A Shippit or Starshipit alternative for small stores

If you're on Shippit or Starshipit but your store ships almost everything with Australia Post and you print labels in MyPost Business or eParcel anyway, you may be paying for a fulfilment platform when the job you need done is accurate prices at checkout. That job can cost a fraction as much. If you rely on multiple carriers, branded tracking, returns or warehouse tools, though, stay where you are: those platforms are built for exactly that.

This guide sets out what each platform is for, what it costs a small store at the time of writing, how to tell which job you actually need done, and how to switch without your checkout showing wrong or duplicate rates.

What Shippit and Starshipit are built to do

Both are multi-carrier shipping platforms. They connect your store to several couriers, choose a carrier for each order, create labels and manifests, send tracking notifications and handle returns. Starshipit also offers warehouse and inventory management. Both can show live rates at checkout as one feature among many.

That breadth is the point of them. A store sending hundreds of parcels a week across Australia Post, StarTrack, CouriersPlease and an international carrier saves real time and money from carrier allocation and bulk labelling.

A small store with one carrier uses a small slice of it.

What they cost a small store

At the time of writing (November 2026), the Shopify App Store listings show these entry points. Both listings note that charges are in US dollars and that some charges may be billed by the provider outside your Shopify invoice.

	Entry plan	What's included	Live rates at checkout
Shippit	Lite: free to install, US$0.75 per booking	Bring your own carrier, automated label printing, up to 1,000 bookings	Listed from the Plus plan, US$499 a month
Starshipit	Starter: US$35 a month	Up to 100 labels and 2 carriers a month	Listed as a feature; check whether your plan includes it

Prices change, and either provider may offer other plans on its own site, so confirm current pricing with them before you decide.

For a store sending 200 parcels a month, US$0.75 a booking is about US$150 a month, and Starshipit's 100-label Starter plan won't cover that volume. Either way, the platform fee is a cost on every parcel, so it belongs in your true shipping cost per order.

Work out which job you actually need done

Shipping software does three separate jobs. Many small stores pay for all three and use one.

Job	What it means	Do you need a platform for it?
Price shipping at checkout	Show customers an accurate postage price for their basket and postcode	No. A rates app can do this on its own
Create labels and manifests	Turn paid orders into labels and lodge parcels with the carrier	Only at volume or with several carriers. Australia Post's MyPost Business and eParcel tools handle this for a single carrier
Keep customers informed	Tracking emails, branded tracking pages, returns	Shopify's own shipping notifications cover the basics once a tracking number is added

Go through your current platform and tick what you used last month. If the honest list is "the checkout rates, and sometimes the label button", you're paying platform prices for the first job.

Signs you should stay on a platform

• You ship with more than one carrier and want the cheapest or fastest chosen per order.
• You send more than a few hundred parcels a month and bulk labelling saves hours.
• You ship internationally and need customs documents.
• You ship from several locations or stores.
• Branded tracking pages and a self-service returns portal matter to your customers.

Signs a lighter setup fits

• Almost everything goes by Australia Post Parcel Post or Express Post.
• You already print labels in MyPost Business or through your eParcel account.
• Your main shipping problem is the price at checkout: customers see prices that are too high, or you undercharge and absorb the difference.
• You send fewer than a few hundred parcels a month.

If that's you, our guide to Australia Post rates at Shopify checkout without a platform compares flat, weight-based and live rates with a worked example.

How to switch without breaking checkout

The risk in switching isn't the new app. It's the overlap: for a while, both apps can return rates and customers see two sets of prices, or neither does and checkout shows no shipping at all. Do it in this order.

1. List what you use. Note every feature you rely on in the current platform: rates, labels, tracking emails, returns, rules. Decide where each one will live after the switch, and keep your MyPost Business or eParcel login handy for labels.
2. Check your Shopify plan. Live rates from any app need Shopify's carrier-calculated shipping. Our guide to Australia Post rates without the Advanced plan explains which plans include it and what to do if yours doesn't.
3. Fix product weights and dimensions. Rates are only as accurate as your product data. If your current platform held packaging rules or box sizes, recreate them before you compare prices.
4. Set up the new rates alongside the old. Configure the new app, then preview what it returns for a few typical baskets before it goes live at checkout.
5. Swap the rates in your shipping profile. In Shopify's shipping settings, remove the old app's rates from your Australia zone and make sure the new ones are there. Do this in one sitting so checkout is never without a rate.
6. Place test orders. Try a metro, a regional and a remote postcode, a single small item and your heaviest basket. Compare what checkout shows with what Australia Post would charge you.
7. Uninstall and cancel. Uninstall the old app, then log in to your account with the provider and confirm any separate subscription is cancelled. Uninstalling stops Shopify charges, not charges billed outside Shopify. Keep the cancellation confirmation.

Watch your first week of orders closely. Compare what customers paid for shipping with what each parcel cost you, and adjust before small gaps add up. Our guide to shipping profitability shows how to read that margin.

Where a rates-only app fits

We built TrkShp: Australia Post Rates for the first job only. It shows live domestic Australia Post Parcel Post and Express Post prices at Shopify checkout (no Australia Post API key needed), packs each order into the cheapest box or satchel, lets you add a markup and minimum or maximum prices, and lets you preview what checkout will return before you go live. It costs A$15 a month after a 14-day free trial, billed through Shopify.

It doesn't print labels, track parcels, quote other carriers or ship internationally, so it suits stores that already handle those jobs elsewhere. The setup docs show what's involved before you install.

Key takeaways

• Shippit and Starshipit are fulfilment platforms. They're worth it if you use multiple carriers, high-volume labelling, tracking pages or returns.
• If you mainly need accurate Australia Post prices at checkout, you may be paying for features you don't use.
• Split the three jobs (checkout rates, labels, customer updates) and decide where each one lives.
• Switch in order: set up and preview the new rates, swap them in your shipping profile, test orders, then uninstall.
• Uninstalling doesn't always cancel a subscription billed outside Shopify. Cancel with the provider too.

Want to see what your checkout would quote before you change anything? Find out how TrkShp works.