At a glance
Pie split of orders shipped free (zero shipping cost) vs paid shipping. The headline tells you how much of your shipping cost is being absorbed as a promotion versus passed through to customers. Free-shipping mix is the lever most directly correlated with conversion rate but also the largest hidden margin cost on most stores.
| What it counts | Orders split into two buckets based on shippingCostExTax: free if shippingCostExTax = 0, paid if > 0. Order count, not revenue, is the primary measure (same headline; pair with revenue cuts when needed). |
| VAT / tax treatment | We use shipping ex-tax for the free / paid determination. A “free shipping” order in the UK with VAT applied still reads as free (the customer paid £0 for the shipping itself). |
| Shipping | This card is the shipping breakdown. |
| Discounts | Free shipping driven by a coupon (e.g. FREESHIP50) reads as free because shippingCostExTax lands at zero. Free shipping driven by a free-shipping promotion reads as free for the same reason. We do not separate “free by code” from “free by promotion” here; use BC Top Coupons for that decomposition. |
| Refunds | Refund-driven shipping returns may zero out shipping post-fact; we use the at-order-time value, not post-refund. |
| Cancelled / voided orders | Included. The shipping configuration was applied; cancellation doesn’t change which bucket the order falls into. |
| Currency | n/a, count metric. |
| Channels / sources | All BC channels contribute. Marketplace orders typically ship under marketplace-managed shipping (Amazon Buy Shipping, eBay Managed Delivery), which usually flows as paid in the BC index but the customer-facing shipping price was set by the marketplace. POS orders typically ship free (in-store pickup or same-day local delivery). B2B Edition orders frequently ship free due to contract-level shipping waivers. |
| Free-shipping threshold heuristic | Most BC stores configure a free-shipping threshold (free over $X). The split shows whether customers are clearing the threshold organically, an effective threshold drives 60-75% of orders into the free bucket; below 50% suggests the threshold is too high to motivate cart-building. |
| Margin implication | Free-shipping orders have ~4-12 (UK domestic). On a 25%-margin product, that’s 4-8 percentage points of margin compression on every free-shipping order. Pair with Total Shipping for absolute shipping-cost dollars. |
| Time window | 30D (rolling 30 days) |
| Alert trigger | None at this card; pair with Shipping % for a threshold-watch on shipping cost. |
| Roles | owner, operations |
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your BigCommerce 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 US homewares brand on BigCommerce Pro with a $75 free-shipping threshold, last 30 days from 14 Mar 26 to 12 Apr 26.| Bucket | Orders | Share | Avg shipping cost absorbed | Total cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 4,510 | 69.1% | $8.40 (paid by store) | $37,884 |
| Paid | 1,860 | 28.5% | $0 (paid by customer) | $0 |
| POS pickup | 160 | 2.4% | $0 | $0 |
| Total | 6,530 | 100% | $37,884/30 days |
- 69.1% of orders ship free. Healthy for a 80 typical AOV; threshold is well-calibrated to push customers to add one more item.
- 455k/year. That’s a meaningful line item. Cross-check with Total Shipping, the absorbed cost is what the merchant pays the carrier; the customer-paid cost is what Paid orders add back.
- The threshold is doing its job. Below 50% free-shipping share usually means threshold is too high (most carts don’t reach it). Above 80% free share usually means threshold is too low (almost every order qualifies, the threshold no longer drives behaviour). 69% is the sweet spot.
- Raising the threshold 85) would shift ~5-8 pp of orders from free to paid, saving ~85 for 50% of traffic, measure conversion + AOV + absorbed-shipping cost.
- POS pickup is 2.4%, low for a homewares store. Some categories (electronics, fashion) hit 8-15% POS pickup share when in-store experience is strong; homewares is typically 1-5%. If you’re investing in click-and-collect this is the metric to lift.
- **Test a 5-15 without measurable conversion impact, gradually find the cliff.
- Tier shipping by basket size. Free over 4 flat 8 flat below $50. Less binary than free-shipping-or-nothing; preserves margin on small baskets.
- Run a “free shipping with code” promotion instead of permanent free shipping. A code-gated free-shipping campaign trains opt-in behaviour and gives you control over when the absorbed cost runs.
- For B2B Edition, audit contract-level shipping waivers. Some B2B accounts get free shipping on every order regardless of size; review whether that matches the contract terms.
- Pair with BC Channel Revenue Mix, marketplace orders may be paid-shipping by default while web orders are free; the channel mix shifts the apparent share.
