Live rates need a Shopify feature called carrier-calculated shipping (CCS). Whether your store has it decides which of TellShip's two modes you use — and either way, you get prices at checkout.
Which plans have it
- Advanced and Plus include carrier-calculated shipping.
- Other plans can add it with annual billing — Shopify bundles CCS into yearly plans, so a store on a lower plan paid annually may already have it.
The plan name alone doesn't settle it. The reliable test is whether Shopify lets TellShip register as a carrier — and the app's setup guide does exactly that and tells you the result. If your plan is the blocker, the guide says so and links Settings → Plan in your Shopify admin, where you can change billing or plan.
If your store doesn't have it
You don't need to change plans. Ship By PostCodes prices your shipping without CCS: TellShip works your prices out from Australia Post in advance and writes them into your Shopify shipping settings as ordinary rates. See Charging different prices by postcode.
What you give up is per-cart live pricing — prices come from your weight bands rather than each cart's exact contents, and changes need a publish step.
If you gain or lose CCS later
Changing Shopify plan or billing can add or remove CCS. Open the app after a plan change: the setup guide re-checks and walks whichever path your store now has.