When selling presale items alongside in-stock items, shipping costs are treated as seperate shipments. This is expected behaviour and is driven by how Shopify handles split fulfilments.
This article explains why this happens and what merchants should consider when setting up presale campaigns.
Why shipping is charged separately
Shopify assumes that:
- In-stock items ship immediately
- Presale / crowdfund items ship at a later date
Because these items ship at different times, Shopify treats them as separate shipments. As a result, shipping rates are calculated and charged separately, even if the customer places a single order.
How customers are charged for shipping
The way shipping is charged depends on what is in the cart at checkout.
In-stock and presale items in the same order
Customers are charged:
- 100% of the in-stock item cost
- 100% of the total shipping cost upfront
Presale items are charged later, when the campaign is captured
Presale items only
- For 0% deposit campaigns:
- No upfront charge
- 100% of product and shipping is charged at capture
Recommended setup options
While shipping behaviour itself cannot be changed, the following approaches are commonly used by merchants to manage customer expectations and costs.
Option 1: Use a dedicated shipping profile for presale items
Some merchants create a separate Shopify shipping profile for presale products and set:
- Free shipping, or
- A flat rate
This prevents customers from seeing multiple shipping charges at checkout, with shipping costs absorbed by the merchant.
Option 2: Dedicated cart solution
Some merchants choose to prevent customers from checking out with presale and in-stock items in the same order altogether.
This is typically done by:
- Treating presale items as a dedicated cart experience
- Preventing checkout when both selling plan products and in-stock products are present in the cart
This ensures:
- Presale orders are always standalone orders
- No split shipping or partial shipping refunds are required
This option works best when:
- You want very clear separation between in-stock and presale fulfilment
- You prefer operational simplicity over mixed carts
- You want to avoid managing edge cases such as partial campaign failures or manual shipping refunds
This approach requires theme customisation and is not enabled by default. Please contact the Submarine team if you would like to explore this option.
Key takeaways
- Submarine does not calculate or control shipping rates
- Shipping behaviour is determined by Shopify
- Mixed carts (in-stock + presale) should be planned for before launch
If you have questions about your setup or want to review your presale configuration, please contact help@getsubmarine.com.