Shipping product variants using different carriers

  • Unknown's avatar
    melissamiltonart · Member ·

    Am considering switching to WordPress. Would WordPress’s WooCommerce permit me to ship my smaller product variants of an art print via USPS flat fee, but my larger variants of same art print via Fed Ex weight/distance? r art prints, but the USPS will not ship the larger sizes of my larger canvas art prints.

    I’d like to be able to configure the different sizes of the product to be handled by different carriers at check out.

    I currently have to do a workaround in Squarespace for this. I had to create a second Squarespace website and link to it for check out of the USPS items. It’s kind of a klunky workaround.

    I don’t want to go to all the trouble of switching to WordPress only to have the same shipping issue of having to use the same shipper with all of my product variants of the same product.

    Thanks for any insights.

  • Unknown's avatar
    melissamiltonart · Member ·

    My words cut off in one sentence. To clarify: I sell art prints. I use USPS to ship the smaller prints, as it is cheaper. But USPS will not ship my larger canvas versions of the exact same artwork. That is my issue. If a buyer is shopping, say, a painting of flowers, I have to have one “buy” link for the smaller sizes and a different “buy” like for the larger sizes. Solely due to having to use different carriers for different sizes of the same art print.

    If WordPress would enable me to have one menu and one check out for all of the sizes of a particular artwork print, I would make the switch. But I don’t want to switch only to have the same problem. Thanks for any clarification!

  • staff-totoro · Staff ·

    Hi there,

    It is possible to install WooCommerce on your WordPress.com site but to do so you will first need to upgrade to our WordPress.com Business Plan or higher. This will allow you to upload any plugin “designed for WordPress” including WooCommerce.

    Learn more about our WordPress.com Business Plan here: https://wordpress.com/pricing/

    The nice thing about hosting with us is that we offer WooCommerce support as well as WordPress support to help with any questions you have. WooCommerce itself does not have the ability to pick from multiple carriers, such as you describe in your message, but the good news though is that you can add that functionality by adding this plugin in addition to the WooCommerce plugin: https://woocommerce.com/products/woocommerce-advanced-shipping-packages/

    This will allow you to use multiple carriers for shipping, and either offer shoppers a choice of which one they prefer, or specify that some products ship with one carrier and other items ship with a different carrier.

  • Unknown's avatar
    melissamiltonart · Member ·

    Thank you, Jerry. However, I was already aware that I could get a WordPress ecommerce account and get different carriers per PRODUCT via Woocommerce. My question is: If I do all that, can I get different carriers per product VARIABLE?

    Example: A painting called “The Dandelions” is a product. I sell it in both small paper prints and large canvas prints, as product variables. (Just like a shirt may be sold in different sizes.) USPS will ship my smaller prints but will not ship my large canvases (too large for USPS). Fed Ex will ship my larger canvases, but charges way more for the smaller prints than USPS does. So… I currently use USPS shipping for my smaller product variables (smaller sized paper prints) and use Fed Ex for my larger product variables (larger sized canvas prints).

    I’d be willing to switch to WordPress to get one carrier for all my different product variables. However, I don’t want to go to all the trouble of switching from Squarespace to WordPress/WooCommerce only to end up in the same spot I was previously: Having to use two different websites according to which size of my same product is being purchased.

  • Unknown's avatar
    helper-heroponriki · Member ·

    This sounds like something that the WooCommerce Support should answer for you.

    Can you submit a presales question to them here?

    https://woocommerce.com/my-account/create-a-ticket/

    WooCommerce uses WordPress.com user accounts, so you can use your login for melissamiltonart to access that page. Make sure you select the “before I buy” option.

    I hope that helps!

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