How to set conditional shipping rates in WooCommerce

List the conditions before changing WooCommerce. For example: orders under $50 pay $8, orders of 5 kg or more pay $14, and orders over $100 ship free within the United States.

Decide whether rules are based on the destination, cart subtotal, quantity, total weight, product type, or a combination. Also decide whether matching rules should add together or whether only one rate should be shown.

Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > Shipping zones. Add a zone for each destination that needs different rates, such as a state, group of postcodes, country, or wider region. Then add the relevant shipping method to each zone.

Put specific zones above broad zones. WooCommerce matches the customer to the first zone that applies, and a customer sees methods from only that matched zone. A postcode-specific zone placed below an all-country zone will never be reached.

For a fixed charge, add Flat rate to the zone and enter its cost. Flat Rate can charge per order, per item, or by shipping class. For a minimum-spend offer, add Free shipping, choose A minimum order amount, and enter the threshold.

WooCommerce also supports quantity and percentage formulas in a Flat Rate cost field. For example, 10 + ( 2 * [qty] ) adds $10 plus $2 for each item. Free Shipping can use the order amount before or after coupon discounts, so choose that setting deliberately.

Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > Classes and create classes such as Standard, Bulky, or Fragile. Assign one class to each relevant product from the product editor’s Shipping section.

Edit the zone’s Flat Rate method and enter a cost for each class. Set the calculation type to Per order to charge the most expensive applicable class, or Per class to add class costs together. Shipping classes group products; they do not create customer-facing rates until you use them in a shipping method.

Core WooCommerce is fine for a few fixed rates, destination rules, free-shipping thresholds, and shipping-class charges. It does not provide one built-in table for arbitrary combinations of weight, subtotal, quantity and destination. When those are your requirements, install a table-rate or conditional-shipping extension.

Add the new method inside the correct shipping zone, then create rows with minimum and maximum values for the conditions you use. Choose whether the calculation is per order, per item, per line item, or per shipping class. Keep ranges non-overlapping unless you intentionally want more than one row to apply.

Test an address in every zone, one item just below and above each price or weight break, mixed shipping classes, coupons, variable-product variations, and a cart containing virtual products. Check the result in both the cart and checkout.

If a rate is missing, confirm the address matches the intended zone, the product is not marked virtual, weights and shipping classes are saved, and the method is active. If a rate is unexpectedly high or low, check whether the method is calculating per order, item, line, or class. Enable WooCommerce shipping debug mode when the matching zone is unclear.

The fast way: Install WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping, add it to the relevant shipping zone, and build your rules around destination, weight, price, or quantity. This is quicker than trying to make several Flat Rate methods imitate a table, particularly when the rules change often.