> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://conversion.club/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # What Should Your Free Shipping Threshold Be? - URL: https://conversion.club/playbook/what-should-your-free-shipping-threshold-be/ - Published: 2026-10-01T20:35:06.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-19T20:26:12.000Z - Description: Just above your most common cart, within reach of one add-on item. Close enough that a customer can hit it by adding one product, high enough that the margin on that addition covers the shipping you give away. - Author: Jeremie Werner - Tags: Increase average order value, #playbook, Cart Just above your most common cart, within reach of one add-on item. Close enough that a customer can hit it by adding one product, high enough that the margin on that addition covers the shipping you give away. --- ## The benchmark You need two numbers: [your median cart](https://conversion.club/playbook/how-do-you-raise-average-order-value-without-hurting-conversion/) and [the price of your best-selling add-ons](https://conversion.club/playbook/upsell-or-cross-sell-which-goes-where/). With a median cart of €62 and add-ons around €15, a threshold between €70 and €80 stays within reach. These amounts are examples, so use your own. Then test that threshold against the carts your customers actually build. At a baby-products brand the authors work with, one of the most natural combinations in the catalog, the main product plus its discounted accessory, falls 20 cents short of the threshold. About one cart in five contains the main product twice. Parents may want one for daycare and one for the crib, unless the threshold is pushing them to double up, and that is exactly what the next test needs to settle. Promotions also shift the threshold without warning. When free shipping is set up on Shopify as a shipping rate based on order price, the checkout compares that threshold to the cart after discounts and before taxes. [With a 20% code](https://conversion.club/playbook/what-does-a-promotion-really-earn-you-margin-included/), a €70 threshold therefore requires €87.50 of items at list price, and shipping fees come back at payment for customers who thought they had avoided them. --- ## The rule Raise the threshold only if [the margin gained on added items](https://conversion.club/playbook/how-do-you-calculate-the-contribution-margin-of-an-order/) exceeds [the cost of the free shipments](https://conversion.club/playbook/how-do-delivery-time-and-shipping-cost-affect-my-conversion-rate/). Run the calculation in euros, order by order. Include the orders that already exceeded the threshold, too: they get free shipping without adding anything, and that line is often missing from the spreadsheet. --- ## The steps 1. The median of your carts, which is more reliable than the average once a few big orders pull it upward. An order export and a spreadsheet's MEDIAN function are enough. 2. The share of orders sitting just below the threshold you're considering, in €5 bands. 3. The total of your usual product combinations, promotions included. 4. The margin on an added item, compared with the [cost of one shipment](https://conversion.club/playbook/should-you-offer-split-or-charge-for-shipping/). 5. [The amount left before free shipping, shown in the cart](https://conversion.club/playbook/gift-sample-or-tiers-what-should-you-offer-to-fill-the-cart/) and calculated after discount, the way the checkout does it. 6. [Six weeks of measurement](https://conversion.club/beyond-a-b-testing-tailoring-your-shopify-site-to-your-audiences/): number of orders, conversion rate and margin, side by side. A sentence to say to your leadership, in your own words: > "Our threshold is based on our real carts, promotions included, and we judge it on margin and conversion as well as on average cart value." --- ## The trap The classic trap is copying a competitor's threshold. Their cart, margins and shipping costs are not yours. A threshold set below your median cart gives free shipping to most of your customers without changing their behavior. A second trap is less well known, and we fell into it ourselves. It's easy to believe that a threshold set too high costs nothing, since nobody reaches it. At a high-ticket brand, confident in our call, we tested [free shipping from €300](https://conversion.club/how-to-optimize-your-e-commerce-cart-the-complete-audit/): add-to-cart rose 2.6%, conversion dropped 24% and average cart value fell 36%. Three explanations remain possible, and none is proven. The displayed amount may have become a reference price and held back carts that were being built above it. Its visibility may also have turned a smooth purchase into a calculation, and every calculation leaves room for doubt. Finally, for premium customers, conditional free shipping sometimes sounds like a mass-market brand move. Since then, every threshold we recommend goes through a test, like any price. #### Sources - [Troubleshooting shipping rates, section "Considerations for price-based rates" (Shopify Help Center)](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/setup/shipping-rates/troubleshooting?ref=conversion.club)