WC Vendors Pro provides two complete per-product shipping systems. Per product, shipping means that the shipping is applied to that particular product. This ensures that vendors receive the correctly calculated shipping in their commission. The two systems are as follows:
- Flat Rate
- Table Rate
The global options allow either of these to be set as the default shipping system for all vendors. You can override the default shipping system on a per-vendor basis. Both shipping systems can be configured at three different levels within the system.
- Product (Admin and Vendor)
- Vendor Store (Admin and Vendor)
- Globally (Admin Only)
This is also the order in which shipping charges are calculated.
Per Product Shipping
The WC Vendors Pro Vendor shipping system is a per-product shipping system. This means that all shipping settings apply to products individually. Although we do have some vendor store-level fees, fees are generally applied per product.
For example, if you set your national flat rate to $10 and add 2 different products from the same vendor store, the total shipping will be $20.
This means that the shipping rate is applied per product at checkout, so every vendor product will have a shipping rate applied to it. This is not set at the order level.
If you want to provide maximum, minimum, or free shipping fees at the vendor’s store level then you will need to use the flat rate system.
Global Options
The global options available in WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > Vendor Shipping is where you configure the shipping defaults. This includes the shipping system, shipping charges, and all related fees and text regarding the shipping system.
Please Note
Global options are the default options that the shipping system falls back to. If nothing is set here then only product and vendor store-level shipping is checked.
Default shipping charges can be set for the Flat rate system and the table rate system. Depending on which shipping system you choose will depend on the available options shown.
Vendor Options
Since version 1.6.0 we have added an option that allows vendors to select a different shipping system to the global default.
You can set this option under WC Vendors > Settings > Forms > General – Shipping Type.
Enabling this will provide a shipping dropdown on the vendor’s settings page under the shipping tab.
Flat Rate
The flat rate has national and international options, this is true for all levels and have the following options
- Shipping fee
- QTY Override (charge the shipping fee only once no matter the product qty count)
- Free shipping nationally or internationally
- Minimum and Maximum shipping charges per rate (national/international)
- Free shipping orders over
- Disable this method (stop national or international shipping from being available)
Minimum, maximum, and free shipping thresholds
WC Vendors provides the ability for the vendor to set minimum and maximum shipping fees as well as free shipping if the spend is over a specified amount. This can be set at the product level, store level, or globally. This is the only part of our shipping system that runs for both product and store levels. This is because product-level thresholds apply to the product while store-level thresholds apply to the entire vendor’s order.
- Minimum – The minimum shipping fee that will apply
- Maximum – The maximum shipping fee that will apply
- Free shipping – If the customer spends over this amount then free shipping is applied.
Product level thresholds apply to that specific product. Store-level thresholds apply to the vendor’s order as a whole. Both of these thresholds are checked when shipping is calculated. That means if a threshold is triggered at the product level, that product’s shipping and spending will be used in the order calculations.
Shipping threshold calculation example
Product A costs $25 with shipping costs set at the product level
| Rates | Cost |
|---|---|
| National shipping rate | $3 |
| National minimum shipping rate | $10 |
| National maximum shipping rate | $50 |
| National free shipping spend | Not set |
Product B costs $34 with shipping costs set at the store level
| Rates | Costs |
|---|---|
| National shipping rate | $9 |
| National minimum shipping rate | Not set |
| National maximum shipping rate | Not set |
| National free shipping spend | $99 |
Customer Cart Shipping Calculation steps
The following is an example of the shipping system running through the calculations to find the rates for a vendor store including the threshold checks.
Step One: Check the per-product shipping rates either at the product or store or global level.
3x Product A – shipping cost for Product A is $9 ($3 x 3 )
5x Product B – shipping costs for Product B is $45 ($9×5)
Cart total spend – Product A – $75, Product B – $170 – $245
Total Shipping before threshold checks $54
Step Two: Run threshold checks
Threshold checks Product A for a total of $10 because the $9 rate does not meet the minimum shipping cost. Threshold checks for the order will trigger free shipping because the total spend for the vendor order is $245.
3x Product A – The shipping cost for Product A is $10
5x Product B – shipping costs for Product B is $45 ($9×5)
Cart total spend – Product A – $75, Product B – $170 – $245
Total Shipping after threshold checks $FREE
Table Rate
Table rate shipping provides much more fine-grained control over the shipping costs that are charged. You can create as many entries as you like to provide close-to-shipping zone-like functionality. Shipping rates can be set using the following details
- Country / Region / Everywhere else
- State
- Post/Zip Code (Single, Range, and Wildcard)
- Fee
- QTY Override (charge the shipping fee only once, no matter the product qty count)
The entries are checked in the order they are listed in the table, so the first entry is checked first moving down the table. Only Country and fee are required for the fee to be triggered. All other settings are optional.
