Advanced Shipping Packages is a powerful plugin for WooCommerce that lets you split your customers’ carts into separate shipping packages. Each package and the products inside it will be shown separately in the cart and checkout pages, allowing you to apply different shipping rates to each package based on your setup.
One of the key features of Advanced Shipping Packages is its conditional logic framework, which gives you full control over how and when you create the packages, and which products you add to them. With this feature, you can create packages that meet your exact needs and requirements.
When your customers check out, they will see separate shipping options for each package, based on the way you have created the packages. This can help to make the checkout process more transparent and user-friendly, and give your customers more control over their shipping options.
The remaining of products not placed in created packages remain in the default package called ‘Shipping’.
Example use cases for shipping packages
Advanced Shipping Packages is also useful for a variety of different use cases. For example;
Partial free shipping
If you want to ship only certain products for free you can use a split cart to make it easier for the shipping method you’re using to get the right shipping for each package.
For the customer it will also become much clearer which products ship for free and which are paid shipping.
Ship freight items separately
Big and heavy items sometimes simply can’t be shipped through the regular route. With a split package you can give the customer the option for freight shipping + regular shipping products if needed.
Contact for Shipping Quote is another powerful plugin that can assist with large freight
Give separate options for pickup-only products
Some items can’t be shipped and needs to be picked up. If the customer also has shippable products in the cart (s)he will have the option to pickup all products, or have the shippable products shipped anyways.
Ship items from different origins
If an order is being shipped from multiple locations, it will inevitably have double shipping costs for you. Splitting the cart allows you to charge your customer for the products that are shipped separately.
Back-end interface
As important it is for the customer to see the different shipping methods, it’s equally as important for you to see this in the order screen and emails. In each email to you and the customer it is communicated which shipping methods are selected. In the admin order screen, it shows you which shipping methods are chosen and which products are within the package.
Features of Advanced Shipping Packages
Unlimited shipping packages
There’s no limit to the amount of shipping packages that you can create. Using the sorting feature you can control which packages should be applied first.
Full control when a package is created, and which products are added
You have full control when a package should be created, and which products are added to said packages. You control all this using conditional logic.
Setup custom package names
Each package can have its own name which will show at the cart/checkout to the customer. You can also re-name the default shipping package in WooCommerce.
Exclude shipping methods from packages
Not every shipping method will be available for each package type. Using the Exclude feature you can ensure certain rates don’t appear for the created package. This also supports individual WC Shipping Zone shipping rates.
FAQs
Can I use this plugin to ship to multiple addresses?
No, the Advanced Shipping Packages plugin is only meant for scenarios in which you need to split the shipping packages. For shipping to multiple addresses take a look at Shipping Multiple Addresses.
What happens to products outside shipping packages setup?
All products are in one package by default. Once you’re creating shipping packages using the extension those product can be split up within those new packages. If a product is not in a new package, this will remain in the default package and will be handled the same.