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How Long Does Shopify Take To Ship

Last updated: September 01, 2024
Written and researched by experts at AvadaLearn more about our methodology

By Sam Nguyen

CEO Avada Commerce

If you are running an online store, you must have been familiar with the printing postage and job and shipping packages in a bunch. Due to the fact that managing logistics is intensely complicated, merchants now and then integrate shipping software with their online shopping system. Similarly, that accounts for why Shopify store runners choose Shopify Shipping as a helpful, convenient built-in shipping suite.

Shopify Shipping is indispensable for all Shopify stores. It helps you to reduce the time needed to fulfill orders and provide the most competitive shipping fees with many carriers that are suitable for your business. To help you get a deeper understanding of Shopify Shipping, the partnered carriers and particularly, the time it takes to ship, please follow this writing on How Long Does Shopify Take To Ship? with care.

1. What is Shopify Shipping?

What is Shopify Shipping

Shopify Shipping is a shipping service that is offered and implemented by the Shopify Team. In detail, it gives merchants, like you, access to calculated rates through DHL, UPS, and USPS.

With the focus on providing a fast and hassle-free way to fulfill orders, Shopify Shipping is one of the best shipping services for your Shopify store. With Shopify Shipping, you can process orders and easily purchase shipping labels directly in Shopify with no worries about any 3rd party integration, print multiple labels at once, and get orders out the door quickly.

As mentioned above, with its connection with USPS, UPS, and DHL in the United States, and Canada Post in Canada and the ability to offer multiple mail classes with each carrier, you are provided with amazing features like overnight delivery, package pick-ups, tracking information, international shipping, and many more. Additionally, Shopify Shipping offers competitive rates for each shipping service included on every plan without extra cost.

Discover: What Does It Really Mean When Your Order Is Shipped?

2. How to choose shipping carrier or service?

Shipping carriers are companies that help you to physically transfer packages to your customer’s door or mailbox. When delivering through shipping carriers, you can choose from multiple shipping services depending on your budget and needs. One example is that you can choose to deliver within five business days or to deliver within two business days using only one carrier.

How to choose shipping carrier or service?

To help you choose the most suitable shipping carrier, you need to take these factors into consideration:

  • The location you ship from and ship to.
  • The products you want to ship and their weight
  • Your budget and the service you offer (free shipping, flat-rate shipping, or exact-cost shipping)
  • The expectation of your customer about whether their order is insured or not and the specific timelines for deliveries.

Shopify enables you to ship with any carrier you want. You can also use services from the shipping carriers partnered with Shopify, which reduces the hassle and make the process simpler for you. However, you can easily pay for and print shipping labels directly in Shopify when shipping through Shopify Shipping using these carriers: USPS, UPS, or DHL Express in the United States and Canada Post in Canada.

3. About time and information of some Shipping Services

About time and information of some Shipping Services

3.1. United States Postal Service (USPS)

For both regular and time-sensitive orders in Shopify Shipping in the US, UPS ensures that all orders will be shipped on time and in the best condition. UPS provides guaranteed delivery and premium shipping carrier and allows you to track the order. UPS also offers insurance coverage (up to $100) and delivery to 220 countries.

UPS gives you six domestic mail classes and five international options available when using Shopify Shipping, and all of them have guaranteed delivery and allow tracking information. The packages can be up to 150 lbs. Here are the domestic mail classes and international delivery options:

Domestic UPS Mail Classes offers these following services:

Domestic USPS Mail Classes offers these following services:

  • First-Class Package Service: deliver within 2 - 5 business days, most suitable for small packages.
  • Priority Mail: delivery within 1 - 3 business days, most suitable for fast domestic delivery.
  • First-Class Mail: deliver within 2 - 3 business days, most suitable for lightweight items like greeting cards, stickers, and postcards.
  • Priority Mail Express: delivery within 1 - 2 business days with guarantees, provide the fastest and most premium domestic delivery option.

International USPS Mail Classes offers these following services:

  • First-Class Package International Service: deliver timelines vary, most suitable for small packages.
  • Priority Mail International: delivery within 6 - 10 business days, provide fast international delivery to 190 countries.
  • Priority Mail Express International: delivery within 1 - 2 business days with guarantees, provide the fastest and most premium international delivery option to 190 countries.

3.2. United Parcel Service (UPS)

For both regular and time-sensitive orders in Shopify Shipping in the US, UPS ensures that all orders will be shipped on time and in the best condition. UPS provides guaranteed delivery and premium shipping carrier and allows you to track the order. UPS also offers insurance coverage (up to $100) and delivery to 220 countries.

UPS gives you six domestic mail classes and five international options available when using Shopify Shipping, and all of them have guaranteed delivery and allow tracking information. The packages can be up to 150 lbs. Here are the domestic mail classes and international delivery options:

Domestic UPS Mail Classes offers these following services:

  • UPS Ground: delivery within 1 - 5 business days, most suitable for domestic orders.
  • UPS 3 Day Select: delivery with 3 business days, most suitable for urgent orders.
  • UPS 2nd Day Air: delivery with 2 business days, most suitable for urgent orders.
  • UPS Next Day Air Saver: delivery within the next business day (afternoon), the most affordable of all next-day service.
  • UPS Next Day Air Early: delivery within the next business day (morning), fast and premium.

