Shopify shipping app activity logs and a checkout test: seven days of carrier requests, where to attach the carrier, and the Advanced-plan line before a custom rate is allowed to answer.

2026-11-05

Test a shipping app with activity logs

A postal code saw the flat fallback. You had written a rule for weight and dimensions. Without a request log that is a hunch. With one, you can see which zone matched, which rate came back, and why a path did not apply. That is the technical fit for a shipping app, before anyone argues about the icon.

The app is OO - Shipping Rates & Rules. Custom prices return through a Shopify carrier service named OO - Shipping Rate & Rules. On 5 November 2026 the listing is Free, has zero reviews, and does not show a Built for Shopify badge. Do not attach a latency number to that silence.

Must-haves

An app that skips these will look broken the first time checkout is empty.

Your own rates reach checkout only if the carrier is attached to every zone or market where you actually ship. A forgotten market looks like a dead app. It is a setup miss.
That carrier is allowed to answer on Advanced or higher, on a development or Partner development store, on Plus or a similar plan, or when the carrier is already active. Basic or Starter without that exception: do not count on it.
A Grow annual plan is not an automatic pass. The app docs do not list Grow as its own route. Shopify’s table for carrier-calculated shipping with UPS, FedEx, and the other named accounts is a different table. It does not switch this carrier on.
Hide, rename, and reorder are delivery customization. That module does not create a price, and it does not need Advanced.
You test in a real checkout with a destination the zone accepts. The admin canvas of the flow is not that test.
Activity logs keep seven days of carrier requests. Not a year. A dispute from last month is already gone.
An empty response can be intentional. Checkout then falls back to the other methods on that zone. The log has to separate “no match” from “never called”.
No badge, and no reviews. Shopify’s Built for Shopify checkout bar, once an app has enough traffic, wants a p95 of 500 ms or less and a failure rate of at most 0.1%. This listing has not been given that badge. Do not cite a latency.

Plan first, then the log

The plan article was reread on 5 November 2026. It is short on purpose.

What you want	What the shop needs	What the app shows
Your own prices through the carrier	Advanced or higher, a development store, Plus, or a carrier that is already on	The full checklist: zones, carrier attachment, optional delivery rules, test checkout
Only hide, rename, or reorder methods	Advanced is not required	The module still works. A blocked shop sees a plan banner and a delivery-focused checklist
Why a price did or did not appear	A request the carrier actually handled	Activity logs, seven days

Skip the first row and the log is empty for the wrong reason. You are debugging a plan, and calling it a bad condition.

Attach the carrier per zone or market. That step is Add the carrier to shipping zones or markets. The install article says the same thing from the other side: home shows a checklist until carrier setup is done and you have a first zone or delivery rule.

Delivery customization changes methods that are already at checkout, whether they came from Shopify, from this carrier, or from another carrier. Hide, show only matches, move, sort by price, rename. It is a separate canvas from the rates flow. The activity-log article is about carrier rate requests. It does not say every hide rule is in that same log. What it does describe: zones, rates returned, and why a path did not apply.

The listing to set beside the plan is OO - Shipping Rates & Rules. Free, English, launched 28 October 2026.

The checkout test

Test checkout & activity logs is three steps.

Confirm the carrier is attached where you ship.
Add a product and open checkout with a destination that matches the zone.
Confirm the service names and prices you expected are the ones on screen.

Then open the log. Shipping rates, Activity logs. Seven days of carrier requests: which zones matched, which rates came back, why a path did not apply. Open one entry for cart lines, currency, destination, and the per-zone evaluation.

A Shopify shipping profile can show a rate or not. It cannot show, per request, which app condition it skipped. Once the price depends on more than a flat amount per zone, that line is why you install an app, and the log is why these docs are citable. Without it you are guessing between a postal code, a weight, and a market you forgot.

When checkout stays empty

Rates missing at checkout is the order to follow.

Plan. Carrier rates need Advanced, development, or Plus-style access.
Carrier attached to every zone or market that should ask the app.
At least one saved app zone with rates. The visual flow rejects an empty zone name.
Conditions allow a path: destination, cart, product.
The latest Activity logs request: which zones ran, and what they returned.

If the app intentionally returns no rates, checkout fills in with the other methods on that zone. The log is how you tell “no match” from “never called”. The second one is often a carrier that is not on the market, or a plan banner you could already see in the admin.

The listing promises 40+ conditions, from postal code and dimensional weight through products, customer tags, and date, and a visual flow or an AI draft you review before save. That depth belongs in a use-case article. Here the only requirement is that a condition which did not match is readable in the log, for seven days.

Speed, the badge, and the empty review box

Shopify scores carrier apps on checkout speed only after enough traffic: at least 1,000 requests in 28 days, then a p95 of 500 ms or less and a failure rate of at most 0.1%, if the app is going to clear that Built for Shopify line. This one launched on 28 October 2026. The listing has no badge and zero reviews. There is no histogram to quote a one-star from, and no developer reply to cite. That is a reputation gap. It is not a hidden five-star streak. Say zero. Do not invent a star.

The technical win is not a latency claim. It is a documented seven-day window, a three-step checkout test, and a plan banner that keeps a blocked shop from staring at an empty rate list. An app that names live UPS prices and carries the badge wins a different question: carrier accounts, not your own conditions. I have not reread that app’s log screen today, so this article does not score it.

When a shipping profile is enough

One flat amount per country, no postal code, no dimensions, no need to explain the choice later: stay on Shopify shipping profiles. No carrier, no Advanced requirement, no log to learn. Markets and profiles cover that.

The profile stops being enough when the rate depends on a stack of conditions, when several components should collapse into one checkout line, or when you need to hide a method that is already there without replacing its price. Then the carrier is the price, the plan requirement sits on top of it, and the log is how you explain the first failed checkout. Delivery customization remains available when the plan blocks the carrier. It does not put a new amount on the line.

Sources

The fit

Run checkout against a destination the zone accepts, then read seven days of requests. OO - Shipping Rates & Rules documents that order, and it documents that your own prices need Advanced, a development store, Plus, or a carrier that is already active. The app is free. There are no reviews yet. There is no Built for Shopify badge, and therefore no citable p95. The log is citable: the zone, the rate, and why a path did not apply.