5 min read
Shipping is one of the hardest parts of running a multi-vendor marketplace to get right: multiple sellers, multiple carriers, and multiple pricing models all have to come together cleanly at checkout. Shipturtle gives you full control over who ships, how shipping is charged, and who pays for it. This guide walks through every option so you can configure your marketplace correctly the first time, or audit a setup you already have.
Every Shipturtle shipping setup comes down to three decisions: how rates are shown to customers at checkout (Shopify profiles, Shipturtle profiles, or live carrier rates), who integrates the carrier account and generates labels (merchant, vendor, or a hybrid), and who pays for the shipping cost (set with Commission on Shipping). If you're unsure where to start, use Shipturtle Shipping Profiles with merchant-controlled carriers and Smart Tracking enabled, then move to live rates only if you need carrier-exact pricing.
Marketplace admins and merchants who are configuring shipping for the first time, or auditing an existing setup before onboarding more vendors or expanding into a new market.
Every marketplace shipping setup in Shipturtle is built from three decisions. Answer these three questions first, and the rest of the configuration falls into place:
This is the most important concept in the whole setup, because it determines everything downstream, how granular your pricing can be, which add-ons you need, and how much control individual vendors have. Shipturtle supports three distinct ways to calculate shipping charges at checkout.
This is Shopify's native shipping setup, where you define flat or zone-based shipping rates directly in Shopify.
How it works:
Example: a flat $100 shipping charge across the marketplace, with free shipping above $999.
Use this when you run a small marketplace where every seller charges the same shipping cost and you don't need vendor-wise shipping logic.
Shopify setup guide: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/shipping/setting-up-and-managing-your-shipping
Shipturtle's own shipping profiles let you define vendor-specific shipping rules on top of Shopify.
The key difference from Shopify profiles is that Shipturtle profiles are vendor-wise, can be zone-wise, can be rule-based on weight or order value, and automatically split shipping per seller.
Example: Vendor A charges $50 shipping for India while Vendor B charges $100. A customer who buys from both sees the combined shipping cost at checkout, calculated per vendor.
Use this for multi-vendor marketplaces where different sellers have different shipping costs and you want predictable, rule-based pricing.
Important: you must have Shopify's Live Rate Calculator enabled for Shipturtle Shipping Profiles to work at checkout. This is available on higher Shopify plans, or on request.
Setup guide: https://www.shipturtle.com/kb/shipping/shipping-profile
This option shows real-time carrier rates at checkout, fetched live from the carrier's own rate API — available only for carriers that provide a Rate API.
Instead of a flat or rule-based rate, the customer sees exact, carrier-priced options — for example, Economy Shipping at $5 or Express Shipping at $15 — pulled directly from the carrier in real time.
Use this when you want transparent, carrier-accurate pricing, when you ship internationally, or when packages are heavy or highly variable in size.
This requires a carrier or aggregator add-on, Shopify's Live Rate Calculator enabled, and a carrier that actually offers a Rate API.
Setup guide: https://www.shipturtle.com/kb/shipping/configure-live-shipping-rates-at-checkout
Shipturtle supports 200+ carriers and aggregators. Once you've decided how rates are shown, decide who actually connects the carrier account and generates labels.
Full supported carrier list: https://www.shipturtle.com/kb/shipping/supported-aggregators-carriers
The merchant adds carrier API keys in Shipturtle, generates shipping labels, and pays the carrier bill directly. Vendors can either be allowed to use the merchant's carrier, or the merchant can generate labels on their behalf.
This is best for C2C/P2P marketplaces, small or non-technical sellers, and merchants who want full control over shipping. In C2C marketplaces specifically, merchants generate labels and sellers simply download them from the seller portal or by email.
Vendors add their own carrier accounts, generate their own labels, and pay shipping charges directly. This is best for professional sellers and B2B/D2C marketplaces where vendors already have negotiated carrier rates.
