Are you running an e-commerce shop and experiencing WooCommerce shipping calculation issues with FedEx or UPS plugins? Are these plugins providing calculations that are either too high or to low? Were things working well until inventory increased along with sales? Are shipping calculations on international orders becoming a headache?
It’s a common for me to hear from store owners running WooCommerce with a FedEx and/or UPS plugin that calculations are not always accurate primarily when multiple items are being purchased in an order. When using shipping api plugins you are at the mercy of an algorithm that is reliant on basic box, weight and dimension sizing of both products and shipping boxes. If the weight on your shop’s items aren’t precisely accurate or the information being sent to the api isn’t correct, your buyer will be presented with inaccurate shipping rates that could either equate to a store loss or missed sale.
Documentation from the FedEx plugin explains how the calculation works:
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Finds boxes that fit items being packed (uses H x W x D).
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Packs all items into boxes (using volume).
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Uses the largest box fitting 100% of items *or* uses the highest % packed box, and then passes unpacked items back (and repeats the process)
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Packs unpackable items alone, using item dimensions.
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Returns all packed boxes.
It’s noteworthy to point out that both FedEx and UPS warn users of the following:
https://docs.woothemes.com/document/fedex/
Box Packing
The box packer included with this shipping method lets you group items into packages for which you define height, width, length, weight and max-weight. The packing is mainly volume based, but also considers item size.
The box packer is volume based. This will provide good results in most cases, but will never be as accurate as a real person packing a box (see BIN Packing Problem). Therefore, it’s important to understand that packing results are as accurate as possible, and any anomalies should be accepted.
Steps to rectify WooCommerce shipping calculation inaccuracies
Naturally the first step in rectifying shipping calculation inaccuracies is to ensure that the shipping plugin is up to date and its settings are correctly reflected based on your store’s needs. Next you’ll also want to do a complete overhaul on all product weights and dimensions; you will want to rule out any inaccuracies that may be set in WooCommerce. The last step is to revisit all selected available shipment boxes and cross check settings there.
Customized shipping plan
If no major improvement is found it’s time to consider customizing a shipping structure that is better suited to your shop needs and preferred shipping services. A recommended read by WooThemes on all the possible scenarios available for stores running WooCommerce can be found here!
We are ready to construct a customized shipping plan that is better suited to your actual shipping costs and one that allows for customers to move along in the checkout process swiftly and with greater confidence thus successfully increasing your sales. Contact us today to get started.
