Shipping is the other half of any website that sells things. If you built your store from scratch on an e-commerce platform like Shopify, shipping won’t be a problem because it’s already built into the system. But if you use WordPress, you need to pick a plug-in.
There are many ways to use a shipping plug-in. The main things that a shipping plug-in does are:
- To get the shipping address from the buyer
- To figure out how much shipping this buyer has to pay
- To be able to print a label for shipping
The cost of shipping is based on the rate you set up or on how the plug-in works, whichever is the case.
It’s important to do this so that you don’t lose money. If you already have free shipping, you don’t need this plug-in. But if you don’t, check out the seven best e-commerce shipping plug-ins for WordPress.
But first you have to put WooCommerce in place. WooCommerce is a free plug-in for WordPress that you need to install. It is a piece of software that works with many different plug-ins or apps. It’s kind of like a store where you can buy apps for WordPress.
WooCommerce is free to use, but you have to pay for the plug-ins you want to download and install.
Table of Shipping Rates
The software for Table Rate Shipping costs at least $99 per month. At this price, you can only use the plug-in on one site. If you have a lot of sites, you can pay $149 for five sites or $299 for 25 sites.
Here’s what this plug-in does for you:
- Make shipping zones and give each one a different rate.
- Choose a different shipping calculator based on order type, item, line, item classification, and so much more.
- Make shipping prices and rules based on the number of items, their weight, or the price of the item.
With this plug-in, you can also set a shipping price based on a certain percentage. This percentage is based on the total price of the things in the shopping cart, the price of each item, and the total weight.
This is a subscription-based app, and after you buy it, you’ll get support for a full year. If you don’t like it, you can get your money back in 30 days.
WooCommerce Advanced Shipping
This application. You can make your own shipping rates based on the conditions you want. You don’t need to know how to code to use it. It has a simple user interface, and all you have to do is choose the conditions and type in the amount of money you want to charge if these conditions are met.
Here are the good things about this plug-in and what it can do:
- No knowledge of coding needed
- Set up different shipping costs.
- Send packages by country, state, or zip code
- Make shipping prices based on weight, number of items, or a percentage
- Make a shipping table for flat-rate shipping
With this app or plug-in, you can set up the shipping logic based on three main categories. The first is based on what’s in the shopping cart. With this, you can set shipping prices based on the subtotal, the subtotal minus the tax fee, the product content, coupons, the number of items, and the shipment class.
The second is based on the user. With this, you can set shipping prices based on the country, state, zip code, and user role in the system (like VIP or regular customer).
The third one is based on what is being sold. You can set shipping costs based on weight, length, height, stock type, or product category.
The plug-in costs $18 per month and comes with one year of free support. If you want to keep that support for longer, you have to pay $4.88 more.
Weight Based Shipping
Even though the name of the plug-in says that shipping costs are based on weight, this one is flexible enough that you can set up other shipping conditions and prices that don’t depend on weight.
To use it, you need at least version 3.7 of the WooCommerce plug-in and WordPress version 5.2 or higher.
Here are a few good things about this app:
- Make a shipping rate table
- Having the freedom to set different shipping rates for each profile
- Set up shipping costs that go up based on the weight or price of the cart.
- Change the prices for each type of shipping
- You can choose flat-rate shipping.
- Free shipping if certain things are true
You can also set up a rule in this plug-in so that the shipping price changes automatically based on the weight of the cart instead of the weight of the product. You decide how much each item in the list weighs, and if it was added to the cart, the system will automatically add that weight.
This software costs $19 each month. If you want to use the plug-in for more than one client, which means you need an extended license, you have to pay $99.
Shipping Based on Carts
This is a simple shipping app that lets you set the cost of shipping based on what’s in the cart. The product costs only $15, and more than 2,000 people have already bought it. It has a rating of 4.5 stars, and online sellers whose shipping costs depend on what’s in the cart are the best people to use it.
This plug-in has the following benefits and features:
- Set different shipping prices depending on how many items are in the shopping cart
- Use three ways to calculate: subtotal price, number of items, and weight of cart
- Change the rules based on which countries are involved.
- Simple to use
- It lets you set up shipping zones.
- You can use coupons before the subtotal is worked out.
- You can exclude taxes
- Set up a minimum shipping rate, a flat rate, or shipping costs based on a percentage.
- Free updates for life
- Leave out some things you want to send for free.
Even though the plug-in looks simple, it is actually a powerful tool that lets you set different shipping prices for different situations. Even though it doesn’t have a way to set shipping rates for each country, you can still use shipping zones to set different rates for each zone.
