> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://shipmagic-docs.speedysquirrelhq.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Rates vs Customizations

> ShipMagic offers two ways to optimize your checkout delivery experience: Shipping Rates and Shipping Customizations. Each serves a different purpose.

## Shipping Customizations

**Best for:** Modifying the shipping rates you already have by hiding, sorting, or renaming them based on specific conditions.

#### Example Use Case

Hide **XYZ rate** when customers purchase products tagged **fragile**.

#### Key Benefits

* Works on **all Shopify plans** (CCS not required)
* Hide existing delivery options
* Reorder delivery methods at checkout
* Rename shipping methods at checkout
* Apply rules based on products, cart, customer, location, and more

#### Use Shipping Customizations when you:

* Already have shipping rates configured in Shopify natively
* Want to hide or show rates based on cart, product, or customer conditions
* Want to improve the checkout experience without changing how rates are calculated
* Need more control over which shipping options customers see

## Shipping Rates

**Best for:** Creating and displaying custom shipping rates from the app using logic that is not possible with Shopify natively.

#### Example Use Case

Charge shipping as **10% of the cart total**, capped at **\$100**.

#### Key Benefits

* Create fully custom shipping rates and display them at checkout
* Show live carrier rates from your own shipping account
* Build advanced rate calculation logic beyond Shopify’s native settings
* Calculate rates based on:
  * Products
  * Destination address
  * Customer
  * Warehouse location
  * Cart value
  * Weight
  * Quantity
  * And more

#### Requirements

Requires [**CCS (Carrier Calculated Shipping)**](/installation-guide#2-ensure-ccs-is-enabled-on-your-store) to be enabled on your Shopify store.

#### Use Shipping Rates when you:

* Want to create shipping rates not possible in Shopify natively
* Need dynamic pricing based on order, product or customer conditions
* Want to connect carrier accounts and show live rates at checkout

## Quick Rule of Thumb

* **Use Shipping Rates** when you need to **create or calculate shipping prices that Shopify cannot do natively** - such as percentage-based rates, advanced product rules, customer-specific pricing, carrier integrations, and more.
* **Use Shipping Customizations** when your shipping rates already exist and you only want to **hide, rename, or reorder the options shown at checkout** based on conditions.
* In simple terms,
  * Shipping Rates = Changes what customers pay
  * Shipping Customizations = Changes what customers see