International UPS Mail Classes offers these following services:

  • UPS Standard: delivery date depending on the date scheduled, only to Canada and Mexico, the most affordable for less-urgent orders.
  • UPS Worldwide Expedited: delivery within 2 - 5 days, best for less-urgent orders.
  • UPS Worldwide Saver: delivery within 1-3 business days (end of the day), most suitable for express international shipments.
  • UPS Worldwide Express: delivery within 1 - 3 business days (morning), most suitable for express international shipments to 120 countries.
  • UPS Worldwide Express Plus: delivery within 1 - 3 business days (early morning), most suitable for time-sensitive international shipments to 55 countries.

3.3. DHL Express

For time-sensitive international shipments from the US in Shopify Shipping, DHL provides premium service to help you. It provides fast international delivery to 220 countries and allows tracking order information. The package’s weight can be up to 150 lbs.

Using Shopify Shipping, you can easily access to DHL’s DHL Express Worldwide time-definite deliveries from 2 to 5 business day to 220 countries.

3.4. Canada Post

Canada Post is the best option if you are looking for an economical way to ship packages domestically and internationally from Canada in Shopify Shipping. It is a government post office that can transfer your packages to 220 countries with a weight limit of 66 lbs.

With Canada Post, you can access three domestic shipping services, four international shipping services to the United States, and six international shipping services to more than 190 countries when using Shopify Shipping.

Canada Post’s Domestic Shipping Services offers these following services:

  • Expedited Parcel: delivery within 1 - 7 business days, most affordable option.
  • Xpresspost: delivery within 1 - 2 days, most suitable for shipping documents and parcels.
  • Priority: delivery within the next business day, most suitable for fast shipping docs and parcels

Canada Post’s International (USA) Shipping Services offers these following services:

  • Small Packet™ USA – Air: delivery within 5 - 8 business days, most affordable options for lightweight packages under 1kg.
  • Tracked Packet™ – USA: guaranteed delivery within 4 - 7 business days, most suitable for packages under 1kg and for e-commerce.
  • Expedited Parcel™ – USA: guaranteed delivery within 4 - 7 business days, most suitable for packages under 30kg.
  • Xpresspost™ – USA: guaranteed delivery within 2 - 3 business days, the fastest and most expensive option.

Canada Post’s International (Rest of World) Shipping Services offers these following services:

  • Small Packet™ International – Surface or Air: delivery within 6 - 10 business days by air and 1 - 3 months by surface, most suitable for a less urgent and small package (under 2kg).
  • International Parcel™ – Surface or Air: delivery within 12 business days by air and 1 - 3 months by surface, most suitable for less-urgent larger parcels and countries that do not support Xpresspost™ – International.
  • Tracked Packet™ – International: guaranteed delivery within 6 - 10 business days to 31 countries, most suitable for packages under 2kg and e-commerce.
  • Xpresspost™ – International: guaranteed delivery within 4 - 7 business days to mỏe than 70 countries, fastest and most premium option.

    4. Tips for Shipping from Aliexpress

Tips for Shipping from Aliexpress

4.1. Inconvenience when buying and shipping from Aliexpress

Delivery time is the biggest inconvenience when buying and shipping from Aliexpress. The orders usually take about 30 days to arrive. The long delivery time can be an obstacle for your customers and your business. Meanwhile, using other shipping methods like EMS and DHL is costly, which greatly increases the value of the product.

4.2. The solution for Shipping time when Dropshipping from Aliexpress

One solution for a faster and more affordable shipping time when Dropshipping from Aliexpress is using ePacket.

ePacket is a shipping option provided by third-party logistics providers that are located in Hong Kong and China. It provides a faster and more affordable delivery method, and it is most suitable for light packages. 35 countries support ePacket deliveries are:

  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • Croatia
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Gibraltar
  • Great Britain
  • Greece
  • Hong Kong
  • Hungary
  • Ireland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Malaysia
  • Malta
  • Mexico
  • Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Russia
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Singapore
  • Spain
  • South Korea
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Thailand
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
  • Vietnam

    4.3. How long does it take for ePacket shipping?

    The delivery time varies based on each circumstance like the destination of the package, customs, holidays, and other delays, but still, ePacket shipping is the best option for shorter shipping times when compared with other options.

For orders in the US, it only takes 10-20 days for packages to arrive on average. The delivery time can be slightly longer in other countries when using ePacket. Half of the time will be used to reaching the destination and the other half is for transferring packages to the proper facilities.

ePacket also offers the tracking service for customers to monitor the shipping process.

ePacket Shipping

5. Final words

Looking back to the old days, Shopify customers had had always look for shipping support from 3rd party providers. Yet Shopify has recently made significant improvements to its shipping features by rolling out a brand new shipping system named Shopify Shipping to make the shipping process much more simple for both store owners and their customers. Therefore, understanding about Shopify Shipping and all the shipping methods from each carrier as well as the amount of time these methods take to ship will greatly help you to choose the suitable shipping methods that fit your budget and provide the best service for your customers. Do not hesitate to take advantage of this wonderful knowledge and improve your Shopify store.

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Sam Nguyen is the CEO and founder of Avada Commerce, an e-commerce solution provider headquartered in Singapore. He is an expert on the Shopify e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. Sam loves talking about e-commerce and he aims to help over a million online businesses grow and thrive.