always ships free". It does not fit a time-limited sale or a code, because it edits the rate itself and stays on until you change the profile. Shopify's profile help warns that combined rates can lead to higher shipping costs for shoppers.

Free shipping on specific products with Discount Genie

Discount Genie is a Shopify discount app by Shopstack, built on Shopify Functions. Its Shipping discount has a section called Target products from shipping profile. There you pick Specific products or Is in collections. The discount applies only when the cart contains one of them. The basic free plan covers up to 3 basic discounts and, by Discount Genie's plan configuration, includes the shipping discount with these product filters.

1. In Shopify admin, open Discount Genie and click Discounts.
2. Under Create discounts like a Genie, click Shipping (create your first discount).
3. Under Method (the card is titled Amount off shipping), choose Discount code or Automatic discount. For a code, type your own or click Generate random code. For an automatic discount, enter a title.
4. Under Set your discount, set Type of discount to Percentage off and enter 100 in Discount percentage. The form rejects a percentage above 100.
5. Under Target shipping rates, set Shipping rates to All so every rate in the cart is discounted.
6. Under Target products from shipping profile, choose Target products by properties. The form then shows a note that separate shipping profiles are required, with a link to Shopify's help center. Discount Genie's Function does not read your shipping profiles; the note is the form's own.
7. Click Add new property. In Assign property, choose Specific products and pick them, or choose Is in collections and pick a collection.
8. Optional: add Customer qualifiers (customer tags, order count, total spent) or Cart qualifiers (for example a minimum subtotal).
9. Set the Combinations you allow, then click Save. Read the Summary on the right and test a cart at checkout.

How the filter behaves, as the app's shipping Function is written:

• It checks the cart, not each product's shipping. By Discount Genie's configuration code, if the cart holds a qualifying product, it discounts the shipping rates you targeted for the whole cart. A cart with the mug and a $60 sweater gets the discount on the full shipping charge.
• "Free" is 100% off the rate. A smaller percentage discounts part of the rate: a 50% discount on a $12 rate is $6.
• Only the targeted rates change. All discounts every rate. Targeting Specific shipping rates or By delivery options is a paid-plan feature.
• Shopify still decides stacking. Tick the discount classes in Combinations to let it combine with product or order discounts.

If you need only the product's own share of shipping to be free, use the shipping profile workaround above. If you need free shipping to start when a product is in the cart, and to run for a set sale, use Discount Genie.

Discount Genie's paid plans include all 11 discount types. New stores pay $0.99/mo for the first 3 months on any monthly paid plan, then Core $29.99, Growth $59.99, Pro $79.99 or Scale $99.99 a month. The plan offered depends on the store's Shopify plan.

Worked examples

All use a $12 standard shipping rate and a $24 mug as the chosen product.

• Shipping profile, mug only: the shopper pays $0 shipping.
• Shipping profile, mug plus a sweater from the general profile, both rates named Standard: $0 for the mug plus $12 for the sweater is $12.
• Discount Genie, 100% off, mug in the cart: 100% of $12 is $12 off, so shipping is $0.
• Discount Genie, 100% off, mug plus a $60 sweater: the cart holds a qualifying product, so by that logic shipping is $0 for the whole cart.
• Discount Genie, 100% off, no mug: the filter fails, so the shopper pays the full $12.
• Discount Genie, 50% discount, mug in the cart: 50% of $12 is $6 off, so shipping is $6.

Setups to copy

Each setup uses only settings named in the steps above.

• Free shipping when the hero product is in the cart. Shipping card, Automatic discount, Percentage off 100, Shipping rates All, property Specific products, pick the hero product.
• Free shipping on a whole collection. Same card, property Is in collections, pick the collection, for example Summer sale.
• Code-only free shipping for one product line. Discount code (for example SHIPFREE), Percentage off 100, property Specific products. Shoppers need the code and the product.
• Half-price shipping on a heavy collection. Percentage off 50, property Is in collections, pick the collection.

Test it before launch

Place a test order for each cart type with your real code or automatic discount:

1. Only a qualifying product. Expect $0 shipping.
2. A qualifying product plus other items. Expect the whole shipping charge discounted, as described above.
3. No qualifying product. Expect the full rate.
4. Your most common cart. Check the shipping line at checkout before you announce the sale.

Shopify vs Discount Genie for product-specific free shipping

Related

• Combine and stack discounts on Shopify
• Limit discount codes on Shopify
• Cap a Shopify discount at a maximum amount
• Set up a BOGO discount in Shopify
• Black Friday 2026 discount checklist for Shopify
• Create your first discount (Discount Genie docs)
• Best Shopify discount apps (2026)