Online store owners need to determine the cost of shipping products to their basic cost based on many variable factors such as the weight of the products, shipping country, region, size, etc.
The WooCommerce platform provides the ability to adjust the shipping cost using many different strategies, for example the flat shipping price, the variable shipping price, or free shipping options. You can adjust the shipping options using the internal WooCommerce store settings or by relying on the advanced product shipping add-ons for the WooCommerce store.
Because of the importance of this step, we will present to you in the article all the options that you can rely on to accurately and appropriately determine the cost of shipping products to your online store.
Adjust the cost of shipping products to your WooCommerce store
The uses of the methods provided by the WooCommerce platform for adjusting shipping vary based on the number of products on the online store. The larger the number, the more you need easier options to control shipping options, as well as based on the shipping options required, for example, size, weight, or product, tracking options, and much more.
Therefore, we will present to you a set of multiple options that you can rely on and that include most of the needs of different online store owners. These options can be divided into 3 basic points as follows:
1- The basic shipping methods within the WooCommerce system
The basic way to adjust shipping options in your online store is to rely on the shipping options available directly within the WooCommerce platform, which are divided into three options as follows:
- Flat Rate : It is a shipping method that helps you determine a fixed price for shipping products on your online store, with the ability to specify this price on the total invoice as a percentage or a fixed number, or specify a fixed price for each item within the shopping cart or a percentage on each specific amount of the invoice.
- Free Shipping : The second option is to provide the ability to ship products for free to customers, with the possibility of linking this option with a minimum number of purchases, whether in cost or number, as well as by relying on specific discount coupons.
- Local Pickup : The third option helps to ship products to the branches of the online store closest to the customer, and the customer picks up those products from the branch, and this option is also mostly free.
All of the previous options provide you with multiple customization options, for example, linking shipping options to specific products or a specific shipping area. You can review the article explaining how to manage shipping options on WooCommerce to learn all the details of shipping options on WooCommerce and how to deal with them in a practical way.
The previous options may not be suitable for the requirements of your online store and you need more advanced shipping options, for example, linking the shipping cost to the product weight, size, order quantity, product type, etc.
Also, if you own a large number of products, you need auxiliary tools to modify all the products quickly, so you may need to rely on add-ons to determine the cost of shipping the products to the WooCommerce store to facilitate and provide all of these options, and this is what we will explain in the next paragraph, so continue reading with us.
2- Add Flat Rate Shipping
The Flat Rate Shipping Plugin for WooCommerce is one of the best WordPress plugins specialized in determining the cost of shipping products to a WooCommerce store in an organized and organized manner, while providing many different options and features, the most important of which are the following:
- The ability to customize fixed shipping value options on your online store and modify the shipping options for all products on your online store from the internal control panel for quick addition, and therefore it will be useful if your online store includes a large number of products.
- The ability to flexibly customize variable shipping options based on different variables, for example, geographical location, quantity, value of products, total value of the marketing basket, nature of the products themselves, and much more.
- The possibility of developing free shipping options when reaching a minimum number of products or the value of payments on your online store, as well as the possibility of restricting free shipping options based on different options from the previous variables.
- Customize the appearance of shipping options available for each geographical region separately in front of the customer during the checkout process in your online store.
- The ability to customize an expected delivery period for products based on the previous variables in addition to the geographical location as well, with the possibility of modifying it during the shipping period to suit the shipping companies.
- You can also rely on it to prepare a table showing the shipping costs manually, based on conditions or rules specific to your online store, for example, weight or size limits, etc.
- The possibility of linking shipping options and costs to the membership system on your online store, where you provide advanced or special shipping options for customers who subscribe to your online store, or allocate a special package for premium shipping, etc.
The Flat Rate Shipping Plugin for WooCommerce provides a free version that you can rely on to customize the basic shipping options on your online store, but you will find restrictions on many of the advanced options that require you to upgrade to the paid version.
The paid version of the Flat Rate Shipping Plugin for WooCommerce starts at $129 per site with a one-year license with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
3- Add Table Rate Shipping
The Table Rate Shipping By Woocommerce add-on provides functionality close to the previous Flat Rate Shipping Plugin For WooCommerce and is an excellent alternative to it. It is worth noting that it is a version of the WooCommerce platform itself, as the name of the add-on suggests, so you will find great compatibility between it and the WooCommerce platform and it provides many different features, the most important of which are the following:
- It provides a distinctive and simple user interface that helps you set different shipping values on your online store easily, while clearly previewing all variables and shipping value rules for products.
- The ability to customize shipping options based on many factors from the number of products in the cart, cart value, product price, location, and more.
- The ability to prepare a manual table to determine shipping options for each product separately or combine several factors to determine the shipping cost.
- Providing auxiliary tools that help you prepare different functions that help you prepare shipping options allocated to each product separately.
- The ability to customize shipping options based on a specific value for the unit weight or volume of the product.
- The ability to customize shipping options based on separate items, for example calculating the shipping cost as a percentage of the most expensive product in the shopping cart, the largest size, the heaviest product, and many other factors.
- The ability to customize shipping options based on the priority of variable factors. For example, the shipping cost is calculated based on the size, then the weight, then the region, and the largest shipping value among them is obtained.
As for the cost of the Table Rate Shipping By Woocommerce add-on, it starts from 99 US dollars with a license for one site with a 30-day warranty on trying the add-on. Unfortunately, the add-on does not provide a free version or a trial version that you can rely on to try the add-on or for limited use of it.
4- Shipping methods based on API connectivity options
The third method for determining the cost of shipping products to a WooCommerce store is to rely on the option of linking via API directly with shipping companies. This option is considered the most advanced and accurate for e-store owners.
This is because when you link your online store with shipping companies via API, the shipping company automatically withdraws the entire product characteristics from your online store in terms of weight, size, price, etc., and then when the customer orders the product and selects the appropriate shipping method, the shipping cost is automatically determined based on the company’s pricing. The shipping itself thus avoids the problems of incorrect pricing error.
Also, shipping companies may change the shipping price and pricing mechanism from time to time, so you will be forced to repeat the steps for calculating the shipping cost according to the new variables and update them again on the online store, but you will not do these steps if you rely on the automatic pricing policy for the shipping cost.
But the main drawback of this method is that it is only available in major shipping companies, for example, USPS, DHL, UPS, or FedEx, through ready-made add-ons, for example the following add-ons:
- WooCommerce FedEx Shipping
- WooCommerce DHL Shipping
- WooCommerce UPS Shipping
- WooCommerce UPS Shipping
However, if you rely on local shipping companies, you may find it difficult to obtain the appropriate add-on for them, or you may need to apply advanced settings that require some programming experience, in the event that API features are provided for the local shipping company’s digital accounts.
In the end, if your online store covers a wide geographical range and includes a large number of products of different sizes, weights, and values, you will certainly face difficulty in automatically determining the appropriate shipping cost for your online store.
Also, if the shipping cost is incorrectly estimated or specified on your online store, the matter may certainly reflect negatively in terms of profits, so you must review the appropriate shipping values and calculate them based on the various variables that shipping companies rely on, and then add them to your online store in an organized and correct manner.
If the variables are simple, you can rely on the basic shipping options on WooCommerce. However, if the variables are multiple or complex, or you need to modify a large number of products, it will not be enough for you to rely on the default options of WooCommerce, but you will need additions for higher customization options.
