At a glance
Split between paid-shipping and free-shipping orders, both as count and as revenue. Adobe Commerce stores commonly run free-shipping thresholds (free shipping over £50, free 2-day for B2B accounts, free shipping campaigns); the card surfaces how much volume falls in each bucket and whether the threshold is creating the intended basket-size lift.
| What it counts | COUNT(orders) GROUP BY (shipping_amount = 0 OR shipping_amount > 0). Also splits revenue. Returns: free count, paid count, free revenue, paid revenue, plus median basket size per bucket. |
| API field | shipping_amount, grand_total, subtotal from GET /rest/V1/orders. |
| VAT / tax treatment | Revenue uses grand_total (tax-inclusive). For pure unit-economic comparison consider subtotal (pre-tax). |
| Shipping inclusion | This card IS shipping classification. |
| Discounts | Not a factor; the split is about shipping fee, not item discounts. Note: shipping_discount_amount zeroing the shipping line classifies as “free” here. |
| Credit Memo refund treatment | Original classification preserved. |
state machine inclusion | All states except canceled. |
pending_payment quirk | Included. |
Multi-currency grand_total vs base_grand_total | Uses base_grand_total for revenue rollup; the count is currency-irrelevant. |
Store View scope (store_id) | All Store Views; per-Store-View variants useful when free-shipping thresholds differ by region. |
| Time window | 30D |
| Alert trigger | None by default. |
| Roles | owner, operations |
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your Adobe Commerce data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.Worked example
A homewares brand on Adobe Commerce 2.4.6, US/UK/B2B Store Views. Free-shipping threshold: UK £50, US $75, B2B always free. 30-day window ending Monday 4 May 26. Free vs paid split:| Stream | Free count | Paid count | Free median basket | Paid median basket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US consumer | 1,840 (70%) | 770 (30%) | $112 | $54 |
| UK consumer | 1,420 (70%) | 620 (30%) | £74 | £38 |
| B2B portal | 1,420 (100%) | 0 (0%) | $642 | n/a |
| Blended | 4,680 (77%) | 1,390 (23%) |
| Stream | Free revenue | Paid revenue | % free |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | $246,000 | $66,800 | 78.6% |
| UK | $185,000 | $61,000 | 75.2% |
| B2B | $462,000 | $0 | 100% |
| Blended | $893,000 | $127,800 | 87.5% |
- 77% of orders qualify for free shipping across consumer Store Views; 100% for B2B. Total order count classifies free.
- Free-shipping orders have ~2x higher median basket than paid-shipping orders (54 US). This is the threshold-driven basket-build behaviour: customers consciously add items to cross the threshold.
- The 30% paid-shipping consumer cohort tends to be small-basket emergency orders ($54 US median is 30% below the threshold). They’re price-insensitive in this purchase context.
- B2B is universal free shipping because freight is contractually included; the merchant absorbs freight cost as a B2B-margin item.
- Cross-checking Total Shipping: shipping revenue $127,800 over 30 days. If shipping margin is positive (the merchant charges more than carrier cost on paid-shipping orders), this is contribution. If margin is neutral or negative (the threshold creates net subsidy), the threshold is a marketing cost.
- Strategic question: would lowering the US threshold from 65 lift free-shipping share from 70% to 80%? Industry data suggests yes; the trade-off is the merchant subsidises shipping on more orders. Modeling: if 10% additional orders qualify for free, the merchant absorbs ~$8 each for those orders. Worth testing at small scale.
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why pair it with Free vs Paid Shipping |
|---|---|
| Total Shipping | Aggregate shipping revenue. |
| Shipping % | Shipping as % of total revenue. |
| AOV | Free-shipping orders skew AOV up because of the threshold-driven basket build. |
| Total Revenue | Aggregate. |
| Total Orders | Aggregate count. |
| Discount Over Time | Free-shipping campaigns may be classified as a shipping_discount_amount field; correlate with the shipping-discount sub-card. |
| B2B Revenue Share | B2B is universally free; mix shifts to B2B push blended free % up. |
shopify.free_vs_paid | Cross-platform peer. |
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in Adobe Commerce Admin:Reports > Sales > Shipping aggregates shipping revenue by carrier and method. Filter to free shipping methods to see the count.
Stores > Configuration > Sales > Shipping Methods lists configured methods including the free-shipping rule.
Marketing > Cart Price Rules shows free-shipping cart rules with their qualification conditions.
Sales > Orders with shipping-method filter for individual order verification.Why our number may legitimately differ from Admin:
| Reason | Direction of divergence |
|---|---|
Free definition. Card uses shipping_amount = 0. Some merchants offer free shipping via discount that zeroes the line; same effect. Other merchants use a $0.01 placeholder for “free” via tax/accounting reasons; this card classifies as paid. | Material if $0.01 placeholder used |
| Time-zone. Admin in Store View timezone; card UTC. | Boundary effects |
Currency. Card uses base_grand_total. | Material on multi-currency |
canceled exclusion. Card excludes; Admin includes unless filtered. | Marginal |
| Pair | Expected relationship | What divergence tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier API shipment counts | Paid-shipping count should align with carrier billed shipments | Material divergence indicates either off-platform shipments or carrier-aggregation differences (consolidator services). |
| 3PL pick-pack reports | Total order count (free + paid) ≈ 3PL fulfilled orders | Lag-correction needed; 3PL is post-fulfillment. |
Known limitations / merchant FAQs
My free-shipping threshold is $50 but the card shows free orders at lower baskets, why? Most likely a free-shipping coupon code is in use (separate from the threshold rule). Customers below threshold can still get free shipping via promo. Cross-check applied cart rule names per order. Adobe Commerce vs Magento Open Source: difference? None at the calculation. The card runs identically. My multi-store, can I see per-Store-View thresholds? Yes, configure per-Store-View variants. Strongly recommended because thresholds typically differ by region (UK £50 vs US $75 vs EU €60 are common). B2B always free, so why is it in this card? Because operationally the merchant pays freight on B2B orders too; the card surfaces total absorbed-shipping cost which feeds B2B margin analysis. Why does free-shipping basket median look higher than paid? Threshold-driven basket build: customers add items consciously to cross the free-shipping threshold. Industry data shows 30 to 60% basket-size lift around free-shipping thresholds. The card confirms it on your specific data. A flash sale gave free shipping to all orders, are those classified as free? Yes; the card usesshipping_amount. If the rule zeroed it, free is the classification.
Why exclude canceled?
A cancelled order isn’t fulfilled; the shipping classification is moot. For full intent analysis (was the customer attracted by free shipping even though they cancelled?), use the order-level data manually.
My multi-currency, are basket medians comparable?
The card surfaces per-Store-View medians in native currency for clarity. The cross-currency comparison uses base_grand_total for the revenue roll-up, but the basket-median view stays per-currency to avoid FX confusion.