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Activating calculated shipping with Canada Post

You can connect your Canada Post account to your Shopify admin. After you connect your account, you can display shipping rates in your checkout that are calculated by Canada Post and buy Canada Post shipping labels directly in your Shopify admin. You can use discounted shipping rates that you negotiate with Canada Post directly.

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Plan requirements for third-party carrier-calculated shipping

To use third-party carrier-calculated shipping, your store must be on the Advanced Shopify or Shopify Plus plan. If your store is on the Grow plan, then you can do one of the following to add third-party carrier-calculated shipping to your store:

  • Switch to yearly billing. When your store is billed yearly, third-party carrier-calculated shipping is automatically activated for stores on the Grow plan.
  • Pay a monthly fee to add third-party carrier-calculated shipping to your store. Contact Shopify Support to set up third-party carrier-calculated shipping by paying a monthly fee.

Third-party carrier-calculated shipping isn't available on the Basic Shopify or Shopify Starter plans.

Requirements for activating calculated shipping with Canada Post

To activate calculated shipping with Canada Post, you need to meet the following requirements:

  • You need to have your own Canada Post account.
  • Your store needs to be on the Advanced or Plus plan. If you're on the Grow plan, then you can add this feature for a monthly fee or switch from monthly to yearly billing. For more information, contact Shopify Support.
  • Your store needs to have a fulfillment location based in Canada.

Step 1: Connect your Canada Post account

To activate calculated shipping with Canada Post, you need to connect your Canada Post account to your Shopify admin.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

  2. In the Shipping section, click Carrier accounts.

  3. Click plus Connect account.

  4. Select Canada Post.

  5. A modal displays directing you to log in to your Canada Post account.

  6. Enter your Canada Post Username and Password.

  7. Verify that the Company and Contract information is correct for the account that you intend to connect.

  8. Continue through the steps in the modal.

  9. Your account is now connected and the modal can be closed.

If your store processes a high volume of orders, then you might need to request an API rate limit increase from Canada Post. By default, the Canada Post API provides quotes for up to 20 shipping rates per minute. If Canada Post approves your request for an API rate limit increase, then your account can retrieve up to 400 shipping rates per minute.

Step 2: Test your carrier-calculated shipping rates

After you connect your third-party shipping carrier to your Shopify admin, you can test your account integration and preview calculated shipping rates for specific package types, sizes, and destinations within the Shopify admin.

The shipping rates that are displayed during testing are sample rates and might be different from the shipping rates displayed to your customers at checkout.

Desktop

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

  2. In the Carrier accounts section, click Horizontal menu next to the carrier that you want to test, and then click Calculate rates.

  3. Select the package type, and then enter the size and weight.

  4. Adjust your origin and destination addresses. The Ship From and Ship To fields use your default location information.

  5. Click Test rates to view sample rates.

  6. Optional: Click the Details tab to enter different package details.

  7. Click Close.

Mobile

Steps:

  1. From the Shopify app, tap Menu, and then tap Settings Settings.

  2. In the Store settings section, tap Shipping and delivery .

  3. In the Carrier accounts section, tap Horizontal menu next to the carrier that you want to test, and then tap Calculate rates.

  4. Select the package type, and then enter the size and weight.

  5. Adjust your origin and destination addresses. The Ship From and Ship To fields use your default location information.

  6. Tap Test rates to view sample rates.

  7. Optional: Tap the Details tab to enter different package details.

  8. Tap Close.

Step 3: Set up carrier-calculated shipping rates

Set up your shipping rates calculated by Canada Post to display them to your customers at checkout.

Desktop

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

  2. In the Shipping section, click the shipping profile that you want to add carrier-calculated rates to.

  3. Optional: To add a new shipping zone, complete the following steps:

    1. In the Shipping zones section, click Add zone.
    2. In the Zone name field, enter a name for your shipping zone.
    3. In the Regions section, select the countries and regions that are part of the zone, and then click Done.

