Courier services in Bangladesh for online shops, compared (2026)

Published 7 October 2026 · 4 min read

For an online shop, a courier is more than a delivery charge. It is also the cut it takes of the cash it collects, what it charges when a parcel comes back, and how long it holds your money. Here is what Pathao, Steadfast, Paperfly and eCourier say on their own pages, as read on 7 October 2026. Charges change, so check before you book.

1. Five things to compare

The delivery charge for the areas you send to most, at the weight you usually send. The cash on delivery charge, and what it is worked out on. What a returned parcel costs. How soon the money reaches you, and where: bank or bKash. And whether the prices you are reading include VAT.

2. Pathao

Pathao publishes three weights. Within the same city, a parcel up to 500 g is ৳60, up to a kilo ৳70 and up to 2 kg ৳90, delivered in 24 hours. From Dhaka to another district it is ৳110, ৳130 and ৳170, in 72 hours, and Dhaka to Narayanganj, Gazipur, Keraniganj or Savar is ৳80, ৳100 and ৳130. Past 2 kg, each kilo adds ৳15 within a city and ৳25 elsewhere. Prices exclude VAT.

Cash on delivery costs 1%. A returned parcel is charged 50% of its delivery charge on top, except within Dhaka and the Dhaka metro area. Pathao pays into a bank account or a personal bKash account. Its Bangla page does not say how often; the FAQ on its English courier page, read on 8 October, describes InstaPay, which sends payouts automatically in three cycles a day.

3. Steadfast

Steadfast says it delivers the same day in Dhaka and the next day everywhere else, across 64 districts and 495 upazilas. Its delivery charges come from a calculator on its pricing page rather than a printed table, and exclude VAT.

Its terms set the cash on delivery charge at 1% of the amount collected after the delivery charge is taken off, and say it does not charge for return parcels. Its homepage says payout comes the next day; the terms say a merchant asks for payment in the merchant panel, to a bank or to bKash, Nagad or Rocket.

4. Paperfly

Paperfly prints one table: ৳70 up to a kilo in the same city, ৳110 to the suburbs (for a Dhaka shop: Savar, Keraniganj, Dohar, Tongi, Gazipur and Narayanganj) and ৳130 to the rest of the country, with ৳20 for each further kilo, up to 8 kg. Its prices include VAT.

Cash on delivery is free within the same city and 1% of the amount collected elsewhere. It says there is no extra charge for a return, only the one attempted delivery, and says it guarantees payment within 24 hours of delivery. It delivers the next day inside Dhaka and in 24 to 72 hours elsewhere, to 64 districts and 491 upazilas.

5. eCourier

eCourier charges ৳80 inside Dhaka (24 to 48 hours), ৳130 to a city outside Dhaka (3 to 4 days) and ৳160 to a thana or union (5 to 7 days), for a parcel up to a kilo, with ৳30 for each further kilo.

Its cash on delivery charge is the higher of 1% or ৳10 inside Dhaka and the higher of 2% or ৳20 outside. Its pricing page does not give a return charge, a payout schedule or a VAT note.

6. RedX

RedX’s website would not load for us on the day we read the others, so it has no figures here. Our delivery charge calculator includes the rates RedX publishes, beside Pathao’s and Steadfast’s.

7. One parcel, four couriers

Take a one-kilo parcel from Dhaka to a city in another district, with ৳1,200 to collect. Pathao charges ৳130 and about ৳12 for the cash, plus VAT. Paperfly charges ৳130 and ৳12, with VAT included. eCourier charges ৳130 and ৳24, because its cash charge outside Dhaka is 2%. Steadfast’s charge comes from its calculator, and its 1% is worked out after delivery, so about ৳11.

Change the parcel and the answer changes. Within your own city, Paperfly takes nothing for the cash and Pathao is ৳60 under 500 g. If many of your parcels come back, the return charge matters more than the delivery charge.

8. How to choose

Send ten parcels with each of two couriers to the places you sell most, and count three things: how many arrived on time, how many came back, and when the money reached you. Your own numbers beat any table.

Nothing stops you using two: one for your own city and one for the rest of the country. Keep the tracking number on each order either way, so “parcel kothay?” is answered in seconds. Our courier tracking page opens each courier’s own tracking page.

Sells Pilot books Steadfast, Pathao or RedX from the order, keeps the tracking number on it, and checks the parcel’s status for you; a returned parcel puts its stock back on sale. Set your delivery charges by district once, and the assistant and the website both quote the same figure.