10 Best Online Shipping Cost Calculators to Compare the Postage Charges

In this highly competitive market, it is essential to provide accurate shipping costs to your customers. It becomes easier for your customers if they know the shipping rates before they reach the checkout page. Arriving at a shipping cost that is favorable for your customer as well as you is pivotal. Shipping cost calculators could help you in this regard.

What are Shipping costs?

Shipping cost is the amount spent for shifting an item from the warehouse or the shelf of your store to the customer’s doorstep. The shipping rate of an item typically includes the cost of:

  • boxes, stickers, and tapes.
  • the labor charges for picking, packing and dispatching the item.
  • the courier charge for collecting and delivering the item.
  • import/export charges while shipping internationally.

Why Calculate the shipping cost?

As an eCommerce vendor, it is important to look after your budget as well as maintain your customer’s needs, when it comes to shipping cost. If you are charging too low, you might run into loss causing your margins to dip low. This is not sustainable in the long run. If you charge too high, then you are likely going to lose all your business to your competitors. Hence with accurate shipping rates, you can avoid cart abandonment by quoting the right shipping price.

How to Determine Shipping Cost

Here are three different categories of shipping costs. Each one has its disadvantages and advantages.

Calculated Shipping: In this method, the shipping cost is calculated based on the weight and dimensions of your package as well as the customer’s location.

Flat-rate Shipping: In this method, you charge one price for shipping anything regardless of its shape, size, and dimension. Being convenient and reliable, it is an ideal choice for most small to mid-sized businesses.

Free Shipping: Customers enjoy being offered free shipping, and it increases your sales incredibly. If you are a retailer, who wants to offer free shipping, then you can go for two options:

  • Either build the cost of shipping into the product list price. This potentially increases the price of the product. 
  • Reduce the margins and absorb the shipping cost. 

It is up to the retailer how they want to calculate shipping rates in their eCommerce store. 

What if the products are shipped internationally?

If you are shipping internationally, then you must consider the landing cost and the total cost of shipping globally. The price may include transportation price, the purchasing price, currency conversion when required, duties and taxes of the country, and any other external costs that might come into the picture.

Best Online Shipping Cost Calculators to Compare the Postage Charges

Here, let’s look at some of the popular shipping cost calculators to compare the postage charges and help customers decide on which shipping options are suitable for them.

1. ReachShip

shipping calculator

ReachShip offers an ideal way to calculate the shipping cost quickly and to compare shipping costs in the best possible way. This tool lets you easily calculate the shipping cost from one location to another, using popular shipping carriers like DHL, USPS, UPS, and FedEx. This is a SaaS-based platform that helps to create and manage shipments efficiently. If you are looking to get the shipping labels printed or obtain free package tracking features, then it is ideal to go for a subscription plan. You get to choose from three plans – ReachShip Plan Basic, ReachShip Plan Pro, and ReachShip Plan Enterprise. 

Here are some features of ReachShip:

  • Easy to use.
  • Compare rates and choose the best one suited for you.
  • Affordable subscription plan.
  • Create Shipment, Print Label, and Track the Shipment.
  • Helps you choose the most feasible and fastest option to ship.
  • Suggests better packaging options and also lets you print your shipping labels.
  • Keeps you updated about the tracking information of your shipments.
  • You can ship from any location to anywhere.
  • Easy to enter an address with the help of maps.
  • Incorporates DHL, USPS, FedEx, and UPS carriers.

2. UPS

shipping calculator

UPS is one of the popular shipping services that help you ship anything anywhere. UPS offers a variety of shipping options that help eCommerce businesses greatly. Choosing the right UPS shipping option that suits you is indeed difficult. To simplify this, UPS also has a shipping calculator, which will help you decide on the best suitable UPS shipping service for your business. All you need to provide is the origin, destination, and weight of your shipment. You can obtain the results, compare them and sort them by cost and time of delivery to choose the best-suited service for your business.

Here are some features:

  • You get shipping rates and the estimated delivery time for all UPS shipping options.
  • You get only UPS shipping services listed.
  • It also shows the possible latest pickup time for your package.

3. USPS

shipping calculator

USPS is yet another popular shipping option across US locations. USPS offers the cheapest shipping options as well as flat-rate options for shipping. Though most of the USPS shipping services are not time-sensitive, it is a cost-effective option. With the USPS shipping calculator, you can calculate the shipping rates for shipping an item from one location to another. All you need to do is provide the location to which you are sending, the zip code, the date you plan to mail the item, and the time you want to mail it. Once you provide these data, you get the required shipping rates for various USPS shipping options available to ship the item.

