Canada Post WooCommerce Shipping Plugin

for Wordpress

Thank you for purchasing this plugin. If you need support, please visit the plugin page on CodeCanyon.net

Introduction

This plugin gives your website a great integration with Canada Post's live Rates and Tracking.

After installing the plugin, you just need to follow the instructions to get your own Canada Post API access.  Then after entering your credentials and choosing your desired settings, the plugin is fully configured.  You can then set the shipping method to be active and the parcel tracking to be active.

If the shipping rates do not seem to be correct at checkout, please remember to look at the Weight and Dimensions of the products, to ensure they are accurate and using the correct unit of measurement that Woocommerce is set to.  For the rates to work, Product Weight is required and Dimensions are optional.  The settings page for this plugin will allow you to adjust the rate calculation, so that you can have the best calculation possible for your ecommerce store.

This plugin also includes the ability to create Shipment Labels. In order to sucessfully create shipment labels, you will need to have an active account at Canada Post or add a method of payment (credit card) to your account at Canada post.  You can check out the setup for Shipping labels to find out more.

Great! Let's continue to install and set up this plugin.

 

Installation

This plugin needs to be installed in your Wordpress website.  It works with the WooCommerce plugin, so ensure you install WooCommerce first.

  1. Install this plugin by uploading the woocommerce-canadapost-webservice.zip file to your wp-content/plugins/ folder
    Aternatively, you can upload this zip file through the Wordpress plugins install page.
  2. Activate the Plugin “WooCommerce Canada Post Webservice Method”
  3. If there are any error messages, please ensure you have checked the Software Requirements section and have that software enabled on your server.

Canada Post API Access

This shipping plugin requires that you have an account with Canada Post. Don’t worry, it’s a free account! You can register by going to the Canada Post Developer Centre.

  1. After signing up, you will need to record the following information from the Canada Post Developer Centre:
    1. Customer Account Number (or Small Business number)
    2. API Username & API Password.
  2. Ensure you choose the Production API Username/Password. This is very important to get correct rates for your customers.
  3. Enter the Account Number, API Username & Password in the Canada Post Shipping Method area of WooCommerce. 
    This can be found by going to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping (Tab) > Canada Post (Sub Tab).
  4. As a minimum, you need to complete the following for the plugin to work:
    1. Customer Number (Venture One)
    2. API ID (Username)
    3. API Password
    4. Origin Postal Code   -  This is the location you send your packages from
    5. Select “Production/Live”  dropdown
  5. ​After saving your settings, click the "Validate Credentials" button to see if they are set up correctly.  You should see a message with "Success!" and some additional testing information.  If the message indicates that it is incorrect or unable to look up rates, your credentials (API Username / Password) or Customer ID are wrong or not active yet.
  6. Sometimes it can take a few hours after signing up with Canada Post for your Webservices API account to become active on their servers.

 

If your website is Live: Make sure you use the Production API Username/Password from Canada Post.

Select the “Enable Canada Post Webservice” Checkbox and Click “Save Changes” to activate.

 

After you sign up or log-in to the Canada Post Developer centre ( https://www.canadapost.ca/webservices ), you can find the Webservices API credentials on the main page:

Shipping Zone

You will need to add Canada Post to a Shipping Zone. (This feature exists in Woocommerce 2.6+  If you are using a previous version of Woocommerce, you do not need to worry about this).

Steps to Add Canada Post:

1. Go to the Shipping Zones page (Woocommerce > Settings > Shipping (tab).

2. If you want Canada Post for any area, click on the "Rest of the World" Shipping Zone.  If you want Canada Post for only a specific zone, click on the zone(s) that you want to add Canada Post to.

3. Click "Add Shipping Method" button (bottom right). Then Select "Canada Post" from the dropdown.

That's it! Now Canada Post will be an active shipping method.

Screenshots of setting up the Shipping Zone

Initially, your Shipping Zone page will look like this. Scroll down and click on the "Rest of the Word" shipping zone.

 

Then click the "Add Shipping Method" button

 

Then Select "Canada Post"

 

You'll see "Canada Post" Enabled in the "Rest of the Word" shipping zone.

Settings Screen

Here is a screenshot of the Settings screen for your reference, found in
WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping (Tab) > Canada Post (Sub Tab):

Shipping Features

The following features help you adjust the shipping costs with margin/markup
 

Add Margin                       
This allows you to add a markup (increase the cost) to your shipping cost.  It is expressed in Margin Percentage (ex. 5%) .  If you configured 5%, then your customers would be presented the final shipping costs increased by 5% from the rates you received from Canada Post.
 

