How to avoid subscribing to the Shopify Advanced Plan and still use shipping apps from third party developers.
On December 1, 2022, Shopify announced that effective on January 1, 2023, it would eliminate the option for merchants on its BASIC and SHOPIFY (Standard) plans from adding access to its Carrier Service API by transitioning to annual billing or paying an additional monthly fee. The Carrier Service API is required to use a third-party app that provides real-time shipping rate during checkout.
This document was created for use prior to the January 1, 2023 change. Merchants on the BASIC or SHOPIFY plans previously granted access to the Carrier Service API were not impacted by the change. If you began your BASIC or SHOPIFY subscription prior to January 1, 2023, and currently wish to have access to the Carrier Service API you may want to contact Shopify Support and ask to be grandfathered in.
No, you don't have to be on the Shopify Advanced Plan to use shipping apps from third part developers.
To use the Small Package Quotes or LTL Freight Quotes app in Shopify, your Shopify subscription must contain a feature called Third-party calculated shipping rates. This feature is standard on the Advanced Shopify plan and can be added to the Basic Shopify or Shopify plan.
Unfortunately, Shopify discontinued providing customer service by phone. To have Third-party calculated shipping rates added to your Basic Shopify or Shopify plan, you will need to contact Shopify Support by Chat or Email, which you can do at the following webpage:
https://help.shopify.com/en/questions#/contact
Adding the feature to one of these other plans will increase your monthly subscription rate by $20. Shopify will add the feature to your existing Shopify plan for free if you agree to annual (instead of monthly) billing.
