How to Set Up Weight-Based Shipping in WooCommerce?
By Sam Nguyen
WooCommerce provides various alternatives for store owners to address the logistical problems they encounter daily with shipping and fulfillment. One such issue is shipping items with a wide range of weights. Using plugins to set up weight-based shipping rules will assist in displaying reasonable shipping prices for each of these items.
This tutorial will help you understand how to set up weight-based shipping in WooCommerce by using a third-party extension. In addition, we also offer some great shipping plugins that will increase your shipping experience effectively.
Why do we need a weight-based shipping system?
Taxes and shipping are usually the two most challenging concerns to deal with when selling products from your website. This can become more complicated if you need to ship out of the nation or deliver bulky products. The easiest method to accomplish this is to incorporate weight-based shipping into WooCommerce. This enables you to more easily define acceptable delivery costs depending on the price of an item’s weight. This truly benefits both the buyer and the vendor. It lets you charge a reasonable fee for shipping more oversized products while also capturing your consumers at an affordable price for their purchases.
When it comes to shipping, one size does not fit all. There are just too many factors to consider. WooCommerce does feature several add-ons, including a table rate shipping style that may be used. While this is another good approach to set up delivery, it does not allow you to deal with weight or correct price. Prices in WooCommerce may be changed based on the nation but not on the weight of an item. Therefore, let us look at a fantastic plugin that will allow you to set various WooCommerce shipping costs based on weight.
How to Set Up Weight-Based Shipping in WooCommerce?
Today’s tutorial will use one of the best shipping plugins for WooCommerce: The WooCommerce Weight Based Shipping. It is a simple yet effective solution that allows you to set varying shipping fees based on weight directly. You can add several rules to cover a wide range of situations. This provides you greater flexibility when it comes to delivery alternatives based on a product’s weight. This plugin does offer a pro version (paid). You are more than welcome to look into it. However, this guideline is based on the free version, which includes all you need.
Step 1: Install and activate the plugin
To begin creating weight-based shipping costs in WooCommerce, first, you need to install and activate the plugin. You may accomplish this by going to the Plugins section of your WordPress dashboard panel. Next, search for the plugin’s name, then install and activate it.
After installing and activating the plugin, go to WooCommerce and head to the Settings section. These settings may be found on your dashboard’s left-side menu. This leads you to the main WooCommerce settings page. There are several tabs in this section. Select the “Shipping” tab. You will find several sub-links under the shipping category. In this situation, you should select the “Weight Based Shipping’‘ link.
Step 2: Create weight-based shipping rules
You are now in the main section, where you may add a weight-based shipping rule. Let’s get started by clicking the “Add Shipping Rules” button.
This will open a new window with a blank canvas. As you can see, no shipping restrictions have yet been applied. When you add rules, they will all be displayed here. You can create a rule simultaneously by clicking on the “Add New” button.
After you click the Add New button, a popup window with numerous setup choices will display. Filling these out will depend on how you want your shipping rule to behave at checkout.
Step 3: Configure the rule settings
Some rule options may be found at the top of the box. Labels, taxable goods, and titles will all be included. Fill in all of these options, whatever you like. Remember that only you will see the rule’s name. This is to help you keep track of the rule you established. Let’s set a name that is familiar to your management to know which and when the rule is being applied.
Step 4: Customize the conditions and charges
Scroll down a bit farther and fill in the conditions. This comprises the following items: destination, order weight, and subtotal. You may experiment with these a lot to get them just right.
Next, you will see the Charges setting. This is where you establish your introductory pricing and weight charge rates. If you have the pro edition of the plugin, you can also add shipping classes here. Keep in mind that this is a setup for the free version. So if it doesn’t apply, skip ahead.
Step 5: Set up prices
Finally, if necessary, you will need to add modifications for specific delivery rates. You have the option of limiting overall cost by combining minimum and maximum price values. When you have finished configuring everything, click the “Close” button at the bottom right of the popup box.
The box will close, and you will notice that a new weight-based shipping item has been added to your list. And that is all! You now have successfully submitted a weight-based shipping method in your WooCommerce store. You may repeat this method as many times as you like. If you activate them, your customers will see them as choices on the checkout page.
