Shipping Cost Based on Number of Items in Customer’s Cart (Easy Guide!)

Shipping Cost Based on Number of Items
Author Bartosz Gajewski
Updated:
2018-08-14
Reading time:
3 minutes read

In this article, I’ll teach you how to configure WooCommerce shipping based on number of items. This way, the final shipping cost will depend on a number of items in the customer’s cart. In general, the method is simple so this guide is short. However, I’ll cover all the configuration steps for your comfort.

WooCommerce Shipping Based on Number of Items

There are a lot of ways you can configure shipping costs in your store. You can configure cart based shipping like shipping based on number of items in the cart.

In this article, I’ll show you such two configuration examples.

In the first one, we will configure:

  • £10.00 of shipping cost for 1-3 items in the cart
  • £8.00 of shipping cost for 4-5 items in the cart
  • £6.00 of shipping cost for 6 and more items

The second one will have different rules:

  1. £1.00 of shipping cost for every item in the cart
  2. free shipping for orders over £300.00

As you will see later in this article, these are the simple examples. The plugin, which I’ll show you, has many more features. The rules you can configure can be really complex if you need it!

The shipping methods we’ll configure in this guide look like every other one:

Cart page

You can set your own title. There is also a description which you can configure. However, this is optional.

Flexible Shipping

You need a plugin to configure WooCommerce shipping based on number of items. The plugin name is Flexible Shipping and we’re the plugin’s developers.

Flexible Shipping Card

Also, there are a lot of reviews. People really appreciate our work. Look at this exemplary review:

Review - Flexible Shipping

As you can see, the plugin is available to download for free from WordPress.org. However, you will need a PRO version to configure WooCommerce shipping based on number of items. That’s because this feature is not available in the free version.

However, you can still install it and try before you buy!

You can install Flexible Shipping right from your store. You just need to type the name in the Plugins – Add New.

Look:

Flexible Shipping installation

Configuration of the shipping rules

Once you install and activate the Flexible Shipping, you can configure it.

Flexible Shipping PRO WooCommerce
99.00

The best Table Rate Shipping for WooCommerce. Period. Create shipping rules based on weight, order totals or item count.

View Details or Add to cart
100,000+ Active Installations
30-day money back guarantee
Last Updated: 2024-12-09
Works with WooCommerce 9.1 - 9.5.x

This way you will get the WooCommerce shipping based on number of items in your store.

Simply go to WooCommerce → Settings → Shipping.

There you have your shipping zones.

Click on the one which to you want to add the feature. I have the ‘UK’ shipping zone:

Shipping zones

Next, click the Add shipping method button:

Add shipping method

Choose the Flexible Shipping:

Add shipping method: Flexible Shipping

Once you created the Flexible Shipping method, click it. You can configure the rules now!

We will use table rate shipping method in here.

First example

Let’s start with the first scenario:

  • £10.00 of shipping cost for 1-3 items in the cart
  • £8.00 of shipping cost for 4-5 items in the cart
  • £6.00 of shipping cost for 6 and more items

WooCommerce shipping based on the number of items configuration

How does it work in the store?

We have £10.00 shipping cost for 2 items in store:

First Example: 10GBP

For 4 products in the cart, the shipping cost is £8.00:

First Example: 8GBP

And the last example – £6.00 of shipping cost for 8 products in the cart:

First Example: 6GBP

Of course, it works for two or more products in the cart, too:

First Example: Two products in cart

As you see, we have 4 products in the cart so the shipping cost is £8.00.

Second example

Let’s configure the second scenario. Just to remember:

  1. £1.00 of shipping cost for every item in the cart
  2. free shipping for orders over £300.00

WooCommerce shipping based on the number of items configuration

How does it work in the store?

For 4 products:

WooCommerce shipping based on number of items - Second example: 4GBP

For 8 products:

Second example: 8GBP

And the free shipping for the order over £300.00:

Second example: free shipping

You can also set a label for the free shipping!

WooCommerce free shipping label

The label in the cart looks like this:

Free shipping label

Summary

You have just learned how to create WooCommerce shipping based on number of items. That’s just a percent of Flexible Shipping’s potential!

This plugin lets you create:

  • Weight Based Shipping
  • Totals Based Shipping
  • Item and Cart Line Item Shipping

Also, it:

  • supports shipping classes
  • lets you exclude rules
  • give you the ability to create virtually any shipping scenario

You can learn more about these features in Flexible Shipping docs →

We’re looking for your feedback in the comments section below!

PS If you need any help with WooCommerce Shipping configuration in general then check out our WooCommerce Shipping Guide →

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Randy Kilwag
Randy Kilwag
4 years ago

I realize this is an old article, but in 2020, Flexible Shipping v3.9.13 the “Based on Item” selection in the rules is not an option. Your choices are none, price, or weight.

Marta Pawlonka
Marta Pawlonka
Reply to  Randy Kilwag
4 years ago

Hello Rany. This function is on the Flexible Shipping PRO version.

asp
asp
10 months ago

Can the ‘based on item’ shipping rules be allocated to a shipping class?

Łukasz Spryszak
Łukasz Spryszak
Admin
Reply to  asp
10 months ago

Hi Asp, sure, with Flexible Shipping PRO you can combine the WHEN: Item with WHEN: Shipping class condition and then the quantity will be applied as a result only to the products with selected shipping class.