In a significant move that will help boost cross-border trade, PayPal Canada launched a new solution that offers small businesses up to 75 per centⁱ in shipping discounts. Additional features include a one-day shipping service to the U.S.ⁱⁱ, tracking links on every parcel and an integrated platform where online sellers can import their orders from popular marketplaces to arrange shipment.

High shipping costs and a lack of efficient shipping options have long held back Canadian business owners from selling internationally. Despite the fact that Canada currently has 14 trade agreements with countries around the world, only 12 per cent of small and medium businesses take advantage of these opportunities.ⁱⁱⁱ Some of the greatest international growth opportunities are in the U.S., Canada’s largest export market, where businesses can send goods valued up to $800 free of tax, duties and brokerage fees.^iv

“Small businesses need access to better shipping solutions that open them up to global customers,” said Paul Parisi, PayPal Canada president. “With this launch, we’re looking to enable more exports and help small businesses become far more competitive in today’s global economy.”

In addition to deep discounts, there are a number of beneficial features of this new service:

• Sellers conducting business on different platforms now only have to go to one web page to meet all their shipping needs. After importing their sales from Shopify, Etsy, eBay or WooCommerce into the platform, sellers can easily pick and choose the quickest and most affordable way to send their parcels.
• Tracking links are available for every parcel, making it easy for packages to be traced until they reach their destination.
• One-day delivery to the United States, Canada’s leading export market.
• While most shipping solutions are subscription based, this shipping tool is available to use at no extra charge^v.

This new shipping solution gives Canadian business owners a strong incentive to reach beyond the nation’s borders. In an effort to save small business owners’ money, PayPal has partnered with netParcel, a Toronto-based technology company that provides access to discounted shipping rates. As a result, more than 250,000 businesses that use PayPal can now take advantage of aggressive shipping discounts—whether they are shipping parcels within Canada, to the U.S., or anywhere overseas.

Michael E., owner of HockeyAuthentic.com, has been in business for 28 years, selling authentic, licensed NHL jerseys. He said he’s now saving up to $1,000 a month thanks to this shipping solution.

“High shipping costs have always been one of our biggest obstacles. Customers nowadays expect free shipping and for us to absorb costly shipping outside of the country was tough,” he said. “This new shipping integration between PayPal and netParcel is a huge difference-maker in lower costs, not only outside of Canada but within Canada as well. These rates are the best we’ve seen.”

Michael said offering one-day shipping to the U.S. has also made his hockey-loving customers very happy.

“Thousands of times we’ve next-day delivered a hockey jersey to a fan in the U.S. or Canada going to a game that night. This absolutely blows away our customers with that kind of delivery speed.”

Shipping through PayPal is available now to all our Canadian customers. For more information, visit http://paypal.ca/shipping.