Frequently Asked Questions
If you can't find your answer here, please contact your Myfreight account manager or raise a Myparcel Support Request.
- What does the WooCommerce Shipping Plugin for Myfreight/Myparcel do?
- The plugin provides real-time shipping pricing and booking for customers visiting an online store built on WooCommerce. Using the internet it can access our massive database of transport carrier rates for almost any type of goods to be shipped from/to anywhere in Australia. This allows very accurate shipping pricing to be provided to the customer which most other shipping plugins cannot do. Additionally, by comparing the rates from many transport carriers, the lowest rate for purchased goods on a specific route can be chosen. When the customer places an order via WooCommerce, a shipping consignment is automatically generated and ready to be booked (and labels printed) when the goods are ready for shipping.
- How many transport carriers are compared?
- At lot! A more accurate answer would depend upon location (of both warehouse and customers), types of goods, and other online store requirements. Myfreight provides online store clients with a custom carrier list based on their warehouse location, services required and any pricing agreements you have with transport carriers. Myparcel uses a broad list of carriers, both national and regional, high-end and low-end.
- Does the plugin allow free shipping or discount shipping for orders over a certain value?
- Yes it does. Simply configure "Free/Discounted Shipping" in the plugin settings. You can specify the conditions which need to be met in order for free or discounted shipping to be offered to the purchaser. Any combination of cart/product spend amount, actual shipping cost, or the ratio between the two can be used to decide. If discounted shipping is offered, a fixed amount and/or percentage discount can be specified.
- Note that the standard WooCommerce free or fixed price shipping methods can also be used in conjunction with the plugin if desired.
- Does the plugin support Click & Collect?
- Yes, there is a Customer Collect option, which allows "Click & Collect" orders to be conveniently managed in the same way as all other delivery types in Myfreight.
- Does the plugin handle international shipping?
- The WooCommerce Shipping Plugin for Myfreight/Myparcel does not itself provide shipping pricing for customers outside Australia. However, it works perfectly with WooCommerce international shipping, including any other shipping plugins which adhere to the WooCommerce shipping framework. Simply define WooCommerce shipping zones as usual, with no shipping method required for Australia, and the plugin will do the rest. Note that you may need to de-activate the Myfreight/Myparcel Australian address helper, or use CSS to selectively display it only when the shipping country is Australia.
- Incidentally, Myparcel allows you to ship goods overseas, but this function is not currently integrated with WooCommerce due to complex address requirements.
- What if we ship from more than one warehouse, or our suppliers ship directly to our customers?
- No problem! The WooCommerce Shipping Plugin for Myfreight/Myparcel supports having many warehouses or drop-ship (direct to customer) suppliers. Simply specify a site code for each of the addresses you ship from, and specify which product groups ship from each of those site codes. When a customer goes to the online store Cart or Checkout page, the plugin simultaneously calculates the shipping costs from all the warehouses/suppliers stocking the selected products, and presents the lowest cost to the customer. When the customer completes the order a consignment and label are generated for the lowest cost ship-from address.
- What if we pack products into boxes or onto pallets for shipping?
- The WooCommerce Shipping Plugin for Myfreight/Myparcel includes two "packing" options which allow you to specify how you combine and ship products. This enables shipping prices to be calculated based on the way you actually pack and ship, rather than assuming each product item is shipped individually. As a result the shipping price estimate is more accurate, and the consignment process more streamlined. Further information on the "Auto Packing" and custom "Packing Rules" options can be found in the Packing Settings section.
- What if the address is misspelled?
- The WooCommerce Shipping Plugin for Myfreight/Myparcel has an address matching function which replaces misspelled suburbs with the correct suburb. Additionally, it provides the option of using "address helpers" anywhere an address is entered in the online store, which allow customers to partially enter a suburb or postcode, then choose from a matching list of actual suburbs, states and postcodes. This ensures accurate entry of delivery suburb, state and postcode, which results in accurate shipping pricing and fewer problems when shipping purchased goods.
- What are the surcharge settings for?
- Surcharges are fees applied by transport carriers for non-standard shipments, such as manual handling of fragile items, unusual sized items, or heavy items requiring a truck with a tailgate lift to load and/or unload (where a forklift is not available). Surcharges can be difficult to predict as they can vary in amount, are sometimes time-based or region-based, and are not applied consistently by transport carriers. The WooCommerce Shipping Plugin for Myfreight/Myparcel attempts to anticipate surcharges wherever possible, in order to most accurately predict the actual cost of shipping products to customers. That way we can make a more informed choice of the lowest cost shipping service on a per order basis. After monitoring the actual surcharges applied to your shipments, the surcharge settings can be tweaked for your store to provide even more accurate shipping price estimates to customers.
- What payment methods are accepted?
- The plugin supports all payment methods supported by WooCommerce.
- How are dangerous goods handled?
- The WooCommerce Shipping Plugin for Myfreight/Myparcel supports the shipping of dangerous goods or hazardous materials, but only if you have a Myfreight account. In conjunction with Myfreight, the plugin provides pricing for shipping of dangerous goods, and creates consignments for dangerous goods. By allowing you to specify the dangerous goods UN Number and Aggregate Quantity for any product or product variation in the online store, it automates the consignment process and eliminates the need to manually enter dangerous goods data during despatch.
- How are labels printed?
- Following customer order payment, shipping data is automatically sent to Myfreight or Myparcel. Barcoded labels can then be printed from either of these applications simply by clicking the "Print Label" button. Myfreight offers many commercial printing options, while Myparcel prints PDF labels from your browser to any standard A4, A5 or label printer. In either case, you can print labels on standard A4 printers or on specialised label printers.
- Can the shipping price be included in quotes?
- Yes. WooCommerce allows you to generate quotes for your customers via the administrator "Add Order" button. When adding products to your quote, you can also add the shipping cost which is automatically calculated based on products added so far and the customer address. The resultant quote includes everything required, including a link to purchase the quoted products and shipping via your website.