Delivery fees are an important part of any sales activity.
Woocommerce definitely supports this feature.
In many cases, shipping charges is a complex business activity. Therefore, you need to know how to set up shipping charges in Woocommerce. Only then will you know how to properly set up your business problem.
This article dives into all the shipping functionality currently supported by Woocommerce.
Without further ado, let’s get started.
Contents
Enable Debug Shipping Mode
In the process of learning about shipping functionality in Woocommerce, you should enable debugging mode. In doing so, the shipping area that matches the customer’s address at checkout will be displayed on the screen. It’s handy to check how shipping is calculated when you’re set up.
To enable error correction mode, go to Woocommerce -> System Status -> Tools and tick the Shipping method debugging mode
If your store doesn’t need the shipping and shipping functionality, you can turn it off in Woocommerce -> Settings -> General . Just select Disable shipping & shipping calculations in Shipping Location(s) and it’s OK
Set up shipping zone (Shipping Zone)
To set up shipping area, go to Woocommerce -> Settings -> Shipping . The first time you enter, you will see a prompt to add a new area, and a default area called Rest of the World .
Rest of the World is for customers who are not in any of the shipping areas you add.
If a customer enters an address in an area where you don’t have a shipping method, they will see a message that no shipping methods are available.
Click Add Shipping Zone to add a shipping zone. A new row appears. Here we enter the area name, for example “Inner City”. In this area we will add two cities Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi.
With this setting, the other provinces will belong to the Rest of the World area.
Arrange delivery area
The delivery area that matches the customer’s address will be reviewed from top to bottom. The first delivery area found will be used. If no area is found, Rest of the World will be used
To arrange shipping area:
- Drag and click the hook icon.
- Drag and drop
- Save changes
Edit shipping area
To edit the shipping area:
- Hover over the Zone Name you want to edit, the Edit option will appear
- Click Edit, now you can edit the Regions section as you like
- After editing, remember to click Save changes
Add delivery method for each region
You now have a delivery area. We will add a shipping method to the delivery area. For example, in the inner city, delivery is free, in other provinces, the shipping fee is 100,000 VND.
To add a shipping method, click the plus button next to the shipping method.
A dialog box appears with a list of shipping methods. We have 3 default shipping methods
Flat Rate : set normal delivery fee
Free Shipping ( Free Shipping): allows free shipping
Local Pickup: Customers come to the store to pick up goods. This appears as a message line, no complicated calculations at all
You choose a shipping method. If you need to add a shipping method, click the plus button again. Our screen after adding the shipping method:
Payment screen for area with multiple shipping methods:
Remove shipping method
To remove a shipping method for a region, simply click on the area name. At this point a list of shipping methods appears. You hover over the method you want to delete and select delete.
Configure the delivery method
For the shipping method to work, you must configure the shipping method accordingly.
You click on the shipping method to go to the shipping method configuration screen
Set the floor rate (Flat Rate)
Enter a descriptive title as it will show up at the checkout screen.
Tax Status : Choose whether to apply tax on shipping costs.
Cost : The cost field allows you to set up a fixed delivery cost, a delivery fee based on a percentage of the total order value, and a delivery fee based on the number of products.
Several placeholder variables are available:
- [qty]: number of products in the order
- [fee]: additional charge has 2 arguments: percent: percentage of total order value, min_fee : minimum value.
Some input examples for the cost field and detailed explanations for your understanding:
- 100000 : Fixed delivery fee is 100,000 VND
- 2000 * [qty]: Fixed delivery fee of 2,000 VND for each product in the order. For example, an order has 5 products. So the delivery fee is 10,000 VND.
- 2000 + ( 2000 * [qty] ): Delivery fee for order is 2,000 VND, plus each product is 2,000 VND. For example, you have 5 products, so the delivery fee is: 2000 + (2000 * 5) = 12,000 VND.
- [fee percent=”10″ min_fee=”100000″]: Delivery fee is 10% of the total order value, but this 10% must be greater than 10,000 VND, if smaller, the usage fee is 10,000 VND.
Here you only add a single charge type. If you want to add more types of calculation, you can add an additional shipping method.
For example, you want to have different shipping charges for regular shipping and express delivery. Now you just need to click the plus button to add shipping methods and choose the floor rate.
You then enter each floor scale and change the settings accordingly.
Set up free shipping
Free shipping is one of the marketing methods that helps encourage customers to spend more money. For example, free shipping with orders over 100,000 VND.