5 best weight-based shipping plugins for WooCommerce
Conditional Shipping and Payments
You may use this plugin to control the delivery methods accessible to consumers depending on certain criteria. Conditional Shipping and Payments allows you to deactivate specific delivery methods depending on weight, item count, or cart total. You will provide several delivery options based on the items, categories, or shipping classes. You may also limit the availability of shipping and payment choices for specific customers or user roles.
Outstanding features:
- Disable specific delivery options depending on weight and other factors.
- Offer delivery methods selectively based on items, categories, or shipping classifications.
- Set up a shipping plan for particular objects based on their location.
- Limit the shipping and payment choices available to specific customers or user roles.
- Use dedicated payment channels for subscription purchases, or provide free delivery with subscription renewals.
Price: The plugin comes with the cost of $79 for an annual subscription. SomewhereWarm will handle the support and security with a year of protection and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Flat Rate Box Shipping
Using this plugin, you may create flat rate boxes with predefined charges. Flat Rate Box Shipping allows you to create numerous packages for each of your delivery zones. And, depending on the situation, you can charge a fee per box, weight unit, or percentage of the item cost. The plugin is simple to set up, and even inexperienced WooCommerce users will find it easy to use.
Outstanding features:
- Define flat rate boxes and their associated charges.
- Add costs based on the weight of the unit or the cost of the merchandise.
- Simple to set up.
- Add different box sizes for each delivery zone.
- Fees per box, per weight unit, and a percentage of the item cost should be included.
Price: The plugin costs $49 per year for a yearly subscription. WooCommerce will manage the support and security, with a year of protection and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping
WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping offers highly configurable options for adjusting shipping prices, including weight-based regulations. It allows you to set weight-based shipping restrictions as well as extra costs per weight unit. Furthermore, the plugin features an easy-to-use interface that enables business owners to manage their shipping plans quickly.
Outstanding features:
- Offer a variety of table pricing for each delivery zone.
- Provide several calculation types, such as per order, class, line, or item.
- Configure different rules based on weight, number of goods, price, and so on.
- Additional charges may apply based on weight and other factors.
- Simple user interface for managing various shipping regulations.
Price: An annual subscription to the plugin costs $99/year. WooCommerce will handle support and security, with a one-year warranty and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping Pro
WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping Pro allows you to create various rules for calculating shipping depending on multiple criteria. Using this plugin, you can set up shipping rates depending on product weight or total order weight. It allows you to specify shipping fees based on weight ranges or weight units. Other circumstances on which you may base shipping rules include the total price, product categories, shipping classes, shipment location, and so on.
Outstanding features:
- Set shipping costs based on weight and other factors.
- Set up sophisticated shipping rules quickly depending on items, categories, shipping classes, and so forth.
- There are several calculation alternatives.
- A free add-on allows you to manage per-product delivery.
- English and German translations are pre-installed.
- Shipping rules may be loaded quickly using the performance mode.
Price: The plugin’s yearly membership is $69 per year for a single site. PluginHive will take care of support and security, including a one-year warranty and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Multi-Carrier Shipping Plugin for WooCommerce
Multi-Carrier Shipping Plugin for WooCommerce allows you to display rates from several carriers such as UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL, etc. Furthermore, the plugin enables you to create conditional shipping rules based on product weight. So, using the plugin, you may deliver a product beyond a specific weight range using one carrier and a product below that weight range using a different carrier.
Outstanding features:
- Show the services and pricing of famous shipping companies.
- Use advanced rules in the default shipping methods and shipping carrier choices.
- Options for flexible package packaging
- Assists with both foreign and domestic services.
- Compliant with the multiple-vendor situation
- FedEx predefined boxes are supported.
- Calculation of Shipping Rates in Multiple Currencies
Price: The yearly membership fee for the plugin is $89 per year for a single site. Support and security will be handled by PluginHive, which will provide a one-year warranty and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Conclusion
It might be challenging to find a solution to make shipping as simple as possible in your WooCommerce business. This is especially true if you are shipping a variety of products across many nations. Weight-based shipping will not only make the shipping procedure more manageable for you and your website visitors, but it will also save you a significant amount of time and work when determining how to charge shipping costs on certain goods.
We hope this tutorial will clear your mind on how to set up weight-based shipping in WooCommerce. When it comes to shipping and the shipping procedure, using the plugins above will make your life a lot simpler.