Box/Envelope Weight  
This allows you to accommodate the typical weight of your packaging or boxes along with any paper/invoicing and materials that you add to your shipment.  Typically this is a minimal weight (ie 0.02kg) because it is added to all shipments before checking the rates.

Delivery Dates 
Certain shipping services/products from Canada Post will provide Estimated Delivery dates, so as to differentiate the services.  You will be able to see which ones are next-day service or longer. In order to provide these dates to the customers, you are given the ability to add a number of days after the order is placed, so that you can fulfill the order, process payment, package, etc.  Enter a number of days (ie. 3) in the box “Days to Ship after order placed “.  Then check the “Show Estimated Delivery Dates” checkbox to enable these delivery dates to be shown to your customers in their cart and checkout.
 

Shipping Package/Box sizes
Configure the packages/boxes that you use to ship.  Since most items are packaged, they will need to fit inside the boxes.  These are used in a volumetric calculation to assist in getting accurate rates from Canada Post. Enter the envelope and box sizes in CM.

Canada Post Services

You will be given an option to choose which Canada Post products your business uses to ship items.  These will be presented to your customers as options in the shopping cart.   For example, if you do not use Priority post, then un-select this shipping service.

Domestic (within Canada)

To USA

International

 

 

Lettermail / Flat Rates

This plugin allows you to set Lettermail  rates, which is especially useful if you have small items that can be shipped economically.   These can be set for both  Canada and USA.

The rates use the total weight of the cart and are only enabled to a max number of items in the cart.  Typically, Canada Post Lettermail can be up to a weight of 0.4 kg. Please refer to Canada Post Lettermail rates on the Canada Post Website for current rates/weight restrictions.

The weight range (example 0.kg1 to <=0.2kg) only shows the price entered if the total weight of the cart is within this limit (example 0.14kg or 0.2kg).

 Lettermail/FlatRates Limits

You can set a limit of maximum dimensions.  To enable, select the checkbox  "Maximum dimensions for Lettermail/Flat Rates (Also maximum volumetric weight)"

Then enter the maximum LxWxH in centemeters.  This then disables Lettermail/Flat rates only if the item in the cart exceeds these dimensions or the total contents of the cart exceeds the volumetric weight of these dimensions.

Parcel Tracking

Package Tracking gives you an easy way to share Tracking information to your Customers.

This shipping plugin can automatically update the tracking details on a regular basis (daily using WP Cron).  It will send your customer an email if the "Mailed on" or "Delivery" dates are updated in the tracking information. 

Setup

Please select “Enable Canada Post Tracking number feature” checkbox in the Settings area.

You can also select "

Shipment Labels

Canada Post Shipment Labels can be created from this plugin.

The ability to Create Shipments (Paid shipping labels) is provided on the "Edit Order" page in Woocommerce. On the Edit page, you will see a "Create Shipment" button.

1. Sender Address Setup

2. Payment Method on Account at Canda Post

In order to create paid shipping labels through this plugin, you will need to add a method of payment (Credit Card) on your account with Canada Post.

At any point in time, you can view your orders on Canada Post at: https://www.canadapost.ca/order/en

That's it! You're all set up for Creating Shipment Labels.
 
Keep in mind
 
Here is a screenshot of how the Create Shipment screen will look:
 

Multilingual / Bilingual

This is an optional setup.

Results from Canada Post can be shown in English or Français (French) as set by your Wordpress installation or WPML language selection. The plugin includes a language file for French (fr_FR), which provides full French translation for all admin screens and labels.

Automatic setup:

Manual Setup for French Language:

Logging and Debugging

A powerful feature that is included in this plugin is the Rates Logging feature.

This allows you to capture the latest rates lookup made in the shopping cart so you can see all the variables and information contained.  This feature has an advantage because it can be enabled when in production without displaying any information to public visitors.

In order to activate it, just select the checkbox "Enable Rates Lookup Logging".  It will then capture the most recent shipping rate lookup that will be available when you click the button "Display most recent request".

Woocommerce does cache the shipping method lookups, so sometimes you'll need to change the quanity in the cart to activate another lookup.  Also, you will probably need to refresh the settings page before clicking the "Display most recent request" button.

 

 

The following shows what can be captured by the rates logging:

 

Software Requirements