Countries
The countries available are determined by the global WooCommerce settings.
If you have selected to ship to only select countries, then only the countries selected above will be available.
Regions
In the table rate, we supported shipping to regions. The regions available are the same regions as defined by WooCommerce. The shipping calculation will apply to all countries belonging to that region. If you want to set the shipping fee for a specific country that belongs to that region, you can add a new row and select a country, then set the fee as you want.
Everywhere Else
There is an option that is not part of WooCommerce but part of WC Vendor’s shipping system called Everywhere Else. This allows the vendor to set a rate for the countries they need and then set a rate for ‘Everywhere else’.
Post Codes
Post codes provide 3 different options allowing extremely fine-grained control over your shipping charges.
- Single – provides a single fee for a single postcode
- Example postcode: 4301
- This will match only the postcode 4301.
- Range – you can use a – to set up a range of postcodes
- Example postcode range: 4000-4300
- This will match every postcode in the range of 4000 to 4300
- Wildcard – you can use a * (asterisk) to provide a wild card match
- Example wildcard postcode: 48*
- This will match every postcode from 4800-4999.
General
The general options are applied no matter which shipping system is selected this includes the following
- Handling fee
- Ships from
- Availability of the shipping method (based on shipping to countries in WooCommerce Settings)
Product Shipping
Product level shipping is the first level of shipping checked by the shipping calculations. If any fees are set here then these values are used first. Depending on the shipping system set for the vendor, it will be either a Flat rate or a Table rate. The shipping options for the product are found on the shipping tab on the product edit form. This is only available for shippable products and if the shipping system is enabled.
The following flat-rate shipping options for a product are available, these override the vendor store or global defaults.
The following table rate shipping options are available at the product level. These override the vendor store and global defaults.
Vendor Store Shipping
The vendor store shipping is the default shipping option at a vendor level. All settings here will be applied to any product that does not have an override set above. Depending on the shipping system set for the vendor, they will have either the flat rate or table rate options here. The vendor store shipping options can be found in
Vendor Dashboard > Settings > Shipping
The vendor shipping options include not only the options to set default rates but also the default options on a per-order basis per vendor. This is available in the flat-rate shipping module only. There are vendor-specific default options including
- Per order charges
- Per product charges
- Minimum and maximum charges
- Handling fees
- Shipping and return policy
- Shipping from (Store address / Other)
General Fees
The following general fees are available to be set on a per vendor store level. These will be applied to any order with this vendor’s products in it.
Shipping From
The shipping form allows vendors to set a different shipping address for their products from their store address. This allows vendors to have their shipping calculated based on the location of their warehouse.
Other – such as a warehouse/factory
Shipping fees
Shipping fees are set based on which shipping system has been configured for the vendor. Either the global default or a vendor-specific override.
The following flat rate options are available for the vendor store. These are the same as product or global options. This rate is used when a product rate has not been set.
The following table rate options are available for a vendor store. These are the same as a product or global options. This rate is used when a product rate has not been set.
Mark Shipped
WC Vendors Marketplace 2.4.0 and above
This feature was introduced in WC Vendors Marketplace 2.4.0.
As the marketplace admin, there will be times when you need to mark an order or a particular vendor’s items shipped. We have created multiple ways for you as the marketplace admin to be able to do this.
- Bulk action
- Order list action
- Order edit action
- Vendor shipped action
Mark shipped actions will only show if the order status is either processing or completed. If you need to add custom status’s, you can use the following filter to add more order status types. If an order has already been marked shipped, then the option to mark shipped will also be removed.
wcvendors_order_mark_shipped_statusesBulk action
From the order list page you can select the orders you want to mark shipped and this will mark the entire order and all vendors products as shipped.
Order list action
The marketplace admin can mark a single order completely shipped from the actions’ column on the order list screen. This needs to be enabled in Screen Options for this function to be available to you.
Order edit action
When on the order edit screen, you can mark the entire order shipped from the Order Actions meta box, usually found on the right of the interface.
Vendor shipped
On the edit order screen, under the shipping address is a list of vendors and the status of if they have shipped or not (cross/tick). The marketplace admin can mark a single vendor’s products shipped from this option, while not marking the entire order shipped.
Important Notes
Shipping systems cannot be mixed at a vendor level. For instance, you cannot have a table rate for products but a flat rate for vendors.
Troubleshooting Shipping
Vendors must set their address for vendor shipping to work correctly. If vendors have not set their store or shipping address then you will get the “No shipping methods found” message.
WooCommerce Shipping Zones
WC Vendors and WC Vendors Pro are not compatible with WooCommerce Shipping Zones. Although you may configure these and they will be available in the cart and checkout, the relevant shipping costs cannot be given to the vendors.