UPS for WooCommerce
With this tool, you can get real-time prices from UPS. It is so easy to use that the installation can be done in just five minutes. The good thing is that your buyer will see the UPS logo, which will give you more credibility as a seller.
When the buyer gets to the checkout page, the plug-in will show them how much shipping will really cost. The UPS plug-in, which is connected to the UPS main portal, makes the calculation happen automatically.
Here are some of the pros and cons:
- Customers can pick up their packages from a UPS office if they want to.
- You can turn on the UPS Access Point Service, and the plug-in will tell you where the nearest UPS office is.
- Calculate the cost of shipping automatically based on where the customer lives.
- You can negotiate prices with UPS.
- People can buy insurance
- All kinds of currencies can be used.
- There is a fallback cost in case the UPS systems are down. The customer can still check out with a shipping price where you won’t lose money.
- You can connect it to a plug-in called WooCommerce Shipping Zones.
This plug-in is free to use, and you can use some of the Basic package’s features. But if you want more features, you’ll need to switch to a better plan. The Pro package costs $59 and can only be used on one website.
Here’s what comes with the Pro package:
- Access Points for UPS
- You can charge a fee for handling or offer cheaper shipping.
- There is an estimate for when it will arrive.
- Automatic packing of boxes
- Multiple currencies supported
The Business plan costs $109 and is the name of the other plan. With this plan, you get everything that comes with the Pro plan, plus you can use the plug-in on up to five sites and get 1-on-1 customer support.
AST stands for Advanced Shipment Tracking.
If you want your customers to be able to track your shipment, this plug-in is great. If they can find out where their order is, they won’t have to ask as many questions and will have less trouble. It will save you more time, which you can use to market your products instead of answering questions about where they are in the shipping process.
Once the package is on its way, the plug-in will let the buyer know about it. The email has a link to their order, so they can check on the status of their shipment by going to that link.
More than 100 carriers or shipping providers can be used with this plug-in. They will get a link to their package and a picture of it. When they click on the link, they will be able to see the status and the tracking display.
Here are some of its features and advantages:
- Customizable tracking information, such as the shipping company, the way the tracking number is shown, the date of shipment, etc.
- Has more than 100 partners who ship goods
- You can add shipping companies that are not on the list.
- You can show tracking information on the email alert.
- You can change how the email alert looks.
- Tracking information on a CSV file can be imported in bulk for your own use.
- If the plug-in is linked to REST API, the tracking information can be changed.
- You can add the status Delivered.
The plug-in is free and is always being updated. As of now, it works with many languages, including Hindi, Italian, Norwegian, Greek, French, Spanish, and many others.
Flat Rate Shipping in the Past
You can make your own rules with this plug-in, even for flat rate shipping costs. You have to program these rules, and when they are met, the prices will show up on the checkout page. You can make rules for each country, item, category, subtotal in the shopping cart, and more.
Here are some of the features and advantages:
- Rates for each country
- Make shipping rates based on the types of products in the cart
- Set up shipping rates based on the total weight of the items in the cart. You can set up shipping prices based on how you’ve tagged your products. Offer different rates based on a customer’s profile.
- Set up shipping costs based on the number of items.
This plug-in costs $99 for use on a single site. There are two more plans, which cost $199 and $249, respectively. For $199, you can use the plug-in on five different websites. On the last and most expensive plan, you can use it on as many websites as you want.
Overall, this is one of the best shipping plug-ins you can find. With this one, you can make a lot of different shipping prices based on different rules and conditions.
Here are the different conditions you can set:
- Country State Postal Code Zip Code Zone Product Variable Product Category Tag SKU
- User Role Attribute-dependent Cart Total Quantity
- Coupon Weight Shipping Class Enabled or Expire on a Specific Date
- Method of Payment
- Not more than (>=)
- More than (>=)
- Between (0-10)
You can also make advanced shipping rules based on the total cost of the cart, the subtotal of each category, the weight of the cart, and a lot more.
Summary
So far, these are the best Shipping plug-ins for WordPress. It’s best to use plug-ins that go through WooCommerce. This is because you can be sure that these apps and plug-ins have met WooCommerce’s standards.
If you used stand-alone plug-ins, you might have trouble and not get enough help. Before choosing a shipping plug-in, you need to figure out what you really need. For instance, you might not ship to other countries, so you don’t need a plug-in that lets you set different shipping rates for each country.
