A metafield rule applies only to products or variants that have a specific metafield value. Use one when tags, collections, and vendors don't describe how a product ships, for example items that are made to order, or items that come from a single supplier.
Plus plan required. Metafield rules are available on the Plus plan. Plus works with any Shopify store and has nothing to do with Shopify Plus.
What you can match
Add a Product metafield condition to match a value on the product, or a Variant metafield condition to match a value on one variant.
Types: single line text, integer, decimal, and true or false.
Exact matches only. Text is case-sensitive, so "Custom" doesn't match "custom". Decimal values compare by number, so 1.50 matches 1.5. There's no "contains," "greater than," or list matching.
The metafield needs a definition in Shopify. Create one under Settings → Custom data in your Shopify admin. Metafields without a definition, and definitions of other types, don't appear in the picker.
Create a metafield rule
Say you sell furniture. Most pieces ship in two business days, but pieces marked "Made to order" take about three weeks. You've created a true or false product metafield called Made to order and set it to True on those products.
In ArrivesBy, open Rules and click Add rule.
Name the rule, for example "Made to order".
Under Applies to, click + Add condition. Under Metafields, choose Product metafield.
In the picker, select Made to order. The picker shows each metafield's name, namespace and key, and type.
Set the value to True.
Set the lead time to 15 business days, and set the transit time to match your carrier.
Save the rule.
Products with Made to order set to True now show the 15-day lead time. Everything else keeps using your other rules. If the value differs by variant, choose Variant metafield instead.
How metafield conditions combine
Metafield conditions work like Product type, Tag, Vendor, and the collection and product pickers: a product matches if it meets any one of them. A rule with Tag = "fragile" and Product metafield Made to order = True applies to products tagged "fragile" or flagged Made to order.
Market, Location, Country, and Shipping region conditions still all have to match. How rules work covers the full picture.
Where metafield rules rank in rule priority
Metafield rules slot into the product targeting order from How rules work. From highest to lowest: Specific variant → Variant metafield → Specific product → Product metafield → Vendor → Tag → Product type → Specific collection → All products.
Scope conditions (Shipping region, Location, Market, Country) still come first. A matching rule with more of them beats a rule with fewer, whatever its product targeting.
If a rule has several product conditions, its highest-ranked one sets its priority. A rule with Tag and Product metafield ranks as a Product metafield rule.
If two rules tie, the older rule wins.
When the metafield is empty
No value, no match. If a product or variant has no value for the metafield, the condition doesn't match and ArrivesBy moves on to the next matching rule. An empty true or false metafield doesn't count as False: a rule for Made to order = False skips products where it was never set.
Keep a baseline rule. If no rule matches, no estimate shows. A rule with no product conditions covers everything your metafield rules don't.
Deleted definitions. If you delete a metafield definition in Shopify, rules that use it stop matching. Creating a new definition with the same name doesn't reconnect them. Remove the condition and add it again.
Value changes take time. ArrivesBy keeps a copy of the metafield values it reads for up to 24 hours. After you change a value in Shopify, your storefront can take up to 24 hours to follow.
If your plan changes
If you move off Plus, rules with metafield conditions stay saved but ArrivesBy skips them. The Rules page marks them Locked — requires Plus plan. They work again when you're back on Plus.
Debug a metafield rule
Debug mode shows which rule produced the estimate. It's a setting on the Delivery Promises app embed, and it only appears in the Shopify theme editor. Shoppers never see it.
In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store → Themes and click Customize.
Open the App embeds tab and select Delivery Promises.
Turn on Debug mode, then open a product page in the preview.
The panel shows the name of the rule that produced the estimate and, if no estimate shows, why. If a different rule wins than you expect:
Check the metafield value in your Shopify admin, on the product or on the exact variant selected in the preview. It has to match exactly.
Check that the metafield's type is the one you picked in the rule.
Check whether a higher-ranked rule also matches. See the order above.
If you changed the value recently, allow for the 24-hour delay.