ICS Courier
As an Amazon seller in Canada, your shipping strategy directly impacts your business success.
Before we explore best practices, let's understand why your choice of courier service matters so much.
Why your courier choice matters?
When you use non-integrated courier services, you're taking on significant risks. Your account health can suffer through lower Valid Tracking Rates (VTR), potentially restricting your selling privileges. This may affect your eligibility for the Featured Offer position, and your IPI score could take a hit.
Beyond these metrics, there's a real financial impact - you're more likely to face A-to-z guarantee claims, lose Prime eligibility, and spend valuable time manually managing tracking updates. Your customers may become frustrated when they can't track packages directly through Amazon, leading to increased customer service inquiries.
Making the Smart Choice
The simplest way to avoid these challenges is to use Amazon's Buy Shipping service through Seller Central. This system automatically validates tracking numbers and often provides competitive rates, particularly with Canada Post. If you must use external carriers, ensure they offer full scan-based tracking that updates throughout the delivery journey.
Your integrated carrier options
In Canada, Amazon has partnered with several reliable carriers including:
- Canada Post (ideal for domestic shipments)
- UPS
- FedEx
- Purolator (for domestic shipments)
These integrated carriers automatically update tracking information and help maintain higher delivery confidence scores. For Canadian sellers shipping across our vast geography, this integration is particularly valuable.
Setting up for success
Before you ship any order:
- Verify that your chosen service includes full tracking (not just delivery confirmation)
- Check that tracking number formats match carrier requirements
- Confirm the service meets Amazon's delivery time promises
- For cross-border shipments, ensure all customs information is properly recorded
Successful sellers make tracking management a regular part of their routine. Set aside time each week to:
- Review your Shipping Performance reports
- Address any tracking issues within 24 hours
- Monitor orders lacking tracking updates
- Maintain proper records of carrier confirmations
Special considerations for Canadian sellers
Consider enrolling in Canada Post's Solutions for Small Business program for better rates. For cross-border shipments, choose services that include customs clearance. Remember that shipping to remote areas may require additional transit time, and plan accordingly during Canadian holidays and peak seasons.
Tips for success
- Create separate templates for domestic and international shipments
- Build relationships with multiple carriers to ensure coverage across all provinces and territories
- Keep bilingual tracking information where possible
- Consider weather-related delays in your shipping time estimates, especially during winter months
Remember: while using non-integrated carriers might seem cost-effective initially, the potential impact on your business metrics and customer satisfaction often outweighs any savings. Your shipping strategy is not just about moving packages - it's about maintaining your selling privileges, protecting your reputation, and growing your business.
Need assistance implementing these practices? Check out these help pages
ICS Courier
As an Amazon seller in Canada, your shipping strategy directly impacts your business success.
Before we explore best practices, let's understand why your choice of courier service matters so much.
Why your courier choice matters?
When you use non-integrated courier services, you're taking on significant risks. Your account health can suffer through lower Valid Tracking Rates (VTR), potentially restricting your selling privileges. This may affect your eligibility for the Featured Offer position, and your IPI score could take a hit.
Beyond these metrics, there's a real financial impact - you're more likely to face A-to-z guarantee claims, lose Prime eligibility, and spend valuable time manually managing tracking updates. Your customers may become frustrated when they can't track packages directly through Amazon, leading to increased customer service inquiries.
Making the Smart Choice
The simplest way to avoid these challenges is to use Amazon's Buy Shipping service through Seller Central. This system automatically validates tracking numbers and often provides competitive rates, particularly with Canada Post. If you must use external carriers, ensure they offer full scan-based tracking that updates throughout the delivery journey.
Your integrated carrier options
In Canada, Amazon has partnered with several reliable carriers including:
- Canada Post (ideal for domestic shipments)
- UPS
- FedEx
- Purolator (for domestic shipments)
These integrated carriers automatically update tracking information and help maintain higher delivery confidence scores. For Canadian sellers shipping across our vast geography, this integration is particularly valuable.
Setting up for success
Before you ship any order:
- Verify that your chosen service includes full tracking (not just delivery confirmation)
- Check that tracking number formats match carrier requirements
- Confirm the service meets Amazon's delivery time promises
- For cross-border shipments, ensure all customs information is properly recorded
Successful sellers make tracking management a regular part of their routine. Set aside time each week to:
- Review your Shipping Performance reports
- Address any tracking issues within 24 hours
- Monitor orders lacking tracking updates
- Maintain proper records of carrier confirmations
Special considerations for Canadian sellers
Consider enrolling in Canada Post's Solutions for Small Business program for better rates. For cross-border shipments, choose services that include customs clearance. Remember that shipping to remote areas may require additional transit time, and plan accordingly during Canadian holidays and peak seasons.
Tips for success
- Create separate templates for domestic and international shipments
- Build relationships with multiple carriers to ensure coverage across all provinces and territories
- Keep bilingual tracking information where possible
- Consider weather-related delays in your shipping time estimates, especially during winter months
Remember: while using non-integrated carriers might seem cost-effective initially, the potential impact on your business metrics and customer satisfaction often outweighs any savings. Your shipping strategy is not just about moving packages - it's about maintaining your selling privileges, protecting your reputation, and growing your business.
Need assistance implementing these practices? Check out these help pages
0 replies
Seller_7LrAV0m5llaI7
It would be wonderful if the Canadian Marketplace VTR % rate was calculated correctly. It has been broken for 11 months now for Purolator and almost 5 months now for Canada Post shipments. It doesn't count them, period. Multiple threads in seller forums has been opened regarding this issue, and I personally have escalated multiple cases to seller support, and they have no idea what is wrong, and post a copy paste reply that does not relate to the issue.
That's an Amazon issue. Amazon needs to fix their integration for couriers and Canada Post, and allow sellers to copy/paste a tracking link to provide to the customer like literally every other marketplace website.
There is no Buy Shipping service in Canada. Why does Amazon seller support and Amazon moderators not know this? We are only allowed to use External carriers in the Canadian Marketplace as Amazon has not partnered up with ANY carriers for Canada to Canada Shipments.
They don't actually for Canada Post lettermail shipments for orders under $30. The app and Amazon account tells the customer that it is lost and to contact the seller for a refund after it's delivered. This is another broken issue that has been ongoing for a year now, that Amazon seems to refuse to fix.
Seller_kNAboD6kRgVt7
How can we trust any advice we get from Mods when they do not know how Amazon Canada works?
And why is the title of the post ICS? There are so many more that are not integrated.
Seller_7LrAV0m5llaI7
In Canada, Amazon has partnered with several reliable carriers including:
- Canada Post (ideal for domestic shipments)
- UPS
- FedEx
- Purolator (for domestic shipments)
When is the VTR% tracking going to be fixed for Canada Post and Purolator Again?
Amazon's integration has been broken since last year for Canada Post and Purolator VTR tracking.
