How to choose a courier for a small online store in India — the 9 things to compare before you look at the rate
Choose a courier by comparing nine things, not one: whether they pick up from your pincode, how many of your buyers’ pincodes they deliver to, their weight slabs and volumetric rule, whether they collect cash on delivery and how soon they pay it to you, what a returned parcel costs, how tracking and failed deliveries are handled, how claims work, how support answers, and what minimums or lock-ins apply. Get written quotes from two or three, then test each with ten real parcels.
Key takeaway: the headline rate is the least useful number a courier will give you. The cheapest forward rate with slow cash-on-delivery remittance, a full charge for every returned parcel and no one to call when a box goes missing is the expensive option. Compare the whole cost of a delivered order, and the whole cost of a failed one.
TL;DR
- • Start with an aggregator (Shiprocket, Shipmozo) unless you already ship steady volume; a direct account comes later.
- • Check pickup and delivery serviceability for your real pincodes before anything else.
- • Ask about COD remittance and RTO charges in writing. These two decide your cash flow.
- • Weight slabs and volumetric weight decide what a parcel actually costs; the headline rate does not.
- • Test with ten parcels before moving the whole store.
- • On SitesPlaced, Shiprocket and Shipmozo connect free, one active at a time, and you can always ship an order yourself.
First, the two kinds of company you are choosing between
A courier owns or runs the network that moves the parcel: Delhivery, Blue Dart, DTDC and Ecom Express are couriers, and India Post is the government’s postal network, which reaches pincodes many private couriers do not list. An aggregator does not move parcels itself. It gives you one dashboard, one prepaid wallet and one label format, and books your parcel with whichever of the couriers it works with you (or its rule) pick for that order. Shiprocket and Shipmozo are aggregators.
For a small store, an aggregator is usually the simpler start: no volume to promise, several couriers to choose from per parcel, and cash on delivery handled through the same dashboard. A direct account with one courier can make sense once you ship a steady number of parcels to a known set of cities and want a single relationship and a negotiated rate card. India Post sits alongside either: you can walk a parcel to the counter with no account at all.
None of these is “the best”. Each is the right answer for some sellers and some parcels, which is why the rest of this post is a list of questions and not a ranking.
The 9 things to compare, and what to ask
| # | Compare | Ask them, in writing |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pickup from your pincode | Do you pick up from my address, how often, and by what time must I book? If not, where is the nearest drop point? |
| 2 | Serviceability of your buyers’ pincodes | Here are the pincodes of my last 20 orders. Which do you deliver to, and which carry an out-of-area surcharge? |
| 3 | Weight slabs and the volumetric rule | What is the first slab, what are the steps after it, and how do you calculate volumetric weight? |
| 4 | COD and remittance timing | Do you collect cash on delivery, what is the fee per order, and how many days after delivery is the money in my account? |
| 5 | RTO charges | If the buyer refuses or is not found, what do I pay for the return leg, and is the COD fee refunded? |
| 6 | Tracking and NDR handling | Do you send tracking updates I can share? When a delivery fails, how do I re-attempt, update the address or reach the buyer? |
| 7 | Claims for lost or damaged parcels | What is the claim window, what proof do you need, what is the maximum payout, and is protection available per parcel? |
| 8 | Support | When a parcel is stuck, who do I talk to, how, and how fast do they answer? Is there support on weekends? |
| 9 | Minimums, wallet and lock-in | Is there a monthly minimum, a minimum wallet recharge, a plan fee or a contract? What happens to unused wallet money? |
1. Pickup from your pincode
Pickup is the first filter and the one small-town sellers hit hardest. A courier may deliver to your town and still not collect from it, or collect only on certain days, or only if you book before a cut-off time. Ask for the pickup rule for your exact address. If there is no pickup, ask where the nearest branch or drop point is and whether a parcel dropped there is treated the same as a picked-up one. Dropping at a hub twice a week is a perfectly good system; discovering there is no pickup after your first ten orders is not.
