| | Hello there. Thursday is all about the boring stuff that quietly costs you money: shipping rates that can vanish from checkout after an app install, customs codes that trigger surprise fees, and a UK plan to make marketplaces collect VAT. Plus fresh numbers on how many people are building stores right now. In today’s newsletter, we’ll get into: - On Shopify's 2026-10 API, a new or reinstalled shipping app no longer lands in your General profile automatically, so live rates can silently disappear at checkout.
- Blank, copy-pasted or six-digit HS codes can mean overpaid duty or surprise fees at the door, and checking three best sellers is a quick start.
- The UK is expected to make Amazon, eBay and Temu collect VAT for sellers above £90,000 a year, aimed at shell company workarounds.
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| | 🚚 Shopify's new shipping setup is already rolling out to stores. Shopify's fulfillment roadmap moves shipping settings into Markets, so you manage where you sell and how you ship in one place, with flat rates that no longer stack at checkout. Merchant opt-in opened October 1 and new shops are switched on automatically. Plus and Enterprise stores can offer shipping and store pickup in one order, and everything becomes the default on July 1, 2027. 🧩 Sidekick can walk you through Checkout Blocks before the rush. As we noted yesterday, Sidekick now sits inside the checkout and accounts editor. The Shopify changelog adds that in the Checkout Blocks app it can explain blocks for the thank you and order status pages, review what you already have configured and why, and point you to the exact settings to change yourself. Handy for a final pre-holiday checkout review. 📊 Shopify puts big numbers on the new wave of store owners. Shopify's new Entrepreneur Effect report says its ecosystem supported more than 9.6 million jobs and $1.2 trillion in economic activity in the year to June 30, plus $68.1 billion in cross-border sales. Half of new sellers make a first sale in about three weeks, 41% launch with one product, and 75% of AI-referred sales came from products outside the 100 largest categories. | |
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| | ⚠️ A new shipping app might leave checkout with no rates at all. In Shopify's API version 2026-10, creating a carrier service no longer adds it to your General shipping profile, so an app installed, reinstalled or migrated on that version can show no live rates. A forum heads-up suggests asking vendors which API version they use, confirming each zone has a calculated rate, and test ordering every zone, including products in custom profiles. | |
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| | 🧮 Wrong HS codes can quietly cost you on every parcel. With the US de minimis exemption gone, a forum guide on HS codes flags four common mistakes: a blank code field, one code pasted across the whole catalog, a close but wrong line, and stopping at six digits when the US wants ten. Check three best sellers on hts.usitc.gov, and if a product fits two lines, ask a customs broker before you scale. 🇬🇧 UK marketplaces may soon collect VAT for bigger sellers. The Chancellor is expected to use this month's Budget to make Amazon, eBay and Temu collect VAT for every seller with over £90,000 in annual sales, Shopifreaks reports. The aim is to stop overseas sellers dodging the existing rule through UK shell companies. The Treasury hopes to raise about £1 billion for high street business rate cuts, while Amazon estimates closer to £700 million. 🍁 Canadian sellers question the duty calculator at checkout. A Canadian merchant who buys labels through ShipTime and pays border fees and duties so customers pay nothing extra on delivery is asking how accurate Shopify's duty calculator really is. They want to hear from sellers using the same setup whether the amounts collected at checkout match what they are actually charged. Worth comparing notes if you ship duty-paid across the border. 🏷️ ShipStation fees adding up? Merchants are shopping around. One store owner says ShipStation fees keep climbing and is looking for an alternative with solid Shopify integration, real discounted rates and pricing that does not balloon with per-label fees as volume grows. If you have switched shipping software recently, the thread is a good place to compare what you pay now against what you paid before. | |
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| | 📱 A 95% bounce rate from Instagram ads: where to start? A week-old made-to-order streetwear store has had more than 600 sessions, almost all on mobile from Instagram ads, with a 95% bounce rate and clicks costing about $0.22. The owner suspects low-intent traffic and is asking what to check first. A useful prompt to test your own mobile landing page speed and ad-to-page match before scaling spend. 🛍️ Can't find Upcart? You're not the only one prepping for BFCM. A merchant getting ready for Black Friday was told to try the Upcart cart drawer app but cannot find it in the App Store and is asking for alternatives. If your cart drawer or upsell app matters to your holiday plan, confirm it is still installed, listed and supported now, not in the last week of November. | |
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| | 📅 Shopify Editions keeps every release in one list. The Shopify Editions page gathers everything new across the platform every six months. Bookmark it to track changes like the shipping and fulfillment rollout in one place. | |
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| | Three remote roles posted in the last two weeks, each linked to its own posting with the source named. Each posting is linked from the source named on its line, with the date it was posted. Check the details on the posting itself. | |
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