You decide which shipping options you want to offer. Your customers choose from that list at checkout. Once an order comes in, you can purchase a shipping label through Minicart or handle fulfillment on your own. Buying the label through Minicart gives you the smoothest, most automated experience.

Tell Logan "set up shipping for my store" and he will walk you through what is available. Or open Orders > Shipping/Pickup setup in the left sidebar. You can also ask him to turn specific options on or off at any time. As you set things up, Logan can show you an estimated rate preview so you can see roughly what customers would pay before you turn an option on. Your orders ship from your business address. If you ship from more than one place you can save several addresses and pick which one to use.

You can offer any mix of carriers and delivery speeds.

Carriers:

Speeds:

Turn on whatever makes sense for what you sell. A small jewelry store might offer Standard only. A candle store might add Priority for customers who want their order faster. You can always adjust later.

If you turn on Priority, be sure you can pack and drop off quickly. Customers who pay for the fastest option expect it to leave the same day or the next. Your Fulfillment time is added to the carrier transit time they see at checkout.

You can offer free shipping on orders above a dollar amount you choose, for example free shipping on orders over $50. You also pick which carrier and speed the free option uses, so you are not on the hook for Priority shipping unless you want to be. A common setup is "free USPS Standard over $50".

Customers who qualify for free shipping still see your other paid options at checkout. If the free option is too slow, they can pay to upgrade to a faster one.

If you would rather keep things simple, you can charge one flat rate for shipping instead of live carrier rates. Every order pays the same amount you choose, so pick a number that reasonably covers what it actually costs you to send an order. Ask Logan to "turn on flat rate shipping and charge $6". If you also offer free shipping over a threshold, orders that qualify skip the flat rate.

At checkout, customers see the options you turned on with the price for each. They pick one and the cost is added to their order. Free shipping, when it applies, shows as free.

A quick note on how this works. The shipping your customer pays at checkout covers the cost of sending their order. That amount is yours. A label is the separate step of actually getting the package to the carrier. So you still buy and print a label to ship the order. The shipping the customer paid is there to cover it.

For more on buying a label through Minicart or using your own, see Your first sale, from order to shipped.