How to Setup Shipping Zones in WooCommerce 2.6?

What is WooCommerce Shipping Zone?

Shipping zones are introduced in WooCommerce 2.6 to bring more flexibility while configuring your shipping methods.

Legacy shipping methods (Flat Rate, International Flat Rate, Local Pickup and Delivery, and Free Shipping) are deprecated. So, it’s highly recommended to disable these and setting up new rates within shipping zones as soon as possible.

A shipping zone is a geographic region where a certain set of shipping methods and rates apply. You can add as many zones as you need as customers can see the methods available for their address only.
For example:

• Local Zone = US domestic ZIP, starting from 90001 to 99000 = Free Shipping
• All other places = Rest of the World = Flat rate shipping

What flexibility does it bring to the table?

• Configure your (supported) shipping methods for different shipping zones depending on country, state, postcode, etc.
• Multiple instances of shipping methods for each zone.
  For example:  You can define one flat rate ($10) for zone 1 and a different flat rate ($20) for zone 2.

Setup  WooCommerce Shipping Zones and Methods

Once you update to WooCommerce 2.6, you will get a notice when you go to Admin –> WooCommerce –> Settings page. Follow the below steps to setup your Shipping Method.

Setting up Shipping zone is a four step process. Click on “Setup Shipping Zones” button which is visible on notice.

Step 1: Add Shipping Zone.

Continue with adding shipping zone.
If you don’t have any specific shipping zone to add, then you just need to configure the Rest of the World option.
Means, configure “Rest of the World” when,

• You don’t have any specific zones to configure.
• Used for customers who do not match any of the custom zones you add.

Step 2: Configure Shipping Zones.

• Add a zone name.
• Choose region which you want to show specific shipping methods.
• You can further refine the zone by specifying Postcodes. Postcodes containing wildcards (e.g. CB23*) and fully numeric ranges (e.g. 90210…99000) are also supported.
• Click on Save changes to add shipping zone.

Step 3: Add Shipping Method.

• Once the zone is saved, you are ready to add shipping methods to it.
• You may not find all your 3rd party shipping methods in the drop-down list. 3rd party plugins may need a minor update to avail this feature. All shipping plugins listed on XAdapter will be compatible with Shipping Zones very soon as developers are already on top of it.

Step 4: Configure the Shipping Methods.

An example shipping zone setup is given below.

• In this use case, when the US customer enters his shipping address zip code within the range of 90001 to 99000, the customer will get free shipping option.
• Rest of the customers from other regions will be presented with Flat Rate option.
• You can configure each instance of shipping methods by clicking on the link to its name.

Multiple Instances of WooCommerce Shipping Methods

Now, we have the flexibility to set independent flat rate for different zones. In the below example, I have set the shipping method “Flat Rate” of $10 for the zone “United States – Zone 1” and $20 for the zone “Rest of the World”.

Flat Rate shipping method settings instance for “United States – Zone 1”.

Note:  For developers, notice the “instance_id” query string in the URL displayed on browser address bar.

Flat Rate shipping method settings instance for “Rest of the World”.

Customer’s view of shipping methods.

As per above settings, a customer from the US with pin code 90002 will see below shipping options on cart & checkout page.

A customer (e.g. UK Customer) eligible for “Rest of the World” options will see below shipping options on cart & checkout page.

PS: All WooCommerce Shipping Plugins listed on our store works with WooCommerce 2.6 and will be fully compatible with WooCommerce Shipping Zones very soon!