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 available shipping methods. Click the title to edit the shipping method.

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

Enable/Disable - enable or disable this method.

Method Title – the title that users will see during checkout.

Method Description - add method description. It will be under Method Title during checkout.

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 but the Free Shipping one above remains still empty and hasn't got the proper amount entered like on the screeshot below:

Flexible Shipping - Free shipping label

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.

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 rules calculation method. Defaults to Sum.

  • Sum - all rules that match will be summed.
  • PRO Lowest cost - only the lowest cost of matching rules will be applied.
  • PRO Highest cost - only the highest cost of matching rules will be applied.

PRO Cart Calculation - choose if virtual products should be used for calculation of the rules 

  • Cart value - all products in the cart will be used for calculation of the rules 
  • Package value - virtual products in the cart won't  be used for calculation of the rules 

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.  

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.

Import/Export Shipping Methods

PRO Export - lets you save selected shipping methods to CSV file. You can create a backup of shipping methods or easily move it to another shop.

Select shipping methods and click Export selected.

Import - to import CSV file with shipping methods configuration click Import, next add CSV file and click again Import.

If everything is correct shipping methods will be saved. If data in CSV file will be incorrect then you see info what is wrong in which row.

If a comma appears in the shipping class name, in the imported CSV file it must be saved using the code, as in the example below.

Otherwise, the shipping class will be divided into two.

If a shipping class specified in the CSV file is not found in the store it will be created during the import process.

By default plugin uses `;` as column separators in the exported CSV. If you want to change the separator to `,` add the following code to the functions.php of your theme: add_filter('flexible_shipping_csv_delimiter', function() { return ','; });

CSV File

Below is an example of a CSV file generated by the plugin: 

File example

Please mind that importing the configuration from the CSV file will work only for the new shipping methods.

If you try to import the CSV file content to already existing shipping method, you will probably get the Invalid value for Calculation Method in row number 3 error or similar.

If you e.g. have modified the previously exported CSV file and want to use it to update the already existing shipping method, you need to simply delete the method first and then import the CSV to the newly created one.

Rules

You can add unlimited rules to a shipping method by clicking Insert rule button. Calculations are made in the order of rule in the table. Drag & drop rules to change the order of calculations.

Based on - select what the rule is based on.

  • None - select for a fixed fee.
  • Price - based on cart total. If a shipping class is assigned to this rule cart total will apply only to products from this class.
  • Weight - based on the total weight of the cart contents.
  • PRO Item - based on the number of items in the cart,
  • PRO Cart line item - based on the number of cart line items.
In rules based on weight, weight ranges will be rounded based on the selected accuracy. If in one rule you set Max as 10 and in the next Min as 10,1, the basket weight will be rounded to one decimal place. In this case, if the basket weight is e.g. 10,01, it will be assigned to the first rule. 

Min / Max - enter a range for a 'based on' parameter. The shipping cost will be calculated for this range. Leave empty for any value.

For example: for a rule based on price enter min and max cart total values for matching a rule

Cost per order - enter a cost for the rule.

PRO Additional cost - enter an additional cost per Value field.

PRO Value - enter the value for Based on condition. Additional cost will be calculated for every beginning value.

By entering "1" an additional cost will be added for every dollar (or other currency in your store), item, kg (or other weight value in your store) or cart line item.
For a rule based on Item entering "5" will add additional cost for every beginning of 5 items.

PRO Shipping class - which products or shipping classes the rule applies to.

  • All products - for all products with or without a shipping class.
  • None - for all products without a shipping class.
  • Any class (must be set) - for products with any selected class.
  • Select class - select one or more shipping classes.

PRO Stop - check to stop calculating the following rules if this rule is matched.

PRO Cancel - check to disable this shipping method in the checkout when the rule is matched.

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