Understanding Canada Post and UPS shipping rates: are they accurate?

[crazyboutcrafti]

Hello all.....I am located in Canada and trying to ship my things in Canada.  So I am just setting up my store.  The standard canada post rates and UPS are coming up as $14.90.  My question is......Is this an actual shipping rate?  OR do I actually have to add in my own shipping rates OR can I just use that one and that is the ACTUAL price for all shipping?

I have a feeling its not...SO then my next question is I have the lowest plan....Can I add the actual calculated price on the shipping page so it shows them the actual price ?

OR is everyone calculating the prices for ex 1 item then 2 items etc?

IF SO how do I do that in the product page?  I dont want them to pay more? 

So say my 1 glass is .75lb and its 8X4X4 bubble wrap poly bag going to Trenton, Ontario K8V 0E7..shipping comes up as the standard $14.90 is that the correct price? OR am I weighting all my products and getting dimension for each?  

Ok...so Canada Post Labels that we print can they go on anything?  The most weight I will have is probably 3-4lbs and maybe 10x8x4...

Sorry if this does not make sense.

So if anyone has any tips or tricks or just some help I am getting frustrated. 

Thanks so much I appreciate any help...

Keira 

[Shay]

Hi @crazyboutcrafti 

I definitely understand your concern and your questions! I hope I can shed some light onto setting up shipping rates for your store. 

• Can I add the actual calculated price on the shipping page so it shows them the actual price?

Yes, though there are some limitations to that, which I will explain.

When you first create your store, there are default rates provided as a sort of placeholder. The main question to ask is how do you want to charge for shipping While you will need to pay for shipping for your products in order for the item to be delivered to the customer, you get to choose how, or if, the customer pays for that at the checkout.

Based on your initial post it sounds like you do want to charge your customers at the checkout a shipping fee. The best way to do so if you are shipping domestically is to set your products up for carrier calculated rates with Canada Post.

How this works is each product has a set weight and you will set a default package size used to calculate shipping rates. The limitation of this is that you are not able to setup multiple package sizes and dimensions for calculated rates at the checkout without upgrading your plan and using a third party app to adjust that. This means that if you have some items that ship in a small package and some in a large, the calculations for both orders will be made based on the default package setup in the shipping settings. I recommend using the larger package size to calculate your rates with. 

You can test shipping rates in your admin by going to Settings > Shipping and use the "Calculate Shipping Rate" function to see expected shipping fees based on the delivery location. 

• Canada Post Labels that we print can they go on anything?  The most weight I will have is probably 3-4 lbs and maybe 10x8x4.

When you go to print your label, regardless of the weight and default package used to calculate shipping for the customer at checkout, you will provide the total order weight and package dimensions to buy your shipping label. This will also provide you with the accurate cost of shipping at that time. This label is then affixed to the package. 

I know this seems like a lot, but I promise it is quite straightforward once you get it initially setup! You can also see a video introduction to our shipping settings in our Help Center here: Setting up shipping rates · Shopify Help Center. Our live chat support would also be able to assist you in setting up the proper shipping rates at any time. You can reach out live support by clicking this link and following the prompts to choose a topic: Shopify Help Center.

[crazyboutcrafti]

Thanks for getting back to me. I appreciate it. Losing hair over this lol
So I have already added shipping weight to each product plus a little extra for packaging cost. I did a test with me going to my shop and purchasing 3 items and it came up with $$$….so then I went to my shoplify account and did calculate shipping and it came up less BUT my question is those amounts that show in that calculate area is that the actual total? Or is there still tax and fuel charge etc???

Ex. Website came up with $21.90 shipping ...my shoplify check rate came up with after I put in my dimensions $17.71. so will I pay the $17.71 for that label or $17.71 + tax + fuel charge?? Because I am ok with less on my part but not ok with more… 🙂

So if this is right and I don’t have to pay tax and fuel charge then I am on the right path. If I do then…..sigh


Thanks again for all your help.
Keira