How to set up shipping for an online store

Setting up shipping means deciding where you will deliver, what you will charge, which couriers you will use and how customers will follow their parcels. Do these in order, test them with a real parcel, and write the result down so every order is handled the same way.

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Start with where you will deliver

Before you touch any settings, decide which places you are willing to ship to. A new store usually does best by starting small: your own country, or even a few regions of it. Every extra destination brings customs forms, longer transit times, more lost-parcel risk and more questions from customers.

Write the list down as shipping zones. A zone is just a group of destinations that share a price and a delivery estimate, such as major cities, the rest of the country, and neighbouring countries. Most store platforms, including Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix and Squarespace, let you build zones and attach rates to each one.

Work out what a parcel really costs you

Your shipping price has to be built on real numbers. Weigh your products once they are packed, not bare, and measure the box. Couriers charge on the larger of actual weight and volumetric weight, so a light but bulky item can cost more than a small heavy one.

Get quotes from at least two couriers for a few typical parcels: your lightest, your most common and your heaviest. Add the packaging cost and any handling time you want to recover. That total is your cost per parcel, and it is the number every pricing decision below rests on.

Choose a shipping rate model

Model	How it works	Best for
Flat rate	One price per order or per zone	Stores with similar-sized products
Weight based	Price rises with parcel weight	Mixed catalogues with heavy items
Free shipping over a threshold	Free once the basket passes a set value	Raising average order value
Live courier rates	Rate pulled from the courier at checkout	Bulky or very varied products

There are four common ways to charge customers, and each suits a different kind of store. Pick one to start with and change it once you have real order data.

Decide how you will pack

Packaging is part of shipping, and it affects both cost and damage claims. Standardise on two or three box or satchel sizes so you can weigh and price predictably. Buy a small stock of each before launch rather than reusing whatever is in the cupboard.

Pack as if the parcel will be dropped. Fill empty space, protect corners, and tape every seam. Put a copy of the packing slip inside and a clear address label outside. Take a quick photo of valuable orders before sealing them, because it makes any damage claim far easier.

Pick couriers and set a handover routine

Most small stores begin with one courier for local deliveries and a postal service for light items and international orders. You do not need a contract on day one, but you do need to know how the parcel gets from your door to theirs: collection, drop-off at a branch, or a locker.

Settle on a cut-off time, such as orders paid before midday ship the same day, and publish it on your store. A routine that you can repeat every day is worth more than a clever setup you cannot keep up with. Our guide on how to choose a courier for your online store goes into the comparison in more detail.

Write your shipping and returns policy

Put your delivery times, costs, cut-off times and returns rules on one clear page and link it from the footer and the product pages. Say who pays for return shipping, how long customers have to send an item back, and what condition it must be in.

Be honest about delivery windows. Quote the courier's range plus a day or two of buffer. Customers forgive a parcel that arrives early far more readily than one that arrives a day later than you promised.

Keep customers informed after they pay

Shipping does not end when the courier collects the parcel. For a new store, the weeks after launch are when you have the fewest repeat customers and the least trust, so every customer who has to email you to ask where their order is becomes a small cost in time and goodwill.

TrackIt For Business is built for this step. You keep your own couriers, and TrackIt follows each parcel across more than 3,000 carriers. Connect a WooCommerce store and completed orders become tracked shipments automatically, or add shipments by CSV import or the REST API. Customers receive a branded Apple Wallet or Google Wallet pass that updates as the parcel is scanned, plus a self-serve tracking page, so most of the routine questions are answered before they reach your inbox.

Test with a real parcel before you launch

Place a test order on your own store using a real address that is not yours.
Pack it exactly as you will pack customer orders and note how long it takes.
Hand it to your chosen courier and keep the receipt and tracking number.
Check that the price charged at checkout covers what the courier billed you.
Ask the recipient how it arrived and how clear the updates were.

Common shipping mistakes to avoid

Most new-store shipping problems are avoidable. The usual ones are pricing shipping from a guess rather than a quote, forgetting that packaging adds weight, promising next-day delivery without a courier agreement that supports it, and leaving the returns policy until the first return arrives.

Another common slip is treating launch as the end of the job. Review your shipping rates after the first month. If most orders are costing you more to send than customers paid, adjust the rates or the free-shipping threshold now, while the order volume is still small and a change affects few people.

Keep a simple log of problems: damaged items, wrong addresses, late deliveries. Patterns show up quickly, and each one usually has a cheap fix, such as better padding, an address check at checkout or a different courier for one region.

Common questions

Should a new online store offer free shipping?

Only if you have built the cost into your prices or a minimum order value. Many new stores offer free shipping above a threshold slightly higher than their average basket, which keeps margins intact while encouraging customers to add one more item.

Do I need a business account with a courier to start?

Not always. Many couriers and postal services sell single parcels to anyone, and some offer better rates once you have a business account. Start with ad hoc shipments, watch your volume for a month or two and then ask for account pricing.

How do I handle shipping to other countries?

Start with one or two countries you can reach reliably. Check duties and import taxes, add the required customs information to every parcel and tell customers who pays those charges before they check out. Most disputes come from surprise fees at the border.

How do I stop customers asking where their order is?

Give them tracking without making them ask. TrackIt For Business sends customers a branded Wallet pass that updates as the parcel moves, and offers a self-serve tracking page, so routine status questions do not reach your support inbox.

What if I use more than one courier?

That is normal. Use a single place to see all your shipments so you are not logging into each courier site. TrackIt For Business tracks parcels across carriers in one dashboard and shows delivery performance per courier.