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why pair it with Free vs Paid Shipping |
|---|---|
| Total Shipping | The absolute dollar cost. This card shows count split; Total Shipping shows monetary cost. |
| Shipping % | Shipping as a % of revenue. Use to compare shipping intensity across periods. |
| Shipping Methods | Method-level decomposition. Free orders may be Standard, Expedited (free over $X), or Pickup. |
| AOV | The strongest correlated metric. Raising free-shipping threshold lifts AOV 3-12% on average. |
| BC AOV Discount | The discount-adjacent view. Stores often run free-shipping AND discounts; the cumulative margin compression is larger than either alone. |
| Total Revenue | The headline trade-off. Free shipping lifts conversion but compresses margin; revenue is the right balancing metric. |
| Cancellation Rate | Customers cancel sometimes when shipping cost is unexpectedly added; tightening the free threshold may raise cancellation marginally. |
shopify.free_vs_paid | Cross-platform peer. Shopify Markets and Adobe Commerce equivalents are similar in shape. |
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in BigCommerce Control Panel: Settings → Shipping shows the configured free-shipping rules and thresholds. Analytics → Sales on Plus / Pro has a “Shipping cost mix” tile that closely mirrors this card. For per-order shipping detail, Orders → All orders → Shipping column shows the at-order-time shipping cost. Why our number may legitimately differ from BC Settings → Shipping:| Reason | Direction |
|---|---|
Promo-driven free shipping. A coupon code that zeros shipping flows here as free; BC Settings → Shipping shows only rule-based free shipping. Promo orders inflate the free share here vs the rule-only view. | Vortex IQ HIGHER free share |
B2B contract waivers. B2B Edition contract-level shipping waivers populate shippingCostExTax = 0; BC reports may segregate B2B from retail. | Vortex IQ HIGHER on B2B-heavy stores |
| Marketplace-managed shipping. Amazon Buy Shipping and similar may write the shipping cost differently across BC versions; cross-version-store stores see noise. | Mixed |
| Time zone. UTC vs store TZ for window. | Boundary effects |
| Sync lag. Recent orders may be missing. | Vortex IQ slightly LOWER |
| Cancelled orders. We include them; BC Analytics may exclude. | Vortex IQ HIGHER total |
| Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence |
|---|---|---|
google_analytics.ga_shipping_cost | GA4 ecommerce reports show per-order shipping; should reconcile within ad-blocker tolerance | GA4 misses 10-25% of orders. |
stripe.stripe_shipping_amount | Stripe-side shipping breakdown if Stripe is your processor | Stripe sees the captured charge total; should match BC’s at-order-time ex-tax shipping. |
shopify.free_vs_paid(planned)adobe_commerce.free_vs_paid(planned)
Known limitations / merchant FAQs
My free share is 95%, is that good? No, it’s too generous. A 95% free-shipping share means almost every order qualifies, which means the threshold isn’t influencing behaviour. Either raise the threshold or accept that “free shipping for everyone” is your shipping policy and stop calling it a threshold. Most stores get the most uplift at 60-75% free share. My free share is 30%, is that bad? Possibly. Below 50% suggests threshold is too high for typical basket size. Customers either don’t see free shipping as achievable or don’t think it’s worth it. Either lower the threshold or run a tier (Y) to soften the binary. Should I include B2B orders in this card? Strategically depends on your contracts. B2B orders often ship free under contract terms; including them in the headline distorts the retail reading. We recommend running a retail-only view for the consumer-facing decisions and a B2B-only view for the contract review. My free shipping is from a code, not a threshold, will this card still work? Yes. The card buckets byshippingCostExTax = 0 regardless of the cause. To see whether the free shipping comes from a threshold rule, a code, or a contract, drill via BC Top Coupons and the Promotions admin.
How does free shipping affect AOV?
Strong positive correlation, but with diminishing returns. Going from no-free-shipping to free-over-50 to free-over-100 thresholds the AOV uplift is usually offset by conversion-rate decline.
Does free shipping increase return rate?
Slightly. Free-shipping orders have ~5-10% higher return rates because the customer feels less commitment (“I can always send it back, the shipping was free”). Pair with Refund Rate when changing the shipping policy.
Should I offer free returns AND free shipping?
Depends on category. Fashion: yes, free returns are table stakes. Homewares: usually paid returns at customer’s cost, with free shipping outbound. Electronics: free shipping outbound, restocking fee on returns. The full economics of free-everything are tough on margin; the right policy reflects category norms.
My marketplace orders all show as paid shipping, why?
Marketplace platforms (Amazon, eBay) typically charge the customer for shipping at marketplace checkout; the cost flows to BC as shippingCostExTax > 0. The customer paid; you didn’t absorb the cost. The label is technically right; just be aware that marketplace-paid shipping is structurally different from retail-paid shipping.
Can I configure different free thresholds for different products?
Yes via BC Marketing → Promotions, you can run threshold rules per category, brand, or even per-product. Useful for high-margin categories (e.g. free shipping over 75 on bedding). Adds operational complexity; most stores stick with a single threshold for simplicity.
**My free shipping costs me 500k AND drives X% incremental conversion, the question is whether X% × revenue exceeds $500k. Run a 4-week A/B (50% see threshold, 50% don’t) to measure the incremental conversion contribution; most stores find the answer is “yes, but barely”.