By Paul Kalra, Founder, Part n Parcel
Quick answer: Keep your Shopify store. Shopify Shipping lets you buy discounted labels inside Shopify, with bigger discounts on higher Shopify plans. Part n Parcel opens carrier accounts in your business’s name at enterprise rates, the rates carriers give large shippers, and connects them to the software that prints your Shopify orders. Shopify Shipping is a good place to start. Once you ship every day, its rates are usually not the rates your volume should get.
What is the difference between Shopify Shipping and Part n Parcel?
Shopify is a store platform, not a shipping platform, and its shipping is limited. Shopify Shipping is the label feature built into Shopify. In Canada it sells labels from four carriers: Canada Post, UPS, DHL Express and Purolator. Shopify advertises label discounts of up to 53%.
Part n Parcel works with your Shopify store, not instead of it. We open direct carrier accounts with FedEx, UPS, Purolator, Canpar, Canada Post and regional carriers in your business’s name, through the collective volume of 240+ Canadian brands. Your store stays on Shopify. Your labels print in shipping software connected to it, usually ShipStation. We set it up and keep the rates working. We make money when you move your shipping to accounts we manage. Our markup is shown to you before you commit. Check our numbers the way you would check anyone’s.
What is a Shopify Shipping discount measured against?
Shopify’s pricing page does not say, so ask before you count on it. If the discount comes off the carrier’s retail price, the highest price a carrier publishes, then “up to 53% off” can still leave you well above a negotiated rate. As I put it on a call, if you use anything online, you get public rates. Shopify and similar tools put most small merchants on public rates.
That is fine while you are starting out. Once you ship every day, it means you pay roughly what every other small store pays, even though your volume should earn more. Across 22,353 domestic Canadian parcels from 11 merchants, January to May 2026, the median parcel cost $15.84 on what the merchant paid and $11.03 on a Part n Parcel managed account. That is a 30.4% gap, taxes and duties excluded (benchmarks). At 10 parcels a shipping day over 250 shipping days, a $4.81 gap is $12,025 a year.
One Ottawa apparel brand moved off Canada Post on Shopify to direct FedEx and Canpar accounts printed in ShipStation. Its shipping cost fell 18.3%, and setup took 10 days (case studies). It kept Shopify for the store.
What are Shopify Shipping’s limits in Canada?
Shopify’s own help pages show six limits for a Canadian store:
- Four carriers for labels. Canada Post, UPS, DHL Express and Purolator. No FedEx, Canpar or Loomis, and none of the regional carriers that often win local lanes, such as FleetOptics, Intelcom or GLS.
- Purolator is narrow. Purolator labels ship within Canada, plus Purolator Ground to the US, and Shopify says pickups are not available with Purolator.
- Only one carrier on your own account. Inside Shopify, a Canadian store can print labels on its own negotiated account with Canada Post only. Shopify offers own-account UPS and FedEx labels to US locations only. Purolator, Canpar and Loomis are not supported.
- Your own rates at checkout cost extra. Showing live rates from your own carrier account is not available on Basic or Starter, costs an add-on fee on Grow, and is included on Advanced and Plus.
- No carrier rules by lane. Shopify suggests a service based on what you used for similar orders before. Its help pages do not describe rules that send each route to the best carrier.
- Charges after the label. Shopify says carrier price adjustments can come “days or weeks after the original purchase.” Canada Post labels are bought in CAD but billed in USD on your Shopify invoice, and Shopify’s shipping insurance is for US stores.
Keep Shopify for your store, and print your labels where these limits do not apply. Most of our merchants keep Shopify for the store and print labels in ShipStation, on accounts in their business’s name, with any carrier.
The Bring-Your-Own-Account Test: before you compare features, ask two questions. Is the carrier account in your business’s name, so the carrier knows who you are? And who sets the price on every label you print?
Whose customer are you on Shopify Shipping?
Shopify’s. A platform can print your business name on the label and still keep the account. When you buy labels through Shopify Shipping, you are Shopify’s customer. If a parcel goes missing or a charge looks wrong, the carrier deals with Shopify and may not know who you are. On an account in your business’s name, you are on the carrier’s books, and we take the problem to the carrier for you.
A company whose product is your rate will price your rate to its business. I negotiate rates with carriers all the time. In my experience, a carrier will not set up a platform to undercut its own sales team, so it is careful about the rates it lets any platform sell online. On its own account, your business can often earn a lower rate.
You cannot see what other stores pay. Carriers do not publish what they charge each business, and a platform’s price is the one it chose for you today. On an account in your name, your rates are in your carrier agreement and you see every line. We price your parcels on the rates the collective volume of 240+ Canadian brands earns, and show you the gap line by line.