2. Where your buyers actually live
Every courier publishes a serviceable-pincode list, and every list has holes. Do not read the list; test it. Take the pincodes from your last twenty orders (or from twenty friends and followers in the cities you expect to sell to) and ask each courier which ones they deliver to and which carry an “out of delivery area” surcharge. A courier that misses three of your twenty is going to miss three of every twenty orders, and each miss is a customer you have to refund or re-route.
3. Weight slabs and the volumetric rule
Couriers bill in steps, called slabs, not per gram. A parcel is charged at the price of the slab it falls into, for example the first half kilo and then each further half kilo. They also work out a volumetric weight from the length, breadth and height of the box, and bill the higher of the actual and the volumetric figure. The divisor in that calculation differs between couriers, which is why a bulky, light parcel (a cushion, a double-boxed mug) can be billed as if it were heavy.
So ask three things: where does the first slab end, what are the steps after it, and how exactly is volumetric weight calculated. Then weigh and measure your three most common parcels and ask for the price of each. That number, not the headline rate, is what you compare.
4. Cash on delivery and when you get the money
If you offer cash on delivery, the courier collects your money and pays it to you later. Two numbers matter: the COD fee per order, and the remittance cycle, which is how many days after delivery the cash reaches your bank. Cycles range from a few days to weekly or longer, sometimes with a faster option for a fee. A slow cycle means you are funding stock for orders you have already delivered. Ask for the exact cycle in writing, and whether a refused COD parcel still costs the COD fee.
5. What a returned parcel costs
RTO means return to origin: the buyer refused, was not found or gave a bad address, and the parcel comes back to you. You usually pay for that return journey, sometimes at the full forward rate again, and on a COD order you have earned nothing. Here is the shape of the sum, with example numbers that are not any courier’s rates:
| One refused COD order (example) | What you lose |
|---|---|
| Forward delivery charge | ₹80 |
| Return leg (say, charged at the same rate) | ₹80 |
| COD fee, if not refunded | ₹40 |
| Packaging used | ₹30 |
| Total, with no sale made | ₹230 |
Example figures to show the structure of the loss. Put your own quotes in.
Two couriers with the same forward rate can differ by double on this number. Ask what the return leg costs and whether the COD fee is refunded on an RTO. Cutting the number of returns in the first place is a separate job, covered in how to reduce RTO and fake COD orders.
6. Tracking and what happens when a delivery fails
Good tracking is not for you; it is for the buyer who would otherwise message you “where is my order?” every day. Ask whether the courier sends updates you can share, and whether there is a tracking page you can link to. Then ask the harder question: when a delivery fails (the courier calls it an NDR, a non-delivery report), how do you find out, how quickly, and can you re-attempt, correct the address or ask them to call the buyer? A courier that lets you act on a failed delivery the same day saves parcels that would otherwise become returns.
7. Claims, 8. Support, 9. Minimums
- Claims. Parcels get lost and broken. Ask the claim window (often only a few days), the proof required (photos of the box, the packing and the item, your invoice), the maximum payout, and whether per-parcel protection can be bought for valuable items. A courier with a clear, written claims process is worth a slightly higher rate.
- Support. The test is not whether support exists but whether a human answers when a parcel is stuck on a Saturday. Ask how you reach them (chat, phone, ticket), the hours, and the usual response time. Then test it with a real question before you sign up.
- Minimums, wallet and lock-in. Aggregators run on a prepaid wallet; ask the minimum recharge and what happens to unused money. Some plans carry a monthly fee or a minimum number of shipments. Direct courier accounts may want a volume commitment or a contract. Read the exit terms before the entry terms.
Then test with ten parcels
Quotes tell you what a courier promises. Ten parcels tell you what they do. Ship ten real orders with each of your two shortlisted options and write down, for each: did the pickup come on the day booked, how many days did delivery actually take, did tracking update, did anything arrive damaged, and how long did support take to answer the one question you had. After ten, the choice is usually obvious, and it is a choice based on your parcels to your buyers, not on a rate card. Revisit it every six months; couriers change.
