Default Shipping Country Causing Confusion at Checkout and Abandoned Carts!

Our customers are from the UK and USA (mainly) but we do ship orders internationally. I have set up shipping options for UK, USA, Europe and rest of the world so that the correct shipping options appear at check out. All works perfectly. However we have received feedback from potential customers that they have abandoned their cart because the shipping options default to the UK (as set in our default as we are UK based) and its not obvious to them that this will change if they update the country when filling out the address. 

Is there a way of making this more obvious to customers at checkout? I have been all through the shipping, cart and checkout settings and cant see anything obvious. I would have put a banner across the page but I cant seem to edit the checkout page at all (which makes sense but I am at a loss as to what I can do). 

Plus one on this. Shipping/billing country defaults to US and phone number format is US-specific. Need UK settings, please

I have the same problem. We also ship internationally and I have added these different options on Squarespace, but on display and what costumers see is 'Spain' and it isn't obvious that we ship elsewhere until they type their address to a different country. I have tried all ways of changing this but i don't see how I can. Is there a solution to this? 

I feel your pain. Sadly, this is not something you can fix.

Merchants selling in just one country can set the default checkout country so the correct delivery/shipping options appear from the get go. However, if you're selling internationally, it's a sad fact that inaccurate* shipping options will be shown before your customer has entered the correct country.

*Shipping costs will be inaccurate because they'll be shown for the default country, not the customer's country.

On Squarespace we can normally write code to workaround issues like this but, as shipping is determined on the checkout page, this isn't possible. Squarespace have totally "locked down" the checkout page to ensure payment security.

I've been advocating (for some time!) for the checkout page to ask for the delivery address BEFORE suggesting any shipping options/costs.

Instead of the current checkout (left), I would like to see something that's a little more like this (right):

Squarespace doesn’t use this forum to track demand for new features or to accept feature requests so, to make a feature request and ensure it is seen by the right people at Squarespace, you are encouraged to do so by raising a ticket through Squarespace Customer Support. (Alternatively, Squarespace Circle members can vote using this link.) 

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On 1/28/2024 at 8:24 PM, paul2009 said:

Alternatively, Squarespace Circle members can vote here.

I'm a Circle Member. I believe I am logged in but when I clock on the link you shared I'm taken here: https://www.squarespace.com/circle?_ga=2.199688236.328828233.1714265798-1053498096.1686016525

Do you have a direct link to where I could up-vote said feature? Cheers.

2 hours ago, ChrisSalas said:

Do you have a direct link to where I could up-vote said feature?

Please try this.

Hi, 

I struggle with the same issue. I'm creating a website, based on UK, but I want to ship internationally. I would like to set free shipping for Europe , but charge more for ROW (35£). When I set two different flat rates, on checkout the first that appears in ROW with 35£ which I know will put people off from buying. Is this still something I can't change ? If so, that would leave me with the option to limit myself selling only in Europe.

Thank you 

2 hours ago, maciejartwork said:

Is this still something I can't change ?

It isn't possible to prevent (potentially inaccurate) shipping costs being shown before the delivery address has been entered. Once the address has been entered, the correct shipping options/costs will be shown.

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Hello,

I have customers reach out to me multiple times a month asking "Do you not offer worldwide shipping?" They have trouble understanding that you would need to change the country first (which is below the shipping options) in order to show a worldwide shipping option. Btw, I totally understand why this is confusing because it really is, and would most likely have the same problem as a customer. 

It seems like I need to select a country I'm not located in to show "Worldwide shipping" option but then a domestic shipping option is not shown which creates a different problem.

Is there a way to change this? It's pretty frustrating to think about how many sales I must have lost out on over the years.

Thank you!

-e

Edit: I see my post was combined with an existing one so yea one more vote for this to be an option, I'm kind of floored its not, sorry to be rude but its wild. 

Hello,

I've come up with a sloppy "solution" in case anyone is interested.

I'm located in the united states so I've selected it as my default shipping country and changed that shipping option to be called:
"US Shipping (*change country below to see more shipping options)"

Since I have no way to add text on the checkout page this was the only thing I could think of, plus since its the first thing you see, it may help at least a little!

Interesting @visualearner I wonder if this would help my current situation, and if anyone else can, please chime in! 
I have products that I ship domestically and internationally, however in the case of a small item (where I have it set to for example a 5.95 domestic shipping charge) I have international customers that say they are unable to select the SAME ITEM to ship internationally because the shipment profile is obviously already set to the "small item domestic shipping charge" 
I know it's impossible to assign two different shipping profiles to the same item, but is there some kind of workaround here? Have been scouring for a solution as I to have had customers write in frustration. 
See screenshots with USA and then United Kingdom for shipping locations selected. 
Any thoughts/tips would be much, much appreciated! 

On 5/20/2024 at 6:24 PM, visualearner said:

I've come up with a sloppy "solution" in case anyone is interested. I've...changed that shipping option to be called: "US Shipping (*change country below to see more shipping options)"

@visualearner It's worth bearing in mind that this verbiage could cause confusion later as it will also appear in the Order Confirmation email.

This needs to be addressed in future platform updates! 

The more I'm using SS for ecommerce, the more I realise the level of false adverting they do. Horrendous platform.