A small business shipping account does not buy a different parcel, it buys the same carriage on different terms. That matters, because the published bands in this record are what a business account is negotiated against, and knowing them is the difference between a discount and a story about one. Evri's published table starts at £3.04 for a 0-1kg Small, Royal Mail's cheapest parcel is £3.95 bought online, and Parcel2Go's destination pages start at £7.79 to Germany.
What business courier services actually change
Three things, usually: the rate, the collection arrangement and the billing. The rate is a discount off a published band, which is why knowing the band matters more than knowing the discount. Collection moves from a per-item fee to a scheduled pickup, which is worth having above a handful of parcels a day and is dead weight below it. And billing moves from card-per-parcel to an account, which is an administrative convenience rather than a saving.
The bands a small shop is actually negotiating against
Evri publishes 0-1kg Small at £3.04, 1-2kg Small at £3.52 and 2-5kg at £6.59. Royal Mail publishes a 2nd Class Small Parcel at £3.95 online and a Tracked 48 Small Parcel at £3.65, which is the cheaper and better of the two. If most of your orders sit in one band, a percentage discount off a different band is worth nothing to you, and that is the question to ask before signing anything.
Where volume actually starts to pay
On the published figures the gap between bands inside one carrier is larger than the gap between carriers. Evri's 0-1kg Small at £3.04 against its 1-2kg Standard at £4.79 is £1.75 apart for parcels a customer would call the same size. A shop that packs to stay in the lower band saves more than one that switches carrier for a small percentage, and it can do it this week without a contract.
The international tail, which is a separate business
A shop with even a small share of overseas orders is running two shipping operations. Parcel2Go publishes £7.79 to Germany, £9.19 to Spain, £11.59 to the USA and £11.75 to Canada on its own destination pages. Each of those is carriage only: import duty, import VAT and the paperwork are on top, and who pays them is a commercial decision the carrier will not make for you.
Questions people ask about small business shipping uk
What do business courier services cost in the UK?
They are priced off the published bands. Evri publishes 0-1kg Small at £3.04 and 2-5kg at £6.59; Royal Mail publishes a Tracked 48 Small Parcel at £3.65 online. A business rate is a discount from figures like those, read on 10 September 2026.
Is a business account worth it for a small shop?
It depends on volume and on which band your orders sit in. A scheduled collection pays for itself above a few parcels a day; below that, packing to stay in a cheaper band saves more than any discount.
What is the cheapest way for a small business to ship?
On published prices, the lowest band you can genuinely pack into. Evri's 0-1kg Small at £3.04 and Royal Mail's Tracked 48 Small Parcel at £3.65 online are the cheapest published parcel figures in this record.
How much does small business shipping abroad cost?
Parcel2Go's own destination pages publish £7.79 to Germany, £9.19 to Spain, £11.59 to the USA and £11.75 to Canada, each the cheapest of five services priced on that page and carriage only.