Simulator

The Simulator lets you test your shipping setup without going through a real Shopify checkout. You enter a destination and some cart items, hit Simulate, and ShipSmart runs the exact same engine it uses for real carrier callbacks. You see which rates would be returned and exactly why each rule matched or was skipped.

It is the fastest way to debug a rule that is not firing, check a new zone configuration or confirm that global modifiers are working as expected.

How to use it

Go to Rate Simulator from the sidebar.

Step 1: Enter the destination

Fill in the destination fields:

• Country: the two-letter country code, for example AU or US
• Province / State: the state or province code, for example VIC or CA
• City: the city name
• Postcode: required, the destination postcode

The postcode is the most important field. It is what zone matching uses. Country is also required if any of your rules have country conditions.

Step 2: Add cart items

At least one item is required. For each item, fill in:

• Name: the product title
• SKU: used if any rules match by SKU
• Vendor: used if any rules match by vendor
• Price: item price in dollars, for example 29.99
• Weight: item weight in grams, for example 500
• Quantity: how many of this item

Click Add item to add more items.

Step 3: Run the simulation

Click Simulate. Results appear on the right.

Reading the results

Summary stats

You see two numbers at the top: how many rates were returned and how many rules were evaluated. The rule count breaks down into matched and skipped.

Shipping rates

Each rate that would be shown to a customer is displayed with its service name, service code, price and estimated delivery dates if configured.

If no rates matched, you will see a message saying so. Check the rule trace below to find out why.

Global Modifiers Applied

If you have active global modifiers, a section shows which ones were applied. The prices in the rates section already include these adjustments.

Rule trace

This is the most useful part. Every active rule is listed in priority order. Each entry shows:

• Matched or Skipped, with the rule name
• For matched rules: the rate that was calculated and the rate type
• For skipped rules: the specific reason it was skipped

The skip reason is precise. Examples:

• Postcode 3000 not in zone "Metro VIC". The destination postcode did not match the zone assigned to that rule.
• No items match product group "Heavy Goods" (vendor: Acme Co, Widget Co). None of the cart items belong to the product group the rule requires.
• Condition failed: cart_total_price gte 10000 (actual: 5000). A condition on the rule was not met, with the actual cart value shown.

Notes

• The simulator uses the same conflict resolution strategy set in Settings. The active strategy is shown as a badge next to the Simulate button.
• Cart items in the simulator use sequential IDs (1, 2, 3…) rather than real Shopify product IDs. Rules that match by product tag or product type require those products to be synced. In the simulator, tag and type matching will not fire for items you enter manually since there are no real product IDs to look up.
• If you have no active rules, a warning banner will appear. Create and activate rules before testing.