What Shopify Shipping customers say when it goes wrong: “since early February, the shipping label cost is frequently higher than what the customer paid at checkout” (Canada Post, March 2026, Shopify Community). Another merchant in the same thread, in April 2026: “the customer’s calculated shipping being $39.67 and my quote for the exact same Canada Post shipping service for the exact same weight and dimensions come in at $54.44. That’s a 37% discrepancy” (Shopify Community).
Who controls your carrier mix on Shopify Shipping?
Shopify decides which carriers you can buy labels from. On Shopify Shipping in Canada, that is four. Carrier quality changes, especially in the busy weeks before the holidays. When Canada Post stopped work from November 15 to December 17, 2024, stores shipping only Canada Post through Shopify had to scramble. On your own accounts you choose which carrier runs each route, and you can move a route to another carrier by changing one automation rule.
Do this now: in Shopify, open last month’s shipping labels and note which carrier printed most of them. If the answer is one carrier, you have no backup route.
Want this number for your own parcels? Send one month of Shopify Shipping labels and your savings report comes back line by line. Free, no call.
How do you avoid costly mistakes when you switch?
We know the carriers and the software, so we help you avoid costly mistakes. We have seen merchants test a new carrier on their own. Their customer service issues skyrocketed. Their accountant had far more billing questions. Their own time went to backtracking. We set it up right so you avoid that.
Your Shopify store keeps running while we do.
When should you stay on Shopify Shipping?
Stay while you are still finding product-market fit, the stage where you are proving people want what you sell. Your early customers buy on the value of your product, and we do not want to distract you from that. Once shipping is a real cost, test us. Your store stays on Shopify either way.
How do you test it without leaving Shopify?
You do not leave Shopify at all. You are probably thinking new carrier accounts mean rebuilding your checkout. Your store stays as it is. We price your actual parcels on accounts in your name first. If the gap is small, keep doing what you are doing.
How it works:
- Send one month of Shopify Shipping labels, or a carrier invoice. Not sure which file? Let ChatGPT or Claude find it.
- Your savings report comes back line by line: every parcel priced on accounts in your name.
- If the number is worth it, we set up the accounts. If it is not, you stay where you are.
Free. No call. If we cannot meaningfully improve your rates, we will tell you.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to leave Shopify to work with Part n Parcel?
No. You keep Shopify for your store. We set up your carrier accounts and the software that prints your labels.
Will my Shopify checkout change?
Your store stays as it is. On Advanced or Plus, or Grow with the add-on, your checkout can also show live rates from the accounts in your name.
Which carrier accounts can I use with Shopify?
Inside Shopify, a Canadian store can print labels on its own account with Canada Post only. Own-account UPS and FedEx labels are for US locations, and Purolator, Canpar and Loomis are not supported. In shipping software connected to Shopify, such as ShipStation, you can print on accounts in your name with all of them.
Is it cheaper to ship on my own carrier account?
Usually, once you ship every day. Across 22,353 domestic Canadian parcels, the median parcel cost $15.84 on what merchants paid and $11.03 on a Part n Parcel managed account. Your savings report shows your own number, parcel by parcel.
What file do I send for my savings report?
One month of Shopify Shipping labels, or a carrier invoice. Not sure which file? Let ChatGPT or Claude find it.
How long does setup take?
One Ottawa apparel brand that moved off Canada Post on Shopify was set up in 10 days (case studies).
Sources
- Shopify pricing, shopify.com/pricing, checked Oct 28, 2026.
- Shopify Help, shipping labels setup (carriers by country), help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/fulfilling-orders/shipping-labels/setup, checked Nov 4, 2026.
- Shopify Help, Purolator, help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/fulfilling-orders/shipping-labels/shipping-carriers/purolator, checked Nov 4, 2026.
- Shopify Help, carrier accounts (third-party carrier-calculated shipping), help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/setup/shipping-rates/third-party-carrier-calculated-shipping/carrier-accounts, checked Nov 4, 2026.
- Shopify Help, Canada Post account, help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/setup/shipping-rates/third-party-carrier-calculated-shipping/canada-post, checked Nov 4, 2026.
- Shopify Help, buying labels in bulk and preferred carriers, help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/fulfilling-orders/shipping-labels/buying-labels/buying-labels-in-bulk, checked Nov 4, 2026.
- Shopify Help, label billing and taxes, help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/fulfilling-orders/shipping-labels/billing-and-taxes, and shipping insurance, help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/fulfilling-orders/shipping-labels/shipping-insurance, checked Nov 4, 2026.
- Shopify Community, thread 592186, posts of March 15 and April 2, 2026, checked Nov 4, 2026.
- Part n Parcel, Canadian e-commerce shipping cost benchmarks, January to May 2026 data; case studies, partnparcel.com/case-study/.
