Flexible Shipping - A complete guide to shipping methods

Adding the shipping method

In the Shipping Methods table, you can see all the important information about the available shipping methods. Click their titles to edit the already existing shipping method.

If you want to create a new shipping method, simply click Add New button next to the section title.

Flexible Shipping shipping method configuration screen

General Settings

Enable/Disable - enable or disable this shipping method.

Method Title – enter the method title which your customers will see in the cart/checkout.

Method Description - optionally, you can also add a method description which will be displayed under the method title in the cart/checkout.

Free Shipping

PRO Free Shipping Requires - select the method how the free shipping should be triggered:

Minimum order amount - by placing an order higher than the defined amount.
Free shipping coupon - by applying the WooCommerce coupon.
Free shipping coupon or minimum order amount - by applying the WooCommerce coupon or placing an order higher than the defined amount.
Free shipping coupon and minimum order amount - by applying the WooCommerce coupon and placing an order higher than the defined amount.

Free Shipping - enter the total from which this shipping method is free, this will override the rules configured below if the order total is reached.

PRO Coupons discounts - tick this checkbox if the free shipping calculation should ignore the price changes coming from the used coupons and it should be calculated using the original prices before the coupon was applied.

Free Shipping Label - enter a custom label for free shipping eg. Free. Free shipping doesn't have a label since WooCommerce 2.6.

If the Free Shipping Label field was filled in but the Free Shipping one above remains still empty and hasn't got the proper amount entered like on the screeshot below:

it will be treated the same as it has the 0 value entered, granting the customers the free shipping starting from $0.

'Left to free shipping' notice - tick this checkbox to display your customers the notice with the amount of price left to free shipping. Once it is ticked, the notice will be displayed in the cart and on the checkout page this way:

If you have several shipping methods with different free shipping amounts, the plugin will use the lowest of them to calculate the missing amount. This also applies to standard WooCommerce shipping methods - free shipping and flat rate.

You can customize the notice above using the flexible_shipping_free_shipping_notice_text filter. Click here to see how to use it →

Please mind that if you choose the Display prices during cart and checkout: Including tax option at WooCommerce → Settings → Tax → Tax options, the amount which the customer has to spend in the shop to get free shipping will be calculated using the gross amount. If the Display prices during cart and checkout: Excluding tax option was picked, the net amount will be used instead.

Cost Calculation

PRO Maximum Cost - enter the maximum cost for this shipping method. If the cost based on the rules is higher, this maximum will be used instead.

Rules Calculation - choose the rules calculation method from:

Sum - selected by default. If picked all the matching rules will be summed up.
PRO Lowest cost - only the lowest cost of the matching rules will be applied.
PRO Highest cost - only the highest cost of the matching rules will be applied.

PRO Cart Calculation - choose if the virtual products should be taken into consideration while calculating the shipping cost.

Cart value - all the products in the cart will be considered while calculating the rules.
Package value - the virtual products will be excluded from shipping cost calculation.

Advanced Options

Visibility - check to show this shipping method only for logged in users.

Default - check to make this shipping method default during checkout.

FS Debug Mode - allows enabling FS Debug Mode for that shipping method. You can read more about debug mode in this article.

Shipping integration

Integration - further shipping integrations such as DPD UK when the DPD UK plugin is installed and active.

Service - if you use the above integrations, select the service you want to integrate.

Shipping Cost Calculation Rules

You can define as many rules as you need for the single shipping method by clicking Add rule button. Calculations are made according to the order of the rules in the table. Simply drag & drop the rules to change the calculations' order.

When - select the condition the rule will be based on.

