When it comes to shipping, one size does not fit all. The shipping needs of a small home business selling handmade jewelry are very different from those of a large online retailer. That’s why WooCommerce gives you the flexibility to add multiple shipping methods, each with its own unique settings.
You can offer free shipping, flat rate shipping, or calculate shipping based on weight, location, or item count. You can even offer different shipping rates for different products, or charge a handling fee. And if you need to get really creative, you can even write your own custom shipping method!
But what if you want to automatically calculate shipping based on the contents of the customer’s shopping cart? Fortunately, WooCommerce makes that easy as well.
There are two ways to automatically calculate shipping in WooCommerce: using the built-in Flat Rate Shipping method, or by installing a plugin like Advanced Shipping Calculator for WooCommerce.
Both methods have their own advantages and disadvantages, so let’s take a look at each one in turn.
The Flat Rate Shipping method is designed to make it easy to offer flat rate shipping to your customers. You can set a flat rate for all orders, or charge different rates for different countries. The advantage of this method is that it’s very simple to set up and use.
The disadvantage is that it doesn’t give you much flexibility when it comes to calculating shipping costs. If you need to charge different rates for different products, or take into account the weight or dimensions of your items, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
The Advanced Shipping Calculator plugin provides a much more flexible way to calculate shipping costs. It lets you set up rules that take into account the weight, dimensions, and quantity of items in the customer’s cart. You can also add handling fees and charge different rates for different countries.
The disadvantage of this plugin is that it’s not as simple to set up as the Flat Rate Shipping method. But if you need more flexibility when calculating shipping costs, it’s definitely worth considering.
