Operating a WooCommerce store, sometimes we have trouble with shipping rules, even this can break your WooCommerce store’s shopping experience.
If you’re selling a mix of products—like fragile items, bulky goods, or digital downloads—you know one-size-fits-all shipping doesn’t cut it.
That’s where conditional shipping comes in. In this guide, we’ll show you how to set up product-based shipping rules in WooCommerce stores using the YayPricing plugin. Whether you’re offering free shipping for high-value orders, adjusting rates for VIP customers, or limiting methods based on product type, YayPricing makes it surprisingly easy.
What is Conditional Shipping?
Conditional shipping means setting custom rules so that shipping methods or prices only apply when certain conditions are met, based on conditions like cart contents, order value, user roles, or product types.
These conditions can include things like:
- The total value of the cart
- Which products are being purchased
- The quantity of items
- The shipping class or product category
- The customer’s role (like VIP, wholesale, or subscriber)
- The shipping address or zone
Conditional shipping is essential for store owners who want to offer a flexible, fair, and customer-friendly checkout experience, especially when selling a variety of product types or shipping to different regions.
Why Use Product-Based Shipping Rules in WooCommerce?
Running a global store, you can’t make all the global customers happy with shipping fees. Not all products are created equal—so why should their shipping rules be?
Product-based shipping rules let you tailor your shipping options depending on what the customer is buying. This means you can offer more accurate pricing, avoid unexpected shipping losses, and create a smoother shopping experience.
Here’s why it makes a big difference:
- Fair and Accurate Shipping Costs: Ever shipped a bulky item using your regular shipping rate… and lost money on the deal? When you use the same shipping for everything, it’s easy to overcharge for small items or undercharge for large ones. Product-based rules make sure shipping costs match the actual product.
- A Smoother Checkout Experience: Nothing confuses shoppers more than weird shipping options. Like seeing a $50 freight charge when all they’re buying is a pair of socks. By showing only the shipping methods that make sense for the products in the cart, you make checkout feel smooth, clear, and stress-free.
- Support Special Products with Special Handling: For example, Perishable food that has to arrive fast, Hazardous items that can’t ship everywhere, etc. That’s some special products we have to attend. That’s why product-based rules let you build in those special cases so everything gets delivered the way it should—no awkward surprises for you or your customers.
- Run Better Shipping Promotions: Shipping rules can also be great for sales and promotions! It’s a fun way to drive more sales, without touching your product prices.
- Combine with Customer Segments for Even More Power: When paired with customer-based conditions (like VIP roles or logged-in users), product-based shipping rules can reward your most valuable shoppers with exclusive shipping deals, like free or discounted shipping for loyalty members on specific product lines.
How to Create Product-Based Shipping Rules in WooCommerce?
By default, WooCommerce doesn’t offer advanced conditional shipping rules out of the box, but you can achieve this functionality using YayPricing – WooCommerce dynamic pricing and discount plugin.
With YayPricing – a super flexible and beginner-friendly tool, WordPress users can create smart pricing rules based on just about anything in your WooCommerce store—products, quantities, customer roles, order totals, and yes… even shipping.
With YayPricing, you can easily set up:
- Bulk discounts (e.g. buy 3, get 20% off)
- BOGO deals (Buy One Get One Free)
- Cart-level discounts
- User role-based pricing (e.g. VIPs, wholesalers)
- Conditional shipping discounts (like what we’re covering in this guide!)
And the best part?
You don’t need to touch any code. Everything is done with a clean, visual interface that makes it easy to add conditions and rules with just a few clicks.
Now, let’s activate YayPricing and set your conditional shipping rule!
Popular Use Cases for Conditional Shipping
Use Case 1: Free Shipping for Orders Over $100
On the dashboard of YayPricing, this plugin offers some tabs to configure dynamic pricing rules. For the conditional shipping fee, we’ll work on the Checkout Fee tab.
We’ll create a rule for free shipping, and name your rule is Free Shipping Over $100. Under Actions, choose:
- Discount Type: Reduce Shipping Fee
- Amount: 100% (to make it free)
Under Conditions, set:
- Cart Subtotal is greater than or equal $100
Use Case 2: Freight Shipping for Bulky Products Only
If you sell large or heavy items like furniture, gym equipment, or appliances, you probably can’t send them via regular mail.
Let’s walk through the steps to apply freight shipping only when bulky products are in the cart.
Still on the YayPricing dashboard, create a new rule with the Checkout Fee tab:
- Name: Enable Freight Shipping for Bulky Items.
- Set a fee for shipping
- Assign the class to any bulky product.
Under Conditions, set:
- “Cart contains product with shipping class = Bulky”
- Combine with user roles or order amount for more flexibility
Add a cart notice that says “Your order includes a bulky item. Freight shipping will be applied at checkout.”
Shipping large items doesn’t have to be a headache. With the right setup, freight shipping becomes seamless, only showing up when it’s actually needed.
Use Case 3: 50% Shipping Discount for Wholesale & B2B Customers
We all love feeling like a VIP – especially when it means perks like cheaper shipping!
Offering exclusive shipping discounts to your VIP or loyalty customers is a great way to reward them, keep them coming back, and make them feel valued.
Still on the Checkout Fee tab of YayPricing, create a new rule with a setting of a 50% discount on the shipping fee.
Then, we have to focus on conditional shipping for Wholesale & B2C customers. Under the Conditions set,
- Customer role should be Wholesale customers, B2C customers.
Bonus Tips for Better Shipping Experience
Optimizing your shipping logic isn’t just about cost—it’s about creating a seamless experience that converts. Here are some practical tips to make your product-based shipping rules smarter and more user-friendly:
Combine Multiple Conditions for Dynamic Shipping Rules
Don’t limit yourself to just one condition per rule. Use plugins like Flexible Shipping or Advanced Shipping to apply logic like:
- “Free shipping for products in the ‘Gift Sets’ category only if the cart total is above $75.”
- “Charge an additional $10 if any fragile item is present and the destination is outside the country.”
Combining conditions allows you to create precise, targeted shipping strategies that balance cost and value.
Create Separate Shipping Methods for Different Product Types
Use distinct shipping methods for product types that vary in size, fragility, or fulfillment time. For instance:
- Use Flat Rate or Table Rate Shipping for T-shirts.
- Use Local Pickup or Freight Shipping for large furniture.
- Offer Digital Delivery (Free) for downloadable items.
This ensures the shipping costs reflect the product’s handling and fulfillment requirements.
Use Cart Notices to Communicate Shipping Benefits
You can encourage larger orders by displaying messages like: “Add $15 more to your cart to qualify for free shipping on skincare items!”
This improves average order value and enhances customer experience. Use plugins like WooCommerce Cart Notices to automate this.
Wrapping Up
Product-based shipping rules let you personalize the checkout experience and offer smarter, customer-centric shipping options. With YayPricing’s conditional logic, you don’t need to mess with code or custom development to work with conditional shipping.
To recap, you can:
- Offer free shipping based on order total
- Restrict or enable shipping methods by product type
- Reward loyal customers with shipping discounts
- And so many other use cases based on your demand.
By using conditional shipping wisely, you reduce cart abandonment, streamline your fulfillment process, and build trust with your customers. And with YayPricing, it’s all just a few clicks away.
