WooCommerce Services helps get your store “ready to sell” as quick as possible. You create your products. We take care of tax calculation, payment processing, and shipping label printing!

Start accepting payments today

Accept PayPal Express Checkout payments with just your email address or simplify Stripe account setup.

Collect accurate taxes at checkout

Opt for Automated Taxes  – tax rates are set up automatically; no need to enter them manually.

Print shipping labels for USPS at a discount

Offer lower rates on shipping. Create ready-to-print shipping labels for USPS directly in WooCommerce and take advantage of our special discount. Labels cannot be generated for Canada Post at this time.

Requirements ↑ Back to top

• WooCommerce 3.0.0+
• WordPress 4.5+
• Jetpack 4.4+

Installation ↑ Back to top

1. Install WooCommerce Services.
   • Go to the WordPress.org repo to download the WooCommerce Services plugin, go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin > Choose File > select the file you downloaded, and then Install Now.
     or
   • Go to Plugins > Add New and search for WooCommerce Services, select Install Now and Activate.
2. Install or connect Jetpack.
   • If Jetpack is not installed or connected, a prompt appears to do this.same account you use to log into WooCommerce.com. and then you are directed back to your site, and a Setup complete banner displays.
     
   • If you already have Jetpack installed and connected, a prompt appears to connect your store to WooCommerce Services. Connect.
3. Go to Setup and Configuration.

Setup and Configuration ↑ Back to top

Set Up Shipping Labels ↑ Back to top

To set up Shipping Labels:

1. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > WooCommerce Services > Shipping Labels.
2. Select a Paper size from the dropdown.
3. Payment.
   • Add a credit card, if one is not already stored on your WordPress.com account. A method of payment must be on file if you wish to print labels.
   • Choose a different card, if one is on file at your WordPress.com account and you wish to use another.
     
   • Skip this step: It’s also possible to bypass and enter nothing, and be prompted to add a payment method later when you’re ready to Print Shipping Labels (below).
4. Tick or untick the box for Email Receipts.
5. Save changes.

Manage Packages ↑ Back to top

WooCommerce Services allows you to select USPS boxes, or define custom boxes, envelopes, and other packaging that you use for shipping.

Custom packaging

1. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > WooCommerce Services > Packages.
2. Select Add package. The Add a Package screen displays.
3. Select Type of package from the dropdown.
4. Enter a Package name to identify it.
5. Enter Dimensions and Weight.
6. Add package.
   

USPS-provided packaging

You can opt to use the boxes and envelopes provided by USPS.

1. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > WooCommerce Services > Packages.
2. Select Add package. The Add a Package screen displays.
3. Select Service package and tick the box of one or more of the options available from the courier.
4. Add packages.

Print Shipping Labels ↑ Back to top

WooCommerce Services currently only supports printing shipping labels for USPS shipments.

To print USPS labels.

1. Go to WooCommerce > Orders and select an order to fulfill. On the order details screen is a Shipping Label metabox at the top:
   
   
2. Select Create shipping label
3. Enter the full address you’re shipping from, if it’s the first time printing a shipping label. This can be a street address or PO Box. Note: Returns to sender cannot often be done if using a PO Box.
4. Confirm the origin and shipping addresses, then select Verify address.
5. Confirm the Package details, or select packaging from the dropdown. Then select Use these packages.
   
6. Select Shipping Rate and whether an Adult signature is required (optional).
   
7. Buy shipping labels or Add credit card. What you see depends on if you previously entered a payment method.
   • Buy shipping labels: Means that you previously had a payment method on file at WordPress.com or added a credit card during setup above. You’re ready to proceed to the next step.
     
   • Add credit card: Means you had no payment method on file at WordPress.com and skipped adding a credit card during setup.
     
     You will be taken to the Add Credit Card screen to complete all required fields and Save Card. Once a payment method is entered, the button changes to Buy shipping labels and you’re ready to proceed.
     
     Should you change your mind later, you can Delete Card.
8. View the shipping label in Print mode, after selecting Buy shipping labels and a display automatically appears. Note: Some browsers require you to select the Print button.

9. Print. Or Save this label and repeat the process for all Orders you’re fulfilling, then Print all at once.

Printing a label if the shipping is international ↑ Back to top

If you’re sending an international shipping there will be an extra step after you’ve selected the package size.