Where SitesPlaced fits in
A SitesPlaced store connects to Shiprocket and Shipmozo on the free plan, with nothing added on top of what the aggregator charges. A store uses one of the two at a time. With Shiprocket connected, you open an order, enter the package weight and dimensions, create the shipment, book a courier from your Shiprocket wallet, generate the label and schedule the pickup, and tracking updates flow back into the order. With Shipmozo, you push the order, pick a courier from the live rates shown for that parcel (or let an auto-assign rule in your Shipmozo panel choose), schedule the pickup and print the label; tracking is pulled in every half hour or on demand. Either way, the buyer follows the parcel on your store’s Track Order page with their order ID.
Two honest notes. Courier rates, serviceable pincodes and delivery times come from the courier or aggregator you choose; SitesPlaced does not set or guarantee them. And you do not need either integration to run a store: plenty of sellers pack orders themselves, hand them to whichever courier suits that parcel, mark the order shipped and paste the tracking link into it. Connect an aggregator when you want the booking and tracking done from inside the order.
Setup guides: how to connect Shiprocket to your store and how to connect Shipmozo to your store. What you charge the buyer for delivery is a separate decision from what the courier charges you; how to set shipping charges covers it, and how to ship orders from home covers the daily packing-and-pickup routine.
Frequently asked questions
Should a small online store use a courier aggregator or a direct courier account?
Most small stores start with an aggregator such as Shiprocket or Shipmozo. One sign-up gives you several couriers, a prepaid wallet, labels and tracking from one dashboard, with no monthly volume to promise. A direct account with a single courier can make sense once you ship steady volume to a known set of cities and want one relationship. Many sellers run an aggregator and still walk the odd parcel to India Post.
Does India Post work for an online store?
Yes, especially for small, light, low-value parcels and for pincodes private couriers do not serve. You can send from a post office counter without any account, and there are business options for regular senders. The trade-offs are that you drop parcels yourself, tracking is less detailed, and you handle cash on delivery differently. Ask your local post office what they offer for regular senders.
What is RTO and why does it matter when choosing a courier?
RTO means return to origin: a parcel that could not be delivered and comes back to you. You usually pay for the return journey too, and on a cash-on-delivery order you have earned nothing. Two couriers with similar forward rates can differ a lot in what they charge for the return leg and how hard they try before giving up, so ask about both.
How soon do couriers pay the cash from COD orders?
It varies by courier and aggregator, from a few days after delivery to weekly or longer cycles, sometimes with an option to pay faster for a fee. This matters more than it looks: if you spend money on stock today and get the cash back in two weeks, you need that much working capital. Ask for the exact remittance cycle in writing before you sign up.
What is a weight slab?
Couriers price parcels in steps rather than per gram. A parcel is billed at the price of the slab it falls into, for example the first half kilo, then each extra half kilo. They also calculate a volumetric weight from the box's dimensions and bill the higher of the two. A light but bulky parcel can cost as much as a heavy one, so ask how each courier works it out.
Can I use two couriers at the same time?
Yes, and many small stores do: an aggregator for most parcels and a second option for the pincodes or item types it handles badly. If you connect your store to Shiprocket or Shipmozo on SitesPlaced, one of the two is active at a time, but you can always ship any order yourself and paste its tracking link into the order.
What should I ask before I sign up with a courier?
Use the nine questions in this post, in writing, and ask for the rate card for your pincode and weights rather than the headline rate. Then test with ten real parcels before moving your whole store across: note whether pickups came on time, how long deliveries actually took, how support answered, and whether anything arrived damaged.
Book couriers from inside each order, free
Shiprocket or Shipmozo connected at no extra cost, labels and tracking in the order, a Track Order page for buyers, cash on delivery with an optional COD charge, and UPI through your own gateway account. 0% commission, on the free plan.
