Configuring General Settings in WooCommerce – A Tutorial

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Getting Started
• Sections in General Settings
  • General Options
    • Base Location
    • Selling Locations
    • Shipping Locations
    • Default Customer Location
    • Enable Taxes
    • Store Notice
    • Store Notice Text
  • Currency Options
    • Currency
    • Currency Position
    • Thousand Separator
    • Decimal Separator
    • Number of Decimals

Introduction

To set up your online store on the WooCommerce platform, you have to configure settings in WooCommerce to enable it to function effectively. The first step in this process is to configure the General Settings in WooCommerce. These are some basic settings which when configured will set the ball rolling for your online store. In the following sections you will be taken through the entire procedure of how to configure each of the components in the General Settings.

Getting Started

To get started with configuring the General Settings in WooCommerce, you can follow the procedure given below:

WooCommerce > Settings > General

Getting Started with General Settings

Sections in General Settings

In the General Settings of WooCommerce, there are two sections: General Options and Currency Options 

General Options

In this section, you will be able to configure some very basic settings regarding your store in WooCommerce. Given below is a screenshot of the General Options section in General Settings.

Now we will discuss each of these General Options in detail so that you will get a more clear understanding of each of them.

Base Location

Here, you can configure the base location for your online store. This is the location from where the main operations of your business is conducted. Hence, you will have to adhere with the regulations proposed by the local government of that location when setting up your online store. Besides, business regulations specific to that location will also have to be followed. Also, tax rates that you set will also have to be related to the tax proposals existing in that location. Given below is a screenshot of the configuration for Base location

Setting the Base Location

In the dropdown corresponding to Base Location, you can choose the exact location where your store is based. Some countries have the state names along with them. In that case, you can select the exact combination of country and state where your store is based.

Selling Locations

Here you can configure the locations where you want to sell your products/services. You can choose to sell to all countries or to specific countries. You can base your selection on various aspects which are feasible for selling in that particular country or region. These could include sales feasibility, government regulations, tax implications and any other consideration which you feel is relevant. Whatever the considerations, if should be a well thought-out decision and should be taken in the best interest of your online store. Given below is a screenshot of the configuration for Selling locations

Setting the Selling Locations

In the Selling Locations section, you have three options to choose from:

1. Sell to All Countries – This option enables you to sell to all the countries irrespective of where your base location is. Here, you have to keep in mind various considerations. These include feasibility of selling to all countries, government regulations, logistic considerations of shipping to all countries, tax implications and all related aspects that need to be looked into before selecting this option.
2. Sell to All Countries, Except For… – This option enables you to sell to all countries, except for those you choose to exclude. Decision regarding which countries to exclude is again one that requires serious consideration. Again, there could be various considerations that you have to keep in mind when you take this decision. The pros and cons should be weighed regarding which countries to exclude before arriving at a final decision. The decision on which countries to exclude is left to the discretion of the store owner based on considerations that are in the best interest of his store.
3. Sell to Specific Countries – In this option, the store owner can choose to sell to specific countries. To which countries to sell is again left to his discretion based on considerations that he feels are in the best interests of his store. As in the previous two options, he has to weigh the pros and cons before arriving at a decision as to which countries to sell.

Shipping Locations

Here you can configure the locations you wish to ship your products to. As in the case of Selling locations, you can choose to ship to any location of your choice based on considerations that are in the best interest of your store. There could be various factors which you can take into consideration before arriving at this decision. They could include feasibility of shipping, government regulations, distance from the base locations, tax implications, shipping charges or any other consideration which is of relevance to the store owner. Given below is a screenshot of the configuration for Shipping locations.

Setting the Shipping locations

In the Shipping locations section, you have four options to choose from:

1. Ship to all countries you sell to – In this option, you can choose to ship your products to all countries you sell to. The considerations based on which this decision is taken is again entirely left to the discretion of the store owner. This decision should be taken in the best interests of the online store taking into consideration aspects such as shipping distances, logistics involved in shipping to different locations, cost of shipping, shipping rates to be charged etc.
2. Ship to all countries – In this option, you can choose to ship your products to all countries irrespective of where they are located. Here again,various considerations should be kept in mind before taking a decision in this regard. All the considerations mentioned in the previous option as well as various others should be weighed before taking a decision in this regard.
3. Ship to specific countries only – Here, you can choose to ship to specific countries only, based on considerations that are in the best interest of your online store. However, the decision regarding which countries to ship to is left to the discretion of the store owner. This requires in-depth analysis and should be taken after much thought.
4. Disable Shipping and Shipping calculations – If you choose this option, you are effectively disabling the option of shipping your products and thereby making any calculations related to shipping charges.