Always - select for a fixed fee.
Price - based on the cart total in the shop's default currency selected in the WooCommerce settings. If a price-based rule is configured in combination with a shipping class, it will only be applied to the products with this shipping class assigned.
Weight - based on the cart's total weight in accordance with weight unit chosen in the WooCommerce settings.
PRO Item - based on the number of items in the cart.
PRO Volume - based on the volume of the products in the cart in accordance with the unit chosen in the WooCommerce settings.
PRO Time of the Day - based on the defined time frames.
PRO Max dimension - based on the product's maximal dimension allowed.
PRO Cart line item - based on the number of cart line items.
PRO Shipping Class - based on the selected shipping class or one of the following options:
- All products - for all the products with or without a shipping class assigned.
- None - for all products without a shipping class assigned.
- Any class (must be set) - for products with any shipping class assigned.
- Select class- select one or more shipping classes the rule will be applied to.
PRO Day of the week - based on the day the order is placed.
PRO Single product total overall dimensions - based on the total overall dimensions of the single product in the cart. The single product's length, width and height will be summed up and the result matched if it fits the defined acceptable max dimensions' ranges. Especially useful for conditional hiding the shipping methods e.g. if a single product is too big for shipping or to verify if it fits the carrier's service dimensions limits.

For example, if you sell an 85-inch TV which total overall dimensions amounts to 358.8 cm (208 cm length + 123.3 cm width + 27.5 cm height) and the carrier's max acceptable TOD for standard shipping is 300 cm, you can use the rule below to hide the shipping method once 300 cm is exceeded and offer your customers the local pickup in such case:

If, in turn, you create e.g. 2 rules based on Single product total overall dimensions condition with 2 different ranges defined:

and your customer will put e.g. 4 products into the cart - 3 matching the 1st range and 1 matching the 2nd, the shipping cost coming from these rules will be calculated for each product separately and then summed up giving 3 x $20 + 1 x $50 = $110 total.

Please mind that you can also combine your conditions. If you click the + icon appearing to the right of the range fields ( is from / to) you will be able to define a multiple condition rule which will be used e.g. if the 2 conditions are met - the Weight is from 0 to 20 kg AND the cart contains a products with Large Item Shipping Class.

If your rules are based on weight, weight ranges will be rounded according to the selected accuracy. If you set 10 in the to field in the first rule and the next ones is from is 10.1, the cart weight will be rounded to one decimal place. In such case if the cart weight is e.g. 10.01, the first rule will be used.

is from / to, is between / and, cart contains, is one of - define a range for When condition the shipping cost will be calculated for. If these fields are left empty the rule will be applied to any value.

Example: If your rule is based on price ( When: Price) fill in the cart total price range values when this rule should be used.

rule cost is - enter a cost for the rule.

PRO and additional cost is - enter an additional cost and define the unit according to which it should be added.

Example: If you configure the rule the way below:

the shipping cost will be $12 + $10 per each 1 kg. So if the ordered product's weight is 5 kg, its shipping cost will be $12 + 5 x $10 = $62.

PRO Special action - choose a special action to be triggered for the specific rule when the condition is met:

None - selected by default. No additional action will be performed.
Stop - select it to stop and prevent the next rules from being calculated if the condition defined for this one is met.
Cancel - select this option to hide or disable this shipping method in the cart/checkout when the condition set in this rule is met.

Import/Export Shipping Methods

Flexible Shipping plugin allows you to import and export shipping methods.

Shipping methods can be saved as JSON files. You can find a sample weight-based shipping method already configured and ready to download here (In order to dowload a sample configuration right-click the link and choose the Save Link As...).

We have made multiple ready to use scenarios that you can download and import to your WooCommerce store.

Import shipping methods

To import shipping methods add a new Flexible Shipping method. Then, inside click on Import button.

Choose JSON file with the saved Flexible Shipping method configuration and click the Import button again:

Please mind that importing the saved configuration from the JSON file will work only for the new shipping methods and each shipping method needs to be imported separately. Unfortunately there is no option to import them in bulk yet.

If you e.g. have modified the previously exported JSON file and want to use it to update the already existing shipping method, you need to simply delete this method first. Since all imported shipping methods from the JSON files are saved as the new ones.

`PRO` Export shipping methods

Option available only in the Flexible Shipping PRO version

This feature allows you to export your already configured shipping methods to JSON file. It can be pretty useful and time-saving while recreating a shipping setup at the new site or can be simply used for backup purposes.

To export your shipping method just select it and click on Export selected button. The JSON file with your shipping method will be downloaded.

Then, you can modify it freely using a text editor, adjust it to meet your and import the modified version back.

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