Free Shipping Thresholds on Shopify: Pick the Amount and Show a Progress Bar

"Free shipping over $75" is one of the oldest offers in retail, and one of the easiest to get wrong. Set the number too low and you pay to ship orders that would have come in anyway. Set it too high and nobody bothers. Hide it until checkout and it changes nothing about what goes in the cart.

This guide covers how to pick a free shipping threshold for your Shopify store, how to set it up with Shopify's own shipping settings, and how to show shoppers how close they are with a free shipping bar, ahead of Black Friday on November 27, 2026.

The short version

• Pick the threshold from your numbers: start at your average order value, add the price of one typical add-on item, and check that the margin on that extra spend covers the shipping you'll now pay for.
• Set it natively: in Settings → Shipping and delivery, edit a shipping option, check Offer free shipping and enter the minimum order amount. No app needed.
• Use a free shipping discount instead when the offer is temporary, limited to some countries or customers, or tied to a code.
• Show the goal in the cart. A threshold shoppers can't see doesn't change what they add. A free shipping bar that counts down ("You're $17 away") is how most stores make it visible.

How to pick your free shipping threshold

A threshold works when it asks for one more item, not three. That makes your current average order value (AOV) the place to start. In Shopify, go to Analytics → Reports and open Average order value over time. Shopify calculates AOV as gross sales minus discounts, divided by the number of orders, so it reflects what customers actually paid for products, not including shipping.

Then work through three questions:

1. What's a typical add-on? Look at your best-selling lower-priced products: the candle, the refill, the pair of socks. Your threshold is roughly your AOV plus one of those. If your AOV is $58 and a common add-on is $17, $75 is a sensible first number.
2. What does shipping actually cost you? Use the average label cost for a typical order, plus packaging. Once an order qualifies, that cost is yours.
3. Does the extra spend pay for it? Multiply the extra spend by your gross margin. If a shopper adds $17 at a 60% margin, you make $10.20 more, which covers a $9 label. If it doesn't cover it, raise the threshold or keep a small shipping charge.

A few things change the math. Heavy or bulky products can make one qualifying order cost far more to ship than the average, so check your heaviest likely cart, not just the typical one. Orders already above the threshold get free shipping they didn't need, so if many of yours are, aim higher. And a threshold isn't permanent: set a first number, watch AOV and shipping costs for a few weeks, and adjust.

If you'd rather reward bigger carts with a discount than with shipping, our guides to getting customers to buy more per order and quantity breaks cover the other options.

How to set a free shipping threshold in Shopify

Shopify can do this on its own, inside your shipping settings. You don't need an app or a discount for a permanent threshold:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings → Shipping and delivery.
2. Open the shipping profile you want to change (most stores only have the general profile).
3. In the shipping zone, edit your existing option (for example, "Standard"), or click Add shipping option.
4. Keep your normal Price for orders under the threshold.
5. Check Offer free shipping and enter the minimum amount an order needs to qualify.
6. Click Done, then Save.

Offer free shipping works with every rate type: flat, order amount, weight and carrier-calculated. If you price shipping by order amount or weight, make sure your ranges cover every possible cart. Shopify's help centre warns that an order falling outside your tiers gets no rate at all, and the customer sees a shipping error. We covered the newer shipping option layout in Shopify just made shipping setup simpler.

Only want free shipping on some products? Shopify's approach is a custom shipping profile for those products with a free flat rate. And if you sell in several currencies, remember a round $75 won't be a round number in euros or pounds. Shopify can show flat rates in local currencies for stores on Shopify Payments, or you can create separate zones with their own rates for each region.

Free shipping rate or free shipping discount?

Shopify has a second way to give free shipping: a discount. Go to Discounts → Create discount → Free shipping and choose a Discount code or an Automatic discount. Under minimum purchase requirements, pick Minimum purchase amount or Minimum quantity of items.

The discount is the better tool when the offer isn't permanent or isn't for everyone:

• Limited time: set Active dates so a lower threshold runs only over the Black Friday weekend.
• Some countries only: choose Selected countries instead of All countries.
• Some customers only: limit it to Customer segments, such as repeat buyers or newsletter subscribers.
• Cheap rates only: check Exclude shipping rates over a certain amount so free shipping never covers express.