Default Customer Location

Here you can configure how to determine the default customer location. Thereby, you can choose to determine the location that the customer is when he visits the online site of your store. This will also enable you to calculate tax and shipping rates to be charged to customers. Given below is a screenshot of the configuration for Default customer location

Setting the Default customer location

In the Default Customer location section, you have four options to choose from:

1. Shop Base Address – This option informs the system to assume that the customer is in the same location as your base location.
2. No Location by Default – Here, the system, does not give a location for the customer. Hence, no taxes are calculated.
3. Geolocate – In this option, the customer location is verified based on the customer’s IP address, and taxes are calculated accordingly. Here, MaxMind GeoLite database is downloaded to your wp-content directory systematically.
4. Geolocate (With Page Caching Support) – This is similar to the previous option, but the only difference is that geolocation is done using Ajax. This method is effective if you are using a page caching support on your store.

Enable Taxes

Here you can either enable or disable taxes on your online store. It should be remembered that unless you enable taxes in General Settings, the Tax tab will not appear in WooCommerce > Settings. Given below is a screenshot of the setting to enable taxes:

After you enable taxes in General Settings, this is how the Tax Settings in WooCommerce will look like:

Tax Settings after enabling taxes

Store Notice

You can enable your site-wide store notice text if you select the Store Notice checkbox. This will enable you share any store notice with your customers or site visitors. This may be about some discount or special offers you are currently offering or planning to offer your customers in the near future.

By enabling this option, you can inform users/customers about attractive discounts/offers that your are offering on your products/service. Since such offers are extended for a limited period, you can prompt customers to shop from your store during that period and avail of such offers/discounts. Besides, it is also a good advertisement for your store and customers will be persuaded to shop from your store more frequently.

Store Notice Text

When you enable the Store Notice checkbox, automatically the Store Notice Text field will appear below it. Here, you can enter the text you intend to display on your store’s site.

As an example, in the screenshot above, we have mentioned the Store Notice Text set as Avail attractive discounts up to 50% in Feb!!!. This will appear right on the top of the website of your online store.

A screenshot of this is given below:

Currency Options

The Currency Options will affect how prices are displayed in your store. There are various components in this section of General Settings as seen in the screenshot given below:

Now, we will discuss each of these components in detail so as to get a better understanding of how they are configured in General Settings of WooCommerce.

Currency

Here you can select the default currency that you want to configure for your store. This is the currency that will be displayed in the product catalog of your store at the front-end of your site. You can select only one currency here. This is also the currency that the Payment gateways chooses for transactions on your store’s site.

You can choose the currency that you want to set for your online store from the dropdown menu.

Currency Position

This option controls the position where the currency symbol for the currency you have selected is displayed for prices on your store’s site. Here, you can select the default position to display the currency symbol.

There are four options here from which you can choose the one that you wish to choose for your store. These options  are given below:

1. Left – In this option, the currency symbol is displayed to the left of the currency
2. Right – Here, the currency symbol is displayed to the right of the currency
3. Left with space – In this case, the currency symbol is displayed to the left of the currency with a space in between
4. Right with space – Here, the currency symbol is displayed to the right of the currency with a space in between

Thousand Separator

Here you can set the symbol to be used as the thousand separator in the adjacent field.

You can either choose ‘,’ or ‘.’ as the thousand separator depending on the location and currency you have set. For eg, 1,000 or 1.000.

Decimal Separator

Here you can set the symbol to be used as the decimal separator in the adjacent field

You can either choose ‘,’ or ‘.’ as the decimal separator depending on the location and currency you have set. For eg, 100.00 or 100,00. In Europe and the US these two options are used interchangeably for both thousand separator and decimal separator.

Number of Decimals

Here, you can set the number of decimal points you wish to have displayed for prices on your store’s site. In the adjacent text box you can manually enter your preferred value. Alternatively, you can use the numerical up/do not wish to have any decimal point after the price value, you can select the value ‘0’. For eg, if you select the value ‘2’, your price will be displayed as 100.00 while if you select ‘0’, then it will be displayed as 100.

Now, you have completed configuring all the General Settings in WooCommerce for your online store.  You can now click on Save Changes to save the settings you have made.