i cant figure out the last little bit of this problem.

Hello Lynds,

As B. Sinke said, you should declare "shippingMethod" variable as global:

 string shippingMethod;

        public Form2()
        {  
            InitializeComponent();
            shippingMethod = comboBox2.Text;
        }

  private void comboBox2_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            shippingMethod = comboBox2.SelectedItem.ToString();
        }