# Shipping zones and methods

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Shipping zones group locations and determine which delivery options are available for a shipping address. Shipping methods define those options, with prices that can be flat, weight-tiered, or fetched from an external service.
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## Shipping zones

[Shipping zones](/core-api-reference/shipping_zones.md) are groups of locations within a market. They determine which shipping methods are available for a given shipping address.

Zones are created and filtered using a regular expression to match the country, state, or zip code of an address.

## Shipping methods

[Shipping methods](/core-api-reference/shipping_methods.md) define the delivery options with prices available to customers. A shipping method not associated with any market, stock location, shipping category, or shipping zone can be set as the [default](/core-api-reference/markets.md#default-shipping-method) for one or more markets.

### Available shipping methods

Shipping methods are defined by currency and can be restricted to a specific market (in which case the currency is inherited from the market's price list). Delivery options can be further restricted by:

* **Shipping category** — the method is available only if the items belong to a specified shipping category.
* **Shipping zone** — the method is available only if the shipping address belongs to a specified shipping zone.
* **Stock location** — the method is available only if the items ship from a specific stock location.
* **Weight** — the method is available only if the total shipment weight falls within a specified minimum and/or maximum value. The total weight is calculated automatically from the individual weights of the items.

### Shipping method cost

When creating a shipping method, you must set a price used as its fixed cost. You can also define a **free-over amount** — the order total above which shipping becomes free (shipping methods can also be made free through promotions).

Three pricing schemes are supported (default: *flat*):

* **Flat** — a fixed price, set to zero when the order total exceeds the [free-over amount](/core-api-reference/shipping_methods.md#free-over-amount) (if defined).
* **Weight-tiered** — the price is [tiered](/core-api-reference/shipping_methods.md#shipping-weight-tiers) based on the total shipment weight. The free-over amount applies regardless of the tier.
* **External** — the price is fetched [from an external service](/core/external-resources/external-shipping-costs.md), overriding the price set in Commerce Layer.

### Shipping method tiers

You can define up to **5 weight-based tiers** per shipping method. For each tier you must specify:

* An upper limit for the weight value (the unit of weight is inherited from the shipping method).
* The price charged when the total shipment weight is lower than or equal to that limit.

If the upper limit is left empty, the tier is treated as a *beyond* tier — its price applies to all shipments whose weight exceeds the maximum tier's upper limit. If no *beyond* tier is defined, the shipping method's fixed cost is used instead.


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