Shipping with Canada Post

If you're shipping from a location in Canada, then you can buy shipping labels from Canada Post. You can ship your packages domestically within Canada.

The shipping rates that you're charged are based on Shopify's account with Canada Post.

Shipping to the US using Canada Post

Starting August 29, 2025, all Canada to United States shipments using Canada Post must be sent as DDP (Delivered Duty Paid). DDU (Delivered Duty Unpaid) shipments are no longer accepted and are blocked at label creation. In response, Shopify has facilitated a partnership with Canada Post and Zonos to implement mandatory duty pre-collection for all shipments to the United States. This change directly impacts how you ship to US customers.

What this means for your business

To continue shipping with Canada Post, duties must be pre-paid. You can choose to either absorb these duties or enable duty estimates to US customers at checkout and have the customer pay. You can also ship DDU with DHL Express or Purolator carriers.

Each Canada Post shipment to the US will include a $1.99 CAD processing fee, captured within the presented shipping label cost, in addition to duties and taxes. Consider reviewing your US market pricing to account for these changes.

Required actions before August 29, 2025

To continue shipping with Canada Post to the US, you need to complete the following changes:

• From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Taxes > Duties and activate duty collection for the US market.
• Modify duties display settings to either display import taxes and duties as a line item at checkout or add these fees into your product prices. If you decide to add fees into your product prices, then consider reviewing your US market pricing to account for these changes.
• Use the bulk editor to add HS codes and country of origin to all products.
• Review the US shipping zone to ensure that your shipping rate setup reflects DDP carriers and collects enough from customers to fulfill your shipping strategy.
• If you work with an external fulfillment partner in Canada, then confirm that your fulfillment provider can generate Canada Post DDP labels.

Review the following table to learn more about the different situations, what's the result of each situation, and what actions you need to take in a specific situation.

For shipments inbounding into the US

• Set or edit duties and taxes for your US market. You can choose to include duties or add taxes into the product price, or display the duties or import taxes as a separate line item.
  • Shopify will estimate import taxes and duties at checkout and pre-collect this estimate from your customers. US Customs Border Patrol will assess import taxes and duties at the border. Tariff costs might vary.
  • You can minimize negative conversion impact by using duty-inclusive pricing. If you don't want to subsidize tariff costs, then you must also increase your US catalog prices.
  • DDP shipping labels are available only for orders placed after you activate duty collection in your Shopify admin.
• Your shipments need to have a declaration ID that confirms that DDP has been paid to Canada Post, but the ID doesn't need to be displayed or printed on the shipping label itself. The duties paid information and the declaration ID is displayed when the label is scanned.

Understanding postal carrier duty calculations and CUSMA compliance

Postal carriers such as Canada Post use a different duty calculation method than commercial carriers, which affects how preferential trade agreements such as CUSMA (Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement)/USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement) are applied.

Postal carriers must charge a flat tariff rate based on the country of origin, regardless of your product's Harmonized System (HS) code or CUSMA compliance status. Canada Post shipments to the United States are charged a flat rate duty based on the US Global Surcharge Duty (Sec 122), regardless of whether your products qualify for CUSMA preferential rates. This means that even if your products are CUSMA-compliant and you have proper documentation, postal carriers can't apply preferential treaty rates. This is a limitation of the postal system and not an error in your setup.

However, you can activate postal duty rates in your Shopify admin. When activated, this setting calculates duties for packages shipped to the United States ad valorum (based on the value of the shipment's contents) and country of origin. To learn more about this setting, refer to Postal duty rates. If you want to use postal duty rates, then ensure that your products have a Country of Origin (COO) added to them. If you don't have both an HS code and a country of origin for your product, then duties calculations aren't performed.

If you want to take advantage of CUSMA preferential rates, then use commercial carriers such as DHL Express for DDP shipments. Commercial carriers can apply Harmonized System (HS) codes and preferential treaties to calculate accurate duty rates.

Consider adding HS codes to your products even if postal carriers don't use HS codes for duty calculation. HS codes might be required for customs clearance and commercial carriers use them for accurate duty calculations.

Considerations for shipping packages with Canada Post

Review the following considerations when shipping with Canada Post:

• You can't buy labels for Canada Post envelope package types in Shopify. Only box and soft package types are supported.
• Tube or cylindrical packaging isn't supported and might result in label adjustment fees being applied by the carrier.
• Regular Parcel rates aren't available. The Expedited Parcel rates cost less and deliver faster.

Domestic shipping with Canada Post

You can ship domestically using Expedited Parcel, Xpresspost, and Priority mail types.

International shipping with Canada Post

Canada Post offers Xpresspost International for international shipping.

USA shipping with Canada Post

Canada Post offers a range of different options for shipping to the United States, including Xpresspost USA and Expedited Parcel USA. DDP rates are available for these services.

Package requirements for Canada Post domestic and international shipments

The following are the maximum values that Canada Post allows for domestic and international shipments:

• maximum weight is 66 lb (30 kg)
• maximum girth is 118 inches (300 cm)
• maximum any dimension is 78.7 inches (200 cm)

Refer to the following for more information about package requirements:

• Parcel Services shipping in Canada.
• Parcel Services (U.S. and International)

Getting support for Canada Post shipments

To get help with your Canada Post shipment, such as rerouting a package or submitting a claim, you need to contact Canada Post Support directly.

Included insurance coverage for Canada Post shipments

You can contact Canada Post to submit a claim within 90 days of shipping your package.

Your shipment is eligible for liability coverage up to $100 CAD for shipments using the following shipping services:

• Domestic: Priority™, Xpresspost™, Expedited Parcel™
• International: Priority™ Worldwide, Xpresspost™ — USA, Xpresspost — International, Tracked Packet - USA, Tracked Packet International, Expedited Parcel - USA, International Parcel Surface, International Parcel Air.

Submitting shipping claims for Canada Post shipments

If you're using Canada Post through Shopify and your Canada Post shipment is lost or damaged, then you can submit a shipping claim to Canada Post.

You can submit a claim through the Canada Post webpage using your Canada Post business account. You can't submit claims directly to Shopify.

If a parcel was delivered late, then you might be eligible for a refund. Contact Canada Post to learn more.

If your claim is approved, then you receive a payment from Canada Post.

Requesting support for Canada Post shipments

If you're using Canada Post through Shopify and you need help, then check the following table.

Additional Canada Post delivery services

You can set signature or proof of age required service for your shipments when buying Canada Post labels.

Canada Post signature required service

You can set your shipments to require a signature upon delivery by checking Signature required when you buy a shipping label for your order.

Shipments that use Canada Post Priority™, Canada Post Xpresspost™ International, and Canada Post Xpresspost™ USA include signature confirmation for free. You can also add signature required to the following Canada Post mail types:

• Expedited Parcel™ ($2.00 CAD)
• Xpresspost™ ($2.00 CAD)

You can learn more about signature required at canadapost.ca.

Canada Post proof of age required service

You can set your shipments to require a proof of age on delivery by checking Proof of age (18) or Proof of age (19) when you buy a shipping label for your order. If your shipment requires proof of age, then a signature is also required.

You can request that the receiver prove their age when shipping with the following Canada Post shipping services:

• Expedited Parcel™ ($3.00 CAD)
• Xpresspost™ within Canada ($3.00 CAD)
• Priority™ ($3.00 CAD)

You can learn more about requesting proof of age at canadapost.ca.