A shipping zone is a geographic location where a certain set of shipping methods and rates apply. You can add as many shipping zones as you need as customers can see the methods available for their address only.
Shipping zones are introduced in WooCommerce version 2.6 to bring more flexibility while configuring your shipping methods. Legacy shipping methods (Flat Rate, International Flat Rate, Local Pickup and Delivery, and Free Shipping) are rejected. So, it’s highly recommended to you disable these and setting up new rates within shipping zones as soon as possible.
Flat Rate Shipping
Flat Rate Shipping is the free shipping method in WooCommerce. It allows you define a standard rate per item, per shipping class or per order. We will cover the set up and some additional options of flat rate shipping below.
Setup and Configuration
To get started,
→ Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping.
→ Then Select a Shipping Zone and click the + icon to Add Shipping Method. A new window like the following display.
→ From the drop down menu select Flat Rate like the following screenshot.
→ Now click Add shipping method.
→ Click Flat Rate in the row that you want to define. Each Shipping Zone may have different Flat Rates.
You will see a different screen like following:
→ Enter a Method Title that displays to customers in checkout.
→ Select Tax Status to define whether or not tax is applicable to the shipping amount.
→ Enter Cost in the Cost field. You can add additional costs per item to this field.
You can left blank to disable Flat Rate except where costs are added for Shipping Classes. For further details on Flat Rate see the Advanced costs below.
→ Now Save the Changes.
Advanced Costs
The Cost field option on above allows you to charge a flat rate per item, a percentage based cost or a minimum fee.
Following are details:
[qty]– number of items[fee]– additional fees[fee percent="10" min_fee="20"]– Percentage-based fee. Fee has two optional arguments.
- percent – Percentage based on total order cost.
- min_fee – Minimum amount. It is useful when using percentages.
Shipping Classes
Shipping classes interface adds a few more fields:
- There is one cost field for each shipping class (like the above screenshot).
- No Shipping Class Cost is useful if you use the Per Class option below. Otherwise, use the Cost field above.
- Calculation Type – There are two types:
- Per Order – Choose the most expensive option based on shipping costs in the cart.
- Per Class – Charges shipping for each shipping class.
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Free Shipping
Free shipping is a great offer to attract customers to buy products from online store. To attract your customers you have to set up the free shipping option in WooCommerce properly. In this article we will cover how to set up the free shipping in WooCommerce properly.
Setup and Configuration of Free Shipping
To offer the free shipping method in any online store, it must be added to a Shipping Zone and you can add this as many as you like in Shipping Zones. To get started,
→ Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping.
→ Then Select a Shipping Zone and click the + icon to Add Shipping Method. A new window like the following display.
→ From the drop down menu select Free Shipping like the following screenshot and click on Add Shipping Method.
→ Click on the Free Shipping row that you wish to define.
This will take you to a different screen to configure the free shipping method for that specific shipping zone.
• Enter a Title that displays to customers in checkout.
• Now select Free Shipping Requires… in the drop down menu. When you will click on the drop down menu, you will see the following options like the above screenshot:
− N/A – Not available.
− A Valid Free Shipping Coupon – A coupon that enabled for free shipping.
− A Minimum Order Amount – Set the minimum amount in the field.
− A Minimum Order Amount OR a Coupon
− A Minimum Order Amount AND a Coupon
→ Now Save the Changes.
Create Free Shipping Coupons
You can create a coupon. To create,
- Go to WooCommerce > Coupons.
- Click on Add Coupon.
- Tick the Allow Free Shipping checkbox.
- Then Publish.
You can also enable free shipping for coupons.
- Go to the Free Shipping option you set up earlier.
- Select the option A valid free shipping coupon from the drop down.(Free Shipping Requires..)
- Save the changes.
All your customers will be able to use the coupon for free shipping.
Coupon vs. Minimum Amount
If you set a minimum amount and have free shipping coupons, the coupons take priority. If the customer has a coupons, the minimum amount is ignored. If the customers has no coupon, then minimum amount will be checked.
Advanced Options of Free Shipping
Enabling or disabling Free shipping via hooks
In WordPress, Hooks allow you to change or add code without editing core files. They are used extensively throughout WordPress and WooCommerce. Hooks are very useful for developers.
There are two types of hooks available in WooCommerce: actions and filters.
- Action allow you to insert custom code at various points and
- Filter allow you to manipulate and return a variable which it passes.
Note that, WooCommerce does allow you to create custom templates for your site, it’s usually best to avoid this if it is possible. New versions of various templates are often released along with the plugin updates.
The free shipping method has an is_available function that can be hooked into like the following code:
return apply_filters( 'woocommerce_shipping_' . $this->id . '_is_available', $is_available );
This means you can use add_filter()on woocommerce_shipping_free_shipping_is_available and this will return true or false.
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Local Delivery (removed)
Local Delivery is a shipping method in WooCommerce to deliver products locally. The taxes on Local delivery are defined by your shop base location by default. It has been removed from Legacy Shipping.
To enable and configure Local Delivery go to: WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > Local Delivery
Local Pickup (removed)
Local pickup is the third shipping options available in WooCommerce besides flat rate and free shipping. It allow users to collect the item(s) they purchased from your online store by themselves.
To enable and configure Local Pickup from go to: WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > Local Pickup.
The taxes will be based on your shop base location, not the customer’s address.
To disable tax calculation for Local Pickup, add the following snippet at the end of your functions.php file:
add_filter( 'woocommerce_apply_base_tax_for_local_pickup', '__return_false' );
Related Article: Legacy Shipping Options
