Shopify shipping in Australia: Australia Post, StarTrack and what replaced Sendle

If you are following an older guide that recommends Sendle, stop there. Sendle stopped taking bookings in Australia on 11 January 2026, cancelled scheduled pickups, and told customers by email that it was halting operations with immediate effect. News reports at the time said the business was later placed into liquidation. We found no sign of a restart.

Many small Shopify and eBay sellers relied on it, because it offered flat-rate pricing and free pickup with no contract. If you still have Sendle rates, labels or a Sendle app in your store, remove them and check your shipping rates so nothing is quoting a service that no longer exists. The sections below cover the replacements.

StarTrack is part of Australia Post and focuses on express and freight for businesses. eParcel is Australia Post's contract service, aimed at stores that ship regularly and want negotiated pricing. Vendor guides say eParcel suits medium to high volume, and one suggests about 2,000 domestic parcels a year as a typical starting point. Treat that as a rough guide and ask Australia Post what applies to you.

This is the simplest route and the one we use for most Launch builds. Australia Post states that signing up to MyPost Business is free, that there are no eligibility criteria, and that it earns savings through a savings band. It does not publish specific rates on the page we read, so check your MyPost Business account for your prices.

1. Step 1

   Step 1

   Create or open your MyPost Business account at Australia Post.

2. Step 2

   Step 2

   In MyPost Business, find the eCommerce Partners area, choose Shopify and generate a token.

3. Step 3

   Step 3

   In Shopify, go to Settings, then Shipping and delivery, and connect Australia Post as a carrier account. Paste the token.

4. Step 4

   Step 4

   Fulfil an order in Shopify. Labels are created automatically as you fulfil orders, according to Australia Post.

5. Step 5

   Step 5

   Test with a real parcel to a metro address and a regional one, and check the label, the tracking email and the weight you entered.

Australia Post's page does not say whether live Australia Post rates appear at your checkout through this integration. If you want rates calculated at checkout, plan for the options in the next section.

eParcel and StarTrack accounts are commercial accounts with Australia Post. You apply, agree terms and get account details and API credentials. Then you connect them to Shopify through an app.

• Shopify App Store apps such as Australia Post Rates and Labels list StarTrack and eParcel among their supported carriers. One listing shows a flat monthly price. Prices change, so read the current listing.
• Shipping platforms such as Starshipit say their Australia Post integration supports eParcel Standard, Express Post and MyPost Business, and offer a StarTrack Express integration as well.
• Test every app on its trial. One app review we read said the app showed MyPost rates rather than eParcel rates, which is the kind of detail you only learn by testing.

Apps connect your accounts, print labels, and sometimes calculate rates. Pick on the strength of support and the features you will use, not the cheapest monthly fee. We install and configure these under apps and integrations.

There are three ways to set customer shipping rates in Shopify.

Flat or table rates

You set the rate in Shopify's shipping profiles, by zone, weight or order value. For example, one price for metro addresses, a higher one for regional and remote, and a rate for New Zealand. It is predictable and works on every plan. The risk is under-charging a heavy parcel or a remote postcode, so look at your last 100 orders and what each cost to ship before you set the table.

Carrier-calculated rates

Shopify asks the carrier for a live price at checkout, based on the parcel's weight, size and destination. It is accurate and removes guesswork on heavy or bulky items. It needs accurate weights and package dimensions on every product.

Plan requirements matter. Third-party carrier-calculated shipping is included on Advanced and Plus. Merchant reports say Grow stores get it on yearly billing, or can add it for a monthly fee, and that Basic does not support it. We could not confirm the exact wording or any monthly fee from Shopify's Help Center, so check your own plan in the admin before you build around it. Plan prices are in Shopify pricing in Australia.

Shipping through an app

Rate and label apps can quote carrier prices at checkout using their own service, which can avoid plan limits. It adds an app dependency to your checkout, so test it before sale periods and keep a fallback rate.

A free-shipping threshold nudges shoppers to add one more item. It works when the threshold is a little above your average order value and your margin can carry the shipping cost. The way to set it is arithmetic.

1. Step 1

   Step 1

   Find your average order value for the last three months in Shopify's reports.

2. Step 2

   Step 2

   Find your average cost to ship a parcel from your carrier invoices, split by metro and regional.

3. Step 3

   Step 3

   Set a threshold above the average order value, high enough that the orders that clear it still make margin after shipping.

4. Step 4

   Step 4

   Add the rule to your shipping profile as a rate that applies above the order value, and show the threshold in the announcement bar and cart.

5. Step 5

   Step 5

   Review monthly. If most orders clear the line, it is too low. If few do, it is too high to nudge anyone.

Think about remote and regional postcodes. A free-shipping rule that covers a parcel to a remote town can cost more than the product margin. You can set a different threshold or a surcharge for those zones. For any price shown, remember the ACCC expects the price a customer sees to reflect what they will pay. See GST setup on Shopify for how that applies.

New Zealand shipping is usually priced by weight on an international service, with customs paperwork handled in the label flow. Set up a New Zealand zone with its own rates, show prices in NZD with Markets if you sell there regularly, and make your delivery times honest. See selling to New Zealand with Shopify Markets.

Returns are part of shipping too. Your returns policy must match the Australian Consumer Law, and decide who pays for return postage when the product is faulty versus a change of mind. Our guide to a returns policy under the Australian Consumer Law explains the difference.

We set up shipping zones, carrier accounts and free-shipping rules as part of every build. If you are replacing Sendle or want a second opinion on rates, get in touch.

Most shipping losses come from data, not from carriers. If your product weights are wrong, your rates will be wrong, whatever method you use.

• Enter a weight for every variant in Shopify. A missing weight can make a rate calculate as nothing or fail.
• Weigh the product packed, not bare. Add the box, the satchel and the filling.
• Set up your standard package sizes in your shipping settings or app so the right box is assumed.
• Check the dimensional rules of your carrier. A light but bulky parcel can cost like a heavy one.
• Keep an updated record of what each parcel actually cost. Compare it with the shipping you charged, once a month.

When you replace a closed carrier like Sendle, expect your costs to change, not just your labels. A flat-rate service that was cheap for small parcels will not have an exact equivalent, so rebuild your rate table from your new carrier's real prices rather than copying the old numbers.

Finally, be clear about delivery times. Tell customers when you dispatch and what the carrier's estimate is. Fewer where-is-my-order emails is one of the quiet savings of getting this right, and our Shopify support plans can monitor your checkout and shipping rates after changes.