If a customs form is required, you’ll be prompted to fill the relevant information for each of the items you’re shipping:

Note that, for certain international shipments, a single shipping label will be split in three parts (proof of payment, customs declaration, and dispatch note). In those cases, you’ll need to put the three parts, in order, inside a USPS-provided window pocket. These window pockets are free and can be ordered from your local post office or from the USPS website here.

More details on HS Tariff numbers can be found here.

Tracking information ↑ Back to top

The Shipping Label metabox on the right displays your label purchase, and contains tracking number for your shipment. The tracking number(s) will be included in the email sent to your customer when the order is marked “completed.”

First Class Mail envelopes are untracked and the label will be in a different format:

USPS First Class Mail is an untracked service, meaning that USPS won’t give anyone (not even us) tracking data on the movement of First Class Mail envelopes (including Large Envelope/Flat). However, packages include tracking. Anything with a height over 3/4 inch is considered a package by USPS.

Increasing the height of an envelope to over 3/4 inch would be a little more expensive but would include tracking.

Reprint Shipping Labels or Request Refund ↑ Back to top

Reprint your label or request a refund, if necessary. When editing an order select the three ellipsis menu to see those options.

Refunds

By selecting Request refund, it will submit a request for a refund from USPS. USPS must approve the refund.

You can only request a refund for labels that haven’t been shipped and are still in the pre-transit (USPS hasn’t received the package). USPS won’t refund labels that have inducted in their network.

Refunds will take at least 14 days to process. USPS will monitor its network for a period of time to ensure that the label didn’t end up in the mail stream.

You can find more information on USPS’s refund policy on the USPS site.

Schedule a pickup ↑ Back to top

After printing a shipping label, in the order details look for the “Shipment tracking” box that displays your label purchase and contains the tracking number for your shipment. Select the three ellipses menu to see the options and choose “Schedule a pickup”. This will link you out to the USPS.com site where you can schedule a time.

Label Reports ↑ Back to top

Review your label purchases in one place at: WooCommerce > Reports > Shipping Labels.

On that page, you can specify a time range for which a report should be generated and export the report as a .CSV file.

Automated Tax Calculation ↑ Back to top

To enable automated tax calculation, first ensure that “enable taxes and tax calculations” is checked on WooCommerce > Settings > General.

With taxes enabled, go to WooCommerce > Settings > Tax, select “enable automated taxes” and Save Changes.

Note: automated tax calculation depends on prices to be entered exclusive of tax.

Live Shipping Rates (discontinued) ↑ Back to top

Live shipping rating requires that non-virtual products have weights and dimensions set. More info at: Adding Dimensions and Weights to Products for Shipping.

To enable USPS or Canada Post live shipping rates:

1. Go to: WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping.
2. Add a USPS or Canada Post shipping method to an applicable zone.
3. Name the shipping method to be displayed for your use, and enter the post code you are shipping from. The origin ZIP code will default to the value set in WooCommerce > Settings.
4. Select the carrier services you want to offer. By default, Priority Mail services are selected. Enter any price adjustments, if applicable. Price adjustments can be useful to help cover your costs for shipping supplies. This will add an additional cost to the final shipping price, shown as one price to your customer.
5. Select which rates to offer customers.
6. Enter a fallback shipping cost (optional) and what rate class you want to charge. This will allow the customer to check out if USPS can not return rates, charging the fallback rate instead.

USPS offers two shipping class rates: Retail and Commercial.

• Retail rates are the standard rates that USPS charges for shipping. This is what you would pay if you take your package to a USPS post office for shipping.
• Commercial rates are the discounted rates available via special agreement with USPS. If you select Commercial rates, your customers are charged the agreed upon discounted rate.

Select which rate to offer.

Select the method of box packing to use.

Troubleshooting ↑ Back to top

To diagnose issues with your WooCommerce Services setup, go to WooCommerce > System Status > WooCommerce Services.

If you’re experiencing issues, enable debug and/or logging.

The system status page displays issues that could cause WooCommerce Services to stop functioning and contains helpful debug information, plus links to get further assistance.

When debug is enabled, you’ll see helpful troubleshooting messages on the Cart and Checkout:

USPS or Canada Post shipping method is missing. ↑ Back to top

If you don’t see the USPS or Canada Post shipping methods when adding a method to a zone, check your store’s currency setting. USPS is restricted to stores using US Dollars, and Canada Post is restricted to stores using Canadian Dollars.

