In WooCommerce you can define shipping flat rates per item, per shipping class, or even per order. We will cover those and some additional options below.
WooCommerce Flat Rate Shipping – Getting Started
Based on your needs you may want to set a flat rate shipping fee per item, shipping class, or order. To get started, visit the shipping settings page in WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > Flat Rate. Then:
- Enable the shipping method
- Name the shipping method (this is what customers will see on the front-end)
- Set your price
In the example below, we have named our flat rate shipping option “Economy” and set it to $5.25.
Now we will move on to how to use the rate you’ve defined above on a per item, shipping class, or order basis.
Flat Rate Per Item
If you would like to charge a flat rate per item select Calculation Type > Per Item – charge shipping for each item individually.
In the example below, if a customer had 3 items in their cart they would be charged $15.75 for shipping.
Flat Rate Per Shipping Class
If you would like to charge a flat rate per shipping class select Calculation Type > Per Class – charge shipping for each shipping class in an order.
Note: it is important that you have already established and added products to shipping classes to use this method. Learn how to set up shipping classes.
Then, you can define the flat rates per shipping class. In the example below, we are charging $5.25 for all products that are in the “Over 10 lbs” shipping class we created and $2.25 for all products in the “Under 10 lbs” shipping class we created.
So if a customer had 1 product that is in the “Over” shipping class and 1 product that is in the “Under” shipping class in their cart they would pay $7.50 for shipping.
Note: these are shipping classes we’ve created to define rules for our products, and we’ve already added products to each. Another example of a shipping class you may use is by vendor if you are using dropshipping methods so you can charge what they charge.
Flat Rate Per Order
If you would like to charge a flat rate per order select Calculation Type > Per Order – charge shipping for the entire order as a whole.
In the example below, a customer with 5 items in their cart would pay $5.25 for shipping and a customer with 1 item in their cart would also pay $5.25 for shipping.
Using a per order flat rate shipping option is a great way to encourage customers to buy more products and increase your average items per order.
Other Flat Rate Shipping Options
Trying to come up with a different shipping pricing structure than the ones listed above? WooCommerce will allow you to define some additional costs inWooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > Flat Rate > Shipping Options. We will an example below.
Option Name: this will replace the main “Method Title” that you provided in the first step and will be what the customer sees when they are selecting a shipping option.
Cost: the amount that will be added to the “Cost per Order” and any other costs defined in flat rate shipping.
Per-order: (yes) the additional cost per order. If set to no, it will use the “Calculation Type” (order, item, or class) setting that you defined above.
In the example below, we add $5 per order for priority shipping and $10 per order for express shipping to the originally defined cost per order of $5.25. In this example, the following shipping options would be available to customers:
- Economy $5.25 (defined above)
- Priority $10.25
- Express $15.25
Want to learn more? Check out WooCommerce: The Ultimate Guide.
Other WooCommerce Resources:
60 Tips to Increase Ecommerce Sales Today
Setting Featured Products in WooCommerce
Getting Started With WooCommerce
How To Add Products in WooCommerce
How To Set Up Product Attributes in WooCommerce
How To Add Sizes in WooCommerce
Do you need help setting up your WooCommerce store?
Having trouble setting up shipping options for your WooCommerce store? Modern Marketing Partners has helped many ecommerce business owners launch their online store with WooCommerce. Contact us today for a free quote at 630-868-5060 or email us here.
WooCommerce Shipping Plugins (affiliate links)
WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping Pro Plugin – helps you set up rules in order to calculate the shipping rates for a combination of conditions. If the user’s cart matches the conditions in the rule, the shipping cost you have defined in that rule is applied.
WooCommerce UPS Shipping Plugin with Print Label – helps you completely automate UPS shipping by displaying real-time rates in cart/checkout page, pay postage & print label from within your WooCommerce store, choose boxes automatically and enable tracking.
WooCommerce FedEx Shipping Plugin with Print Label – helps you completely automate FedEx shipping by displaying shipping rates in cart/checkout page, pay postage & print labels from within WooCommerce, automatically identify boxes to pack the items and enable tracking.
Multi-Carrier Shipping Plugin for WooCommerce – combines the power of table rate shipping with real-time rates from shipping companies like FedEx, UPS, USPS, DHL Express & Stamps.com (USPS) to give you a complete shipping solution for your business.
WooCommerce Shipment Tracking Pro – helps to integrate Order tracking functionalities to the WooCommerce shops worldwide. By using this WooCommerce Order tracking plugin, you provide your customers with an easy way to track their shipments for various shipping carriers worldwide.
