In Shopify, when a customer attempts to check out and there are no available shipping methods, Shopify’s default message will always appear, regardless of the reasons.
‘Shipping not available. Your order cannot be shipped to the selected address. Review your address to ensure it's correct and try again, or select a different address.‘
This default error message can lead customers to assume you don’t ship to their location, when in fact you do. The message might be displaying for reasons unrelated to their address - you may have a minimum order threshold that they haven’t met or there could be an over-sized package preventing carrier rates from being calculated.
If you're concerned that the default error message is confusing or misleading customers, we recommend creating a custom message with more detail or better context, such as explaining that a shipping method isn’t available, or directing customers to your shipping information page where it describes any shipping restrictions you may have.
This guide explains how to replace the default text in the warning message with something more appropriate for your store.
Any custom message you create becomes the standard error message. Shopify does not provide the ability to create multiple custom messages.
Create A Custom Error Message
1. In Intuitive Shipping, click on your store name at the far right of the app header, then select Shopify admin from the drop-down list. This will open your Shopify admin screen in a new browser tab.
2. Click Online Store on the Shopify admin sidebar, then click Themes on the drop-down list.
3. In the Themes section, click the ellipsis (three dots) button beside the ‘Customize’ button, then select Edit default theme content from the drop-down list.
4. Click the search button at the far right of the 'Theme content' menu.
5. Enter 'selected address' in the search bar to locate the default message field. The search results are dynamic and will update the page as you type.
6. Click on the field below ‘One’, then replace the default message with your custom message.
Default message:
Custom message:
Save Your Settings
1. Click the Save button at the top right of the page to save your custom message.
Now, when a shipping method isn’t available to your customer at checkout, they’ll see something like this:
Keep in mind, error messages are displayed regardless of why a shipping method isn’t available, so be sure to use a message that doesn't further confuse or mislead customers.