Note: you may need to refresh your WooCommerce Services data after changing currencies. Go to WooCommerce > Status > WooCommerce Services and click Refresh.

The Create Shipping Label button is missing from the Order Details screen. ↑ Back to top

The “Create shipping label” button will show if the following is true:

• Your store is in the United States (including Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and other U.S. territories)
• Your store currency is US Dollars
• At least one product in the order “needs shipping” according to WooCommerce (typically means a non-virtual product)

If your order meets the criteria outline above and you still aren’t seeing the “Create shipping label” button, please create a ticket containing the relevant order data so we can help diagnose the issue.

This address is not recognized. Please try another. ↑ Back to top

You may encounter this error when printing shipping labels. This means that we were unable to verify the address with USPS – it may have been entered incorrectly, or isn’t considered “deliverable” by the post office.

Use the USPS zip code lookup tool to verify the address. If it’s not recognized, we recommend reaching out to your customer.

If the tool recognizes the address there may be an issue with WooCommerce Services. Please open a ticket with the relevant address information so we can look into it.

Automated Taxes do not appear to be calculating ↑ Back to top

Even if the tax value for an order is 0.00, Automated Taxes may be working correctly. If your store is based in the United States, you only need to collect sales tax from customers in locations where you have a “tax nexus”. This typically means a physical presence, however you can also have a tax nexus if you exceed a specific dollar value in yearly sales to a state, or exceed a number of yearly orders in a state.

WooCommerce Services uses your store address at WooCommerce > Settings > General as your “tax nexus” and does not calculate your tax status for other states.

If you are unsure of the tax needs for your business, you will want to contact a local certified tax professional.

If you need to charge tax for any other state, you can add a tax rate for that state in addition to using automated taxes to charge customers from that state tax as well.

For more information about your States Tax Nexus and Destination Tax rules, please have a look at:  State-by-state guide to economic nexus laws.

Shipping Rates are not returned ↑ Back to top

Several things can prevent shipping rates from being calculated, including problems with the USPS API service. Most issues can be diagnosed by looking at the Debug Log at WooCommerce > Status > WooCommerce Services.

Product is missing weight or dimensions ↑ Back to top

01-15-2018 @ 18:15:49 - Error. Unable to get shipping rate(s) for wc_services_usps instance id 25. (calculate_shipping)
01-15-2018 @ 18:15:49 - product_missing_weight Product ( ID: 37 ) did not include a weight. Shipping rates cannot be calculated. (calculate_shipping)

Solution: Ensure that your products have weight and dimensions, then try again.

Error with Jetpack Authentication ↑ Back to top

01-10-2018 @ 14:09:18 - Received (401): {"statusCode":401,"error":"Unauthorized","message":"Invalid token","attributes":{"error":"Invalid token"}}
01-10-2018 @ 14:09:21 - wcc_server_error_response Error: The WooCommerce Services server returned: Unauthorized Invalid token ( 401 ) (fetch_service_schemas_from_connect_server)

Solution: Reconnect Jetpack. More details at: Fixing Jetpack Connection Issues.

Unable to connect through Firewall ↑ Back to top

If you are using a security plugin or have a firewall, it’s possible that connections to our servers are being blocked. To resolve this, you can whitelist our server. Outgoing requests from this plugin are only made to api.woocommerce.com, this is currently the IP address 192.0.96.246.

Frequently Asked Questions ↑ Back to top

How to provide customers with a return shipping label for products to be returned ↑ Back to top

While the plugin does not include an option to specifically print a “return label”, you can print multiple labels from within the same order.

To create a return shipping label you will have to get in touch with the customer to get their address, which will be the new origin address for the package. It is also important that you get the correct dimensions and weight of the package that the customer will use to send you back the products, as that will influence the price that you pay for shipping.

Once you have those details, on the order page, select to print a new label. Then follow the steps described in the following section to update the origin address, which is where you will enter the address provided by the customer. The destination address has to be the address where you will receive the returned package.

How to update Origin Address ↑ Back to top

On the order details page, click Create shipping label

The label appears pre-filled. Click the arrow to expand the section at the top, Origin address

Update your details, and click Validate address to save. These details will be saved for use on future purchases.