One detail matters for the threshold: when discounts combine, Shopify counts products at their discounted price toward the minimum purchase amount. A $80 cart with 20% off is a $64 cart as far as a $75 minimum is concerned. Check which discount classes you allow under Combinations, and read how Shopify discounts stack before you plan several at once.

Show shoppers how close they are

Shoppers need to see the goal while they're still browsing, and ideally the gap: $17 to go.

The native option is your theme's Announcement bar. In Online Store → Themes → Customize, find it in the section list or in the header settings and add an announcement like "Free shipping on orders over $75". What it can't do is count: it says the same thing to a shopper with an empty cart and one at $74. Some themes have a free shipping progress bar in the cart drawer as well, so check your theme's cart settings before adding anything.

For a bar that follows the cart, we build Free Shipping Bar. It tracks the cart against your threshold and switches to a separate success message once the cart clears it:

• The goal comes from your shipping zones, per shopper country, so the bar and your checkout agree. It works with Shopify Markets currencies, and it shows an honest message where you don't offer free shipping instead of promising a goal that doesn't exist.
• The free plan covers a top bar with the goal, storefront wording in 21 languages and unlimited views.
• Paid plans add progress bars on the product page and in the cart, an animated bar with an unlock celebration, per-country goal overrides and manual goals, page and device targeting, and a dismissible bar. The top plan adds scheduling, impressions and unlock rate, and milestone goals after free shipping, such as a free gift or a discount.

Free shipping during Black Friday and the holidays

Black Friday 2026 is November 27 and Cyber Monday is November 30. A few things are worth deciding before then:

• Sitewide discounts shrink carts. If you run 25% off, a cart that was $80 before the discount may fall under a $75 minimum. Decide whether to keep the threshold, lower it for the weekend with a free shipping discount, or accept that fewer orders qualify.
• Holiday shipping costs more. Check your carrier's peak surcharges and your packaging costs before promising free shipping on everything.
• Pair free shipping with a cut-off date. Something like "Free shipping over $75, order by December 15 for Christmas delivery" answers both questions shoppers have. Our guide to announcement bars for Black Friday covers honest deadline messages, and the BFCM checklist covers the rest of the prep.

Shopify built-in vs Free Shipping Bar

If something doesn't work

• A qualifying order still pays for shipping. The product may be in a different shipping profile, or the customer's address may be in a zone where the option doesn't offer free shipping. Check each profile and zone the order touches.
• Discounted carts don't qualify. Discounts lower the amount that counts toward a minimum. Place a test order with your sale discount applied to see exactly what qualifies.
• "No shipping rates" at checkout. Order amount or weight ranges have a gap, or the address is outside your zones. Make sure the last range has no maximum.
• The bar and checkout disagree. Usually the threshold was changed in one place and not the other, or the shopper is in a country with a different goal. Test with an address in each market you ship to.

Common questions

How do I offer free shipping over a certain amount on Shopify?

Go to Settings → Shipping and delivery, open your shipping profile, edit the shipping option in each zone, check Offer free shipping and enter the minimum order amount. On stores using shipping options by market, you do the same under Markets → Shipping.

What's a good free shipping threshold?

There's no universal number. A common starting point is your average order value plus the price of one typical add-on item, as long as the margin on that extra spend covers your shipping cost.

Does the threshold count the price before or after discounts?

For free shipping discounts, Shopify counts products at their discounted price when discounts combine. Place a test order with your sale discount applied to confirm how your shipping options behave on your store.

Can I have a different free shipping threshold for each country?

Yes. Each shipping zone, or each market if you use shipping options by market, has its own options, so each can have its own minimum. Free Shipping Bar reads the goal per shopper country, so each shopper sees their own threshold.

Does Shopify have a built-in free shipping bar?

Not as a Shopify feature. Your theme's announcement bar can show a static free shipping message, and some themes include a progress bar in the cart. For a bar that counts down to the goal, you need a theme that has one or an app.

Show the goal before the rush

Install our Free Shipping Bar from the Shopify App Store. It's free to start, and it reads the threshold you've already set in your shipping zones, so there's nothing to keep in sync. If you'd like help working out a threshold or cleaning up shipping profiles before Black Friday, talk to us.