  • Offers ground shipping options also.
  • You can find the price for postcards, flat rate envelopes, flat rate boxes and also calculate prices based on the weight and dimension of the item.
  • You can obtain charges, based on what you ship like hazardous materials, etc.
  • Can list only USPS Shipping services.

4. FedEx

shipping calculator

FedEx offers quick and faster deliveries, which is why they are best suited for time-sensitive deliveries. You can find out how much time it takes to deliver a shipment and the charges for delivering to any location with the help of a shipping calculator. The FedEx shipping calculator also helps you calculate and determine the shipping rates to help the customer know the shipping price beforehand. It uses dimensional weight to calculate the shipping price. It offers services ranging from ground to overnight shipping. 

Here are some scenarios where this service could be useful:

  • It calculates the price based on the package dimension, the source, and destinations as well as the packaging option chosen.
  • You can calculate the shipping cost for multiple packages as well.
  • You can fetch the estimated delivery time and date along with the cost of shipping.
  • Only FedEx shipping services can be included.

5. DHL

shipping calculator

DHL specializes in global shipping and Express delivery. You can easily calculate the shipping charges for the services right from the DHL website.  You can enter the package details, the address details, and the pickup details to obtain the shipping rates. You can choose whether you need to ship a document or a parcel. If you are shipping a parcel, then you can provide the box dimensions and weight, and other details for your shipment to be shipped.

Features:

  • The DHL shipping calculator lists the cost and time for shipping for the respective DHL service.
  • You can obtain the charges for shipping either a document or a parcel with a requisite dimension.
  • Only DHL services are listed.

6. ShipBob

shipping calculator

ShipBob is a global third-party logistics provider platform that does order fulfillment for direct-to-consumer brands. It has a free custom shipping calculator, designed to calculate the shipping cost to help you compare the shipping charges offered by various fulfillment centers.

Features include:

  • Calculate the shipping rate to the locations you most commonly ship to.
  • Explore various combinations of fulfillment locations across the US locations.
  • Find out the best order fulfillment location that offers the most affordable and convenient shipping option.

7. Secureship

shipping calculator

Secureship is also an ideal option to find the best-suited shipping services for shipping your items to your customers. They let you find out the best shipping rates and the estimated time of delivery for various shipping services making use of the package dimensions, its weight, its origin, and the destination. You also get to see the standard pricing as well as the reduced pricing from Secureship for shipping your item. 

Other features include:

  • Allows printing shipping labels.
  • Schedule package pickup options.
  • Allows to track your packages 
  • Choose from various shipping options offered by popular carriers.
  • You can also add the addresses and save them to the address book for future use.

8. Shopify

shipping calculator

Shopify shipping calculator helps to find out the shipping rates for retailers using Shopify plans: Shopify, Advanced Shopify, and Basic Shopify. You can find the shipping rates from one location to another, both for domestic and international shipping. You can see rates for shipping from USPS and DHL using the Shopify shipping calculator.

Features include:

  • Shipping rates are based on Shopify plans.
  • To get rates, one must have a valid Shopify account.
  • You can easily get rates for domestic and international shipping.
  • Get shipping rates for various package types like an envelope, poly mailer, small box, and medium box.
  • The rates displayed include insurance, the time of delivery, and the shipping cost.

9. Easyship

shipping calculator

The Easyship shipping calculator does more than just calculating your shipping rates for shipping from one location to another. It helps you choose the best one that suits you from a wide range of options. 

Here are some features:

  • Obtains shipping rates from a wide range of services.
  • Shows the efficiency in tracking services, the delivery time, and the ratings.
  • Shows the best and the cheapest option to help the customer choose.
  • You can also find the service options like drop-off or pickup available for your shipments.

10. Printify

shipping calculator

Printify lets you find the shipping rates from the Printify providers that are associated with them. They also have strong partnerships with the best shipping services like FedEx, DHL, Australia Post, UPS, Canada Post, etc. The Printify shipping calculator works with Shopify plans like Advanced Shopify plan, Annual Shopify payment plan, and Carrier-calculated shipping. Using the shipping calculator you can find the shipping rates based on the Shopify Shipping zones.

Features include:

  • You can set preferences based on the Printify store on your Shopify platform to see the shipping rates.
  • Set the shipping rates based on the Shopify shipping zones.
  • Cannot find rates for non-Printify products.
  • The shipping calculator can work only with the Shopify store.

To Conclude

That’s all to it – now you can make use of these shipping calculators and help your customers arrive at a quick conclusion when it comes to shipping options. Most of the shipping calculators are free and easy to use, as mentioned above. It is ideal to use the shipping calculator that will help you decide which is the best option to ship, after comparing the results. Save your time and cost of shipping an item from your store to your customer, by finding out the workable and optimal shipping rate from available shipping services using a shipping calculator and augment your sales.

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