On the free shipping setup screen, you configure the free shipping condition when:
- Customer uses discount/coupon code.
- Total minimum order value with a fixed rate.
- Total minimum order value and use with coupon.
- Minimum order total or use with a coupon.
You want more complicated free shipping conditions. You can use Woocommerce Advanced Free Shipping plugin .
Once installed and activated, you will see a new tab in the Shipping section of Woocommerce.
You should tick ” Hide other shipping methods when free shipping methods when free shipping is available “. That way you can hide shipping methods when an order is eligible for free shipping.
Click on Add Free Shipping rate to add a free shipping method.
This is the screen to add a free shipping method.
The first is a box for you to enter the name of the shipping method, this name is only used for management purposes, not displayed on the outside.
Next is setting up conditions for free shipping.
The last part, shipping title, is the shipping method name that will be displayed externally.
For example, I want free shipping for orders that satisfy the following 3 conditions:
- Customers buy 10 or more products in an order
- Total order value must be from 500,000 VND or more
- Only applicable for customers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh.
To create those conditions, we will branch OR (or) like below:
Use the type of delivery (Shipping Class)
This feature helps us to create a group of shipping types and use them separately for some special products. Let’s say you have a few products that are very expensive to ship like by plane.
Delivery type helps us to create different floor rates as we will see below.
First you go to Woocommerce -> Settings -> Delivery -> Types of delivery . Click Add Shipping Class to start the shipping type.
You then modify the product to use this type of shipping:
The delivery cost calculation for the newly created delivery type will be in the floor rate. You go to the shipping zones section and edit the floor rate you want to set the cost for the type of delivery.
There is a cost field for each type of delivery.
No Shipping Class Cost : leave it blank, it will use the above cost if the product does not have a corresponding shipping type.
The worksheet types section has 2 options:
Per order (Charge shipping for higher shipping class): If the order has multiple products with different shipping class. It will choose the shipping cost of the most expensive shipping class.
Per class (shipping fee for each shipping class separately): Charges shipping separately for each class.
To make it easier for you to understand the options above, I will give an example. I create 2 different types of delivery with the names respectively: Bulky goods and Special delivery charges. Each category I assign to a product
Next, I will set up how to charge for these classes at the floor rate for orders outside Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, as shown below:
In the screen to set the floor rate, I set the fixed cost to be 100,000 VND, the cost of “Bullying goods” to be 200,000 VND and the cost of “Special delivery fee” to be 500,000 VND. The spreadsheet type I chose is “Calculate shipping for a higher shipping class”.
Now I will order 3 products: one product without shipping class, one product with shipping class under “Bullying”, and one product under “Special Delivery Charge”.
Here is the payment screen:
The floor rate now is 600,000 VND. Because the order has 2 products with 2 different shipping classes with the cost of 500,000 VND and 100,000 VND respectively. I have set up ” Charge shipping for higher shipping class “, so the fee of 500,000 VND is used. This fee plus 100,000 fee for the floor rate will be 600,000 VND.
Through this example hope you will understand the shipping class.
Calculate delivery fee based on volume
By default, Woocommerce does not support volume billing. If you want functionality, install the Weight Based Shipping for Woocommerce plugin.
After installing you go to Woocommerce -> Settings -> Shipping -> Weight Based to set up.
Rules
This section allows you to add a rule for charging a forwarding fee. You can add many different rules. By default there is already a rule named mail created for you.
Rules Settings
This section is to set up the current rule you are selecting. You can change the display header that customers see at the checkout screen and choose whether to apply tax on shipping based on volume.
Conditions
This section sets the conditions for applying the current rule. You can choose the country to apply this rule, or just apply the rule by total volume or apply the rule by the total order value.
Cost
This is the fee for the current rules. Details of options:
- Base Cost: Fixed fee for shipping by weight.
- Weigth Rate: Rate of delivery fee by weight. For example, enter charge 2000 per 1kg, meaning 2000 VND per 1kg.
Modifiers
Set minimum and maximum fees for volume shipping.
Epilogue
The article helped you understand the shipping fee setting in Woocommerce. You have learned how to create a shipping area. Add shipping method for each region. How to set up those shipping methods.
Then you know how to create delivery types for specific product groups. Finally you know how to use a plugin that allows you to charge for shipping by volume.
I think the shipping fee is quite complicated. It takes a lot of practice to understand the concepts.
If you have any problems, leave a comment below.