  4. For the shipping zone where you want to add a shipping option, click Add shipping option, and then add shipping rates:

    1. Optional: To add delivery details for your shipping option, such as Tracked shipping, click Add delivery details, and then enter the details. Delivery details are displayed to your customers at checkout.
    2. From the Rate type drop-down menu, select Carrier or app calculated.
    3. Click Choose carrier and apps, and then complete the following steps:
      1. From the Carrier or app drop-down menu, select a shipping carrier or app.
      2. Select the shipping services that you want to display to your customers at checkout. If no services are available to select, then rates are displayed automatically by the carrier or app.
      3. Optional: To automatically include new shipping services when they become available, select Automatically include new services when they become available.
      4. Optional: In the Handling fee section, enter a percentage or a fixed amount to add to the carrier rate. You can use this to account for packaging and handling costs.
      5. Click Done.
    4. Optional: To offer free shipping, select Offer free shipping, and then enter the minimum amount for an order to qualify for free shipping.

  5. Click Done.

  6. Click Save.

Mobile

  1. From the Shopify app, tap Menu, and then tap Settings Settings.

  2. In the Store settings section, tap Shipping and delivery .

  3. In the Shipping section, tap the shipping profile that you want to add carrier-calculated rates to.

  4. Optional: To add a new shipping zone, complete the following steps:

    1. In the Shipping zones section, tap Add zone.
    2. In the Zone name field, enter a name for your shipping zone.
    3. In the Regions section, select the countries and regions that are part of the zone, and then tap Done.

  5. For the shipping zone where you want to add a shipping option, tap Add shipping option, and then add shipping rates:

    1. Optional: To add delivery details for your shipping option, such as Tracked shipping, tap Add delivery details, and then enter the details. Delivery details are displayed to your customers at checkout.
    2. From the Rate type drop-down menu, select Carrier or app calculated.
    3. Tap Choose carrier and apps, and then complete the following steps:
      1. From the Carrier or app drop-down menu, select a shipping carrier or app.
      2. Select the shipping services that you want to display to your customers at checkout. If no services are available to select, then rates are displayed automatically by the carrier or app.
      3. Optional: To automatically include new shipping services when they become available, select Automatically include new services when they become available.
      4. Optional: In the Handling fee section, enter a percentage or a fixed amount to add to the carrier rate. You can use this to account for packaging and handling costs.
      5. Tap Done.
    4. Optional: To offer free shipping, select Offer free shipping, and then enter the minimum amount for an order to qualify for free shipping.

  6. Tap Done.

  7. Tap Tap Save or ✓.

Canada Post shipping manifests

If you have a contract account with Canada Post, and when you connect your account and purchase labels using your own contract-based account, then you're required to provide a manifest to Canada Post.

Creating a manifest means that when you drop off your shipments, Canada Post can scan a single barcode on your manifest to accept your shipments, instead of scanning each shipment individually.

Each shipping label in the manifest must have the same shipping origin address and the same Shipping date.

If you can't add a shipping label with a past shipping date, then you need to void that shipping label and buy a new label with the correct shipping date.

Create a manifest

You can create a manifest directly from the Orders page or using the Shipping Manifests app.

When you create a manifest, labels that meet the following conditions are added:

  • tracking is included in the label
  • the Shipping date is the same day that you’re creating the manifest
  • the label hasn’t been added to another manifest

To avoid issues with multiple manifests, it's best to create your manifest at the end of the day before you go to Canada Post.

Steps:

  1. Create a new manifest using one of the following options:

    • From the Shipping Manifests app:

  2. From your Shopify admin, go to Apps > Shipping Manifests.

    2. Click **Create manifest**.
    • From the Orders page:
      1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.
      2. Click More actions > Create manifests.

  3. Select the fulfillment location. All available shipping labels from the fulfillment location will be added to the manifest.

  4. Click Create manifest.

  5. Click Print manifest.

Reprint a manifest

You can reprint a manifest up to 6 months after you create the manifest.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Apps > Shipping Manifests.

  2. Click the manifest that you want to reprint.

  3. Click Print manifest.

Deactivate Canada Post calculated shipping

If you no longer want to use calculated shipping by Canada Post, then you can disconnect your carrier account from your Shopify admin.

Desktop

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.

  2. In the Shipping section, click Carrier accounts.

  3. For the Canada Post carrier, click *Horizontal menu, and then click Delete.

  4. Click Disconnect account.

Mobile

Steps:

  1. From the Shopify app, tap Menu, and then tap Settings Settings.

  2. Under Store settings, tap Shipping and delivery .

  3. In the Shipping section, tap Carrier accounts.

  4. For the Canada Post carrier, tap *Horizontal menu, and then tap Delete.

  5. Tap Disconnect account.

Getting support

If you're having issues with your Canada Post account setup, then you can visit the Canada Post Support page to contact Canada Post.