Is it possible to auto-create a USPS manifest? ↑ Back to top

At this time, no. It would need to be compiled manually. Postal service workers requesting a manifest typically happens in December, prompted by the holidays when sending/delivering packages is at its height, and speed in processing becomes central.

What are the HS Tariff Numbers? ↑ Back to top

HS (Harmonized System) is an internationally standardized system of names and numbers to classify products. It’s used by Customs agencies all over the world. You can fill in the HS tariff number for every product on every international shipment you make.

Although the HS Tariff number is not usually required, we recommend using the tariff codes to avoid certain scenarios:

• Delays: Not classifying your products will cause the importing country to spend time manually classifying them on their end.
• Denials: Each importing government has its own unique restrictions in place to protect local markets. While there are some products that are perfectly fine to export in one market, they might very well be denied in another.

To fill in the HS Tariff numbers on your Customs declaration, you’ll need to look up the tariff numbers associated with whatever products you are shipping. You can search for them on hts.usitc.gov. Though some codes may be longer, you only need to include the first six digits.

Why do I need to install and connect to Jetpack? ↑ Back to top

• We use the Jetpack connection to authenticate each request and, if you use the shipping label service, to charge your credit card on file. Also, installing Jetpack gives your store additional security and stability.
• If you’re still concerned about installing an additional plugin, note that once Jetpack is installed you can toggle off Jetpack modules on your site and the connection with WooCommerce Services would still work.

Note that data is synced with Jetpack for all modules regardless of whether they’re activated or not. You can read our Terms of Service here and information on what data is shared here.

Can I buy and print shipping labels for US domestic and international packages?  ↑ Back to top

Yes! You can buy and print USPS shipping labels for domestic and international destinations.

Can I get discounts on USPS labels? ↑ Back to top

Yes. With WooCommerce Shipping you automatically get USPS deepest commercial discounts which can save up to 90% off retail USPS rates.

Why do I need to enter my credit card? ↑ Back to top

WooCommerce Services requires a credit card to charge per label.

Do I need special paper or a specific printer to print labels? ↑ Back to top

Not at all! You can print shipping labels via WooCommerce Shipping on any 8.5 x 11 in paper, and then attach it directly to your package. Or if you have a thermal printer setup you can use those 4 x 6 in labels.

Any printer will work for printing labels on 8.5 x 11 in paper. You can also use a thermal printer to print on 4 x 6 in labels but it’s not necessary for printing shipping labels with WooCommerce Shipping.

Important notice regarding April usage of WooCommerce Tax for merchants located in California and Texas. ↑ Back to top

On April 1st, 2019, WooCommerce Tax returned lower-than-expected sales tax rates for select merchants in California and Texas. The issue was caused by a scheduled system update on our tax rate provider’s systems. They quickly identified and resolved the issue. However, some merchants based in California and Texas may have been impacted.

The issue would have caused under-collection of sales tax of 1% or up to 6.5% in Texas and California, respectively.

To know if your transactions were impacted, they would need to meet all of the following criteria:

• Your store address is in California or Texas. You can check your store address in WooCommerce > Settings.
• Your store is using WooCommerce Tax. To check if the automated taxes feature is enabled look at the Automated taxes setting in WooCommerce > Settings > Tax. This tab is only visible if taxes are enabled.
• Your store had transactions during the affected time windows. To review your orders, go to WooCommerce > Reports and select the appropriate date range:
  • In California, we returned a lower-than-expected state rate from midnight UTC (5 pm PDT on March 31st) until the issue was resolved at 1:25 PM UTC (2:25 am PDT on April 1st.)
  • In Texas, we returned a lower-than-expected city rate from midnight UTC (7 pm CDT on March 31st) until the issue was resolved at 5:30 PM UTC (8:25 am PDT on April 1st.)

If your transactions were affected and your business uses the tax reports for reporting & filing, you likely need to manually correct the collection amount for those transactions before filing your sales tax returns. This Sales Tax Calculator could be a helpful tool.

As always, we recommend consulting with a tax professional or an accountant that can advise regarding any applicable laws to your state, country, or business. Each business is unique.

Questions

Do you still have questions and need assistance? 

• Get in touch with a Happiness Engineer via our Help Desk. We provide expert priority support for WooCommerce.com and Jetpack customers but not other third-party plugins.
• If you are not a customer at WooCommerce.com, we recommend finding help on the WooCommerce Support Forum or hiring a recommended expert on our customizations page.