Couriers and shipping
Connect carriers, compare rates, book parcels, print labels, request pickups, follow tracking, cancel bookings and handle parcels that come back.
What it is
Once a delivery exists, it can travel with a connected courier. From Sales › Ship & delivery you compare prices, book the parcel, print its label, ask the courier to collect, and follow its status until it is delivered — or comes back. Status changes update the delivery and its invoice by themselves, and cash-on-delivery parcels are settled from what the courier reports.
Steadfast is proven live. EasyPost, AfterShip, USPS, FedEx, UPS, Purolator, Canada Post, Royal Mail, Evri, DPD, PostNL, DHL Express, Australia Post, Sendle, J&T Express, Ninja Van, Lalamove, Delhivery, DTDC, Ecom Express, RedX, eCourier, Pathao Courier, Paperfly, Aramex, SMSA Express, Naqel Express, Correios and Estafeta are tested against each provider's sandbox.
Who it is for
- Dispatchers who book parcels every day.
- Online sellers who ship to customers' doors.
- Businesses that sell cash on delivery through a courier.
Before you start#
- Connect each carrier under Integrations (the Shipping & delivery group), with the keys from the courier's merchant panel. Some need more details — for example USPS your CRID, MID and EPS account, Canada Post your customer number and contract id, Delhivery the pickup warehouse name as registered.
- Paste the webhook address and secret shown there into the courier's portal, so status changes arrive within seconds.
- Set shipping methods, zones and rate cards in Settings › Shipping, and How the carrier is chosen: people choose, suggest one and people confirm, or choose automatically.
- Give products a weight (and sizes, where a carrier prices by volume).
Step by step#
- Open Sales › Ship & delivery and find the delivery.
- Choose Compare shipping rates in its row menu: your rate cards and live quotes, cheapest first, with the cheapest and fastest marked.
- Choose the carrier as the delivery's shipping method with Edit delivery…. The parcel is booked with that courier by itself once the goods are packed and the invoice exists, with the cash to collect taken from the invoice.
- Print the label: Shipping label (100 × 150 mm, with the amount to collect or "PAID", and the tracking number as barcode and QR code), or Carrier's label when the courier returned its own.
- Select the day's deliveries and choose Request pickup, with the day and time window.
- Follow the status on the delivery; it moves to delivered by itself when the courier reports it.
Labels and pickups#
- Select several deliveries and choose Shipping labels to print up to 200 at once — in the browser, as PDF, or as ZPL for Zebra printers.
- Request pickup asks one pickup per courier and location from couriers with a pickup service (FedEx, UPS, DHL Express and others), and keeps their confirmation number. Couriers that collect every booked parcel on their own round — Steadfast, Pathao, RedX, eCourier, Paperfly, DTDC, Ecom Express — are not asked. For a carrier with no pickup service, such as Estafeta, arrange it with them and enter Carrier's pickup number.
- Australia Post parcels print Australia Post's own labels, are lodged in a daily manifest (Lodge with Australia Post, or automatically at a set time), and can get prepaid return labels.
Tracking#
Status arrives by the courier's webhook where it sends one, and every connected courier with a status check is asked every 15 minutes for parcels not yet final. Each courier's words are read into one set: delivered, partly delivered, returned, cancelled, exception, in transit. A delivery with a booked estimate shows Arrives …, and Overdue since … once that date has passed.
Cancelling a booking#
Cancel courier booking (row menu, for a booked delivery not yet delivered) needs a reason. eCourier, Paperfly, Lalamove, FedEx, UPS, EasyPost, Australia Post and Delhivery are asked through their own systems, where they allow it. For Steadfast, Pathao, RedX, DHL Express and others, cancel it in the courier's panel first, then tick I cancelled it in the courier's panel. The consignment, tracking number and label are then cleared, and the delivery can be booked again. A delivered parcel can't be unbooked — record a return.
Parcels that come back#
Sales › Shipping returns lists parcels a courier brings back (returned to sender, refused, customer returns) and carrier exceptions. Book a return in when it arrives, inspect each line (restock, scrap, repair or back to the supplier), record the return freight, and settle it. Stages: started, on the way back, booked in, inspected, settled or cancelled.
Limits and what is not there yet#
- TNT can no longer be connected; TNT accounts are moving to FedEx.
- Sendle stopped taking bookings in January 2026.
- AfterShip follows parcels other couriers carry; it doesn't book them.
- Couriers without a price service are quoted from your rate cards.
Questions#
Which couriers give live prices?
UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL Express, Canada Post, Australia Post, EasyPost, Sendle and Delhivery among others; the rest are priced from your rate cards.
Can I book many parcels at once?
Parcels are booked by themselves, one per invoice, as each one's goods are packed and its invoice exists. Pathao also offers Book selected with Pathao for many parcels in one bulk booking from its own page.
What does a returned parcel do to the books?
The courier saying "returned" posts nothing. The inspection does: restocked goods come back into stock and the credit follows.
Where do I set up Pathao?
On Integrations › Pathao Courier, with your Pathao client ID and secret. Pathao covers Bangladesh only.