Some vendors use the merchant's carrier while others use their own. This is best for marketplaces with a mix of seller maturity levels, and it's the setup that scales most gracefully as a marketplace grows.
You don't need a carrier add-on to launch. Shipturtle also supports a fully manual shipping flow.
The merchant or vendor generates the label outside Shipturtle, the tracking number is updated manually in Shipturtle, and the order is fulfilled on Shopify as normal.
Without automation, order status has to be updated by hand through each stage:
Smart Tracking removes the manual status work by automatically fetching carrier tracking updates and moving orders to the correct status as those updates come in.
Guide: https://www.shipturtle.com/kb/shipping/smart-tracking
Local courier APIs require custom integration work, cost and timeline need to be discussed separately with your Shipturtle contact. Without that customization, tracking still has to be updated manually from the dashboard.
This is controlled through Commission on Shipping. Set it to 100% and the merchant keeps the shipping charge; set it to 0% and the vendor keeps it. Any split in between is possible.
Note: this only applies when shipping is actually charged to the customer. Through Shopify shipping, Shipturtle shipping profiles, or live rates. If shipping is free, Commission on Shipping doesn't apply.
Vendors can enable local pickup from their default warehouse. When they do, the customer sees a pickup option at checkout, and pickup details are emailed to the customer automatically.
Email templates for these pickup notifications can be edited under Settings → Integrations → Email Templates.
Important: even for local-pickup-only marketplaces, Shopify's Live Rate Calculator must still be enabled, and local pickup is a paid add-on rather than a free feature.
As a quick reference, here's how these decisions typically play out by marketplace model:
Marketplace Type
Recommended Setup
B2C / D2C / B2B
C2C / P2P
Local pickup marketplaces
Hyperlocal
No — Shopify profiles are global and apply to the whole cart. Shipturtle profiles add vendor-level intelligence on top, so the two aren't meant to run side by side for the same rate calculation.
Yes. Some sellers can be on Shipturtle Shipping Profiles while others use live rates, and you can enable a hybrid setting to support both at once.
No. Only the merchant's Shopify plan needs to support it — vendors don't need this enabled on their own end.
Shipturtle automatically fetches the fulfillment and tracking details and pushes them back to the merchant's store. Smart Tracking is recommended so status updates happen automatically rather than manually.
No, it's a paid add-on, and Shopify's Live Rate Calculator must still be enabled even though no carrier is used.
Yes, but treat it as a configuration change rather than a toggle. Orders placed under the old method keep their original rate logic, and you should place a test order after switching to confirm checkout is calculating correctly under the new method.
No. You can run shipping fully manually, generating labels outside Shipturtle and updating tracking by hand and add a carrier integration or Smart Tracking later as you scale.
With Shipturtle Shipping Profiles, each vendor's own rate is calculated for their portion of the cart, and the customer sees the combined total at checkout.
Confirm Shopify's Live Rate Calculator is enabled on your plan, that the carrier/aggregator add-on is installed, and that the carrier you've connected actually offers a Rate API, not every carrier does.
This usually means the marketplace is still on Shopify Shipping Profiles rather than Shipturtle Shipping Profiles. Switch to Shipturtle Shipping Profiles to get vendor-wise, rule-based splitting.
Commission on Shipping only applies when shipping is actually charged to the customer. If that order had free shipping, this is expected. There's no shipping charge for the commission to apply to.
This happens when Smart Tracking isn't enabled on a manual or partially-manual shipping setup. Enable the Smart Tracking add-on so carrier updates flow through automatically instead of needing manual status changes.
Confirm the vendor's store connection is active. Shipturtle should auto-fetch fulfillment and tracking details from a connected vendor store. If it isn't, reconnect the store and enable Smart Tracking for ongoing updates.
Check that Shopify's Live Rate Calculator is enabled. This is required for local pickup to appear, even though no carrier is involved, and confirm the vendor has enabled pickup from their default warehouse.
If you’re stuck, reach us at team@shipturtle.com or open a ticket on the support page.