Shopify Shipping Labels: Buy, Print and Fix Common Problems

To buy a Shopify shipping label, open an order with unfulfilled items, click Create shipping label, confirm the weight and package, choose a service and click Buy shipping label. Shopify sells labels through its own carrier accounts when you ship from the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland or Spain. Anywhere else, you buy the label from the carrier or an app and add the tracking number to the order.

This page follows Shopify’s Help Center articles on buying shipping labels, understanding shipping labels, supported label printers and shipping insurance, all read on October 23, 2026.

Where you can buy labels in Shopify

Which carriers you get depends on the country of your fulfillment location. Outside the ten countries above, Shopify lists three other routes:

Label prices show in your local currency before tax, such as EUR in France or GBP in the United Kingdom. The cost and taxes are added to your Shopify bill and paid in your billing currency.

Buy and print a label

Before the first label, set your store’s default package so rates are accurate, read the requirements of the carrier you plan to use, and set up either a standard desktop printer or a Shopify-supported label printer. Then:

1. Go to Orders and open an order with unfulfilled items.
2. In the Unfulfilled section, click Create shipping label.
3. In Items, confirm the quantities. If weights are off, click Edit weight; select Save weight to product details to keep them for next time.
4. For international orders, click Edit customs information, check weight, quantity, value and description, pick the country of origin and enter an HS code. Shopify asks for detailed, plain-language product descriptions, and the declared value of an international shipment can’t exceed $2,500 USD.
5. In Package and weight, choose a saved package or Add package, and confirm Total weight (with package).
6. In Shipping service, pick a method. The list shows your preferred carriers and services; click All to see every eligible one. A Suggested service appears once you have bought enough labels for Shopify to base it on your history.
7. Add extras if the carrier offers them, such as signature confirmation or proof of age. If you ship from the United States, check the SHIPPING INSURANCE section (below).
8. Choose a Shipping date, and select Send shipping information to customers if the details should go out on that date.
9. Check the Summary and click Buy shipping label. Your card issuer may ask you to verify your identity.
10. Print the label, and any customs forms or packing slips, from the purchase flow, or later from the Shipping labels page.

Weight is one of the inputs to the label price, along with the package, the service and the destination, and it is the one you control per product. A product saved with no weight or a guessed one is rated wrong on every order, and fixing it once with Save weight to product details fixes every future label for that product. For many orders at once, use bulk label buying.

What’s on the label

Most labels carry the recipient’s name, address and phone number, the sender’s address (where an undeliverable parcel goes back) and a barcode the carrier scans at each facility. Many also print the order number, tracking number, ship date, service type and carrier details.

Labels differ mainly by delivery speed, and Shopify’s own example is a 2-day label costing much more than a 7–10 day one. Labels with tracking generally cost more than those without. Set the shipping prices you charge from the label you plan to buy: if you offer 2-day delivery, price it from the 2-day label. The tracking number is what customers use for order tracking, so pay for it on anything a customer will ask about.

Printers and paper

A standard desktop printer also works; choose the 8.5 × 11 inch paper option when you print. A label printer earns its place once you print labels every day, because it saves cutting and taping a sheet per parcel.

Fix the common problems

No Create shipping label button. The option sits in the order’s Unfulfilled section. On a fully fulfilled order it isn’t there; to send a replacement, Shopify points to buying a replacement label.

Can’t buy a label for an order with duties. If you collected duties and import taxes at checkout, you need a DDP (delivered duty paid) label. Through Shopify’s carrier accounts those exist only with Managed Markets or with Canada Post (US destinations only), DHL Express, DHL Express Canada and DHL eCommerce. With any other carrier, buy the label outside Shopify or refund the order.

Insurance (US shipments only). Shipping insurance through Shopify is available only for shipments from the United States, up to $5,000 of coverage. On the Grow, Advanced or Plus plan with Shopify Payments, each eligible label includes up to $200 of insurance at no extra cost; for an order worth more than that, you can insure the full value or a custom amount. Stores without included insurance can buy any amount. Coverage is bought in $100 steps at $0.89 per $100 for domestic and $1.29 per $100 for international shipments; Shopify’s example insures $270.50 (a $250 order plus $20.50 shipping) for 3 × $1.29 = $3.87. USPS First Class Mail and UPS to Puerto Rico aren’t eligible. Voiding an unused label within 30 days cancels the insurance and gives you a credit for future insurance only. Claims are filed in the admin from 24 hours after shipping up to 120 days, and go to Shipsurance, not the carrier, when insurance was bought.

Customer ID numbers. Some destinations require an ID number on the label, and a parcel without it might be destroyed or returned. Labels bought in Shopify don’t print these numbers, so you write them on the printed label:

• Brazil: shoppers enter a CPF or CNPJ in the Additional information field on the checkout payment page.
• China: customers receiving shipments from outside China enter their resident ID, or a passport number for a foreign national.
• South Korea: shipments from outside the country need the shopper’s Personal Customs Clearance Code, or a passport number for a foreign national.

Italy works differently. If you are in Italy and a customer in Italy fills in the optional Codice Fiscale and PEC fields at checkout, you must issue an invoice. None of these numbers can be edited on an order; if a shopper entered one wrongly, cancel the order and have them place it again. If you had customized your checkout to collect these numbers, remove the customization, or the shopper has to enter the number twice.

Returns run on their own labels, covered in return shipping labels. Packing, delivery and returns are grouped in the shipping and returns hub.

FAQ

Which countries can buy shipping labels in Shopify? Stores whose fulfillment location is in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland or Spain can, with carriers that depend on the location’s country.

Do I have to buy labels through Shopify? You can buy a label from a carrier outside Shopify and add the tracking number to the order, and the customer still gets tracking updates.

Can I reprint a Shopify shipping label? Labels can be printed during the purchase flow or from the Shipping labels page at any time afterward.

What paper size do I use on a normal printer? Select the 8.5 × 11 inch paper option when printing a label on a standard desktop printer.