> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.firmhouse.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Use Shopify shipping rates > Configure Firmhouse to use your existing Shopify shipping rate configuration for subscription orders instead of managing rates in two places. Use your Shopify shipping rates configuration for subscription orders. When you install Firmhouse via the Shopify app, Shopify shipping rates are enabled by default. This means Firmhouse automatically uses the shipping rates you've configured in Shopify for all subscription orders. This guide explains how this integration works and when you might want to adjust it. ## Benefits of Using Shopify Shipping Rates When Shopify shipping rates are enabled, you can take advantage of all the shipping rate rules you've set up in Shopify, including country-based shipping rates that apply different rates for different countries you're shipping to, product-based shipping rules that add or remove shipping based on which products are in an order, and free shipping thresholds that apply free shipping when certain products or the order value is above a certain amount. ## When Shipping Costs Are Fetched from Shopify Firmhouse fetches shipping rates from your Shopify store at three important moments. At checkout, Firmhouse fetches the shipping rate and costs when a customer opens the checkout page. This ensures customers see accurate shipping costs based on their location and cart contents. At recurring order generation, whenever Firmhouse charges for and generates a new recurring order, it updates the shipping costs from your Shopify shipping rates. This means if you've changed your shipping rates in Shopify, the new rates will apply to future orders. On subscription changes, when a customer updates their shipping address or the composition of their subscription products, Firmhouse recalculates shipping costs. This ensures that any price calculations for future orders are accurate in advance. ## How the Right Shipping Rate Is Selected for Recurring Orders When Firmhouse fetches available shipping rates from Shopify for a recurring order, product change, or address change, it applies the following selection logic in order. The first match wins. ### Step 1: Match by Shipping Rate Handle Firmhouse first checks if the subscription already has a shipping rate handle stored from a previous order or checkout. If a rate with that exact handle exists in the available rates from Shopify, it is selected immediately. This is the most reliable matching method because handles are unique identifiers assigned by Shopify to each shipping rate. ### Step 2: Match by Monta Shipper and Shipping Options If your store uses [Monta](https://www.montapacking.nl/) for fulfillment, Monta embeds its own `shipper` and `shippingoptions` fields inside the shipping rate handle in Shopify. Firmhouse extracts these fields and compares them against the current subscription's shipping rate. If a match is found based on the same Monta shipper and shipping options combination, that rate is selected. This ensures that even if Shopify regenerates handles, the correct Monta shipping method is preserved. ### Step 3: Fall Back to First Available Rate If neither the handle nor Monta fields produce a match, Firmhouse checks whether the subscription has a previously stored shipping rate title. If there is no existing title to compare against (for example, on a brand new subscription), Firmhouse simply picks the first available shipping rate returned by Shopify. ### Step 4: Match by Exact Title If the subscription does have a previously stored shipping rate title, Firmhouse looks for an exact match (case-insensitive) among the available rates. If found, that rate is selected. ### Step 5: Match by Similar Title If no exact title match is found, Firmhouse attempts to find the best matching rate by title similarity. This handles situations where shipping rate names change slightly over time in your Shopify configuration. Firmhouse first looks for a rate whose title contains the previously stored title. For example, if a customer originally signed up with the shipping rate `DHL - Afhaalpunt` and your Shopify settings later expose the rate as `Pickup Points | DHL - Afhaalpunt`, Firmhouse recognizes that the new rate contains the original title and selects it. When multiple rates contain the original title, the shortest one is selected to avoid false matches. If no containing match is found, Firmhouse uses word-based similarity scoring to find the closest match. This compares individual words in the rate titles and picks the rate with the highest overlap, accounting for both shared words and word order. ## What Products Are Used for Calculating the Shipping Rate Shipping costs are calculated based on the products that are included in the next order. At checkout, shipping costs are based on all the products that should be shipped immediately. Any product set up as "ship later" will not be included in the shipping cost calculation. For subscription changes and recurring order generation, shipping costs are based on all the products for the next immediate order. Products that have a shipping date later than the upcoming order will not be included in the shipping cost calculation. ## Exempting Individual Subscriptions from Shipping Costs You can exempt specific subscriptions from shipping costs entirely. This is useful for VIP customers, promotional offers, or special circumstances where you want to provide free shipping to individual subscribers. To exempt a subscription from shipping costs, go to the subscription in the Firmhouse portal, navigate to the Shipping method, click on Edit, and check the "Exempt from shipping costs" option. Exempt Shipping Costs When a subscription is exempt from shipping costs but the selected Shopify shipping rate would normally still show a shipping charge, Firmhouse can apply a free shipping discount code during order generation when the Shopify subscriptions app is configured and healthy. Firmhouse itself already keeps the order shipping-free. The discount code is there to make sure the generated Shopify order also shows free shipping. ## Free Shipping Thresholds To use a free shipping threshold, you need to set up the order value ranges in Shopify correctly. For example, if you want to give customers free shipping from an order value of 30 euros and up, you would configure a shipping cost for all orders from 0 to 29.99 euros and add a free shipping line for all amounts of 30 euros and up. Make sure shipping rates don't overlap in Shopify. Overlapping rates will create unpredictable results as Shopify may return a shipping rate to Firmhouse that should not be applied. For Shopify Native checkout, see [Free shipping for Shopify Native subscriptions](/configure/free-shipping-shopify-native) to set up the matching Firmhouse threshold and automatic Shopify discount for subscription orders. ## Disabling Shopify Shipping Rates If you prefer to use Firmhouse's built-in shipping methods instead of Shopify shipping rates, you can disable this setting. To disable Shopify shipping rates, go to Settings then Shipping in your Firmhouse project sidebar. Under Settings, uncheck "Take shipping rates from Shopify" and click "Update project". After disabling this setting, you'll need to configure shipping methods directly in Firmhouse under the Shipping Methods section.