In this article, we will be covering the FedEx Non-Standard Packaging and how you can handle the products that require such special packaging. Also, we will be checking out WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin which makes it very easy to enable the non-standard packaging for your products.
While dealing with the online shipping, there are tons of things that you need to keep in mind. there will be complex shipping scenarios involving products that might not be packed and shipped conventionally. And as a result, it will impact the way you pack and ship your products.
With the help of WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin, the non-standard packaging can be easily applied to the product variations. So that, if a particular variation of the product falls under the category of non-standard packaging, the other variations must be excluded from the same.
So before going into the technicalities, let’s have an idea about the FedEx Non-Standard Packaging.
What is a FedEx Non-Standard Package..?
FedEx charges an additional fee based on the product packaging. The following packages are considered as Non-Standard.
- Any package measuring greater than 60 inches in length but is equal to or less than 108 inches in length
- The package which is not fully encased in an outer shipping container
- The package which is encased in an outer shipping container made of wood
- A Drum or pail (less than 5 gallons) not fully encased in an outer shipping container made of corrugated cardboard
Now since we know what FedEx Non-Standard packages are, let us see how to implement the Non-Standard packaging additional surcharges on the product level with the help of WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin.
WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin
WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin is one of the best WooCommerce shipping plugins you can find for your online store. The plugin allows you to get real-time accurate FedEx shipping rates for domestic as well as international shipments. Moreover, it also helps in printing the shipping labels automatically and tracking the package across the globe. The plugin is one of the few shipping plugins that are capable of automating the whole shipping process for your WooCommerce store.
In this article, we will see how the plugin helps in handling the products which require Non-Standard Packing. Using this plugin, WooCommerce store owners can categorize their package as non-standard on the product level. Let’s check out how.
Enabling Non-Standard Container Option for a Product
WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin has an option to select whether a product belongs to a Non-Standard container or not. Once you install and activate the plugin, the following option will appear on the Edit Product page for every product.
Once you enable this option, the product will be marked as Non-Standard and the real-time shipping rates will include the additional charges for that product. The images below show the shipping rates before and after enabling the non-standard option.
And once we enable the option, the following shipping rates are shown including the additional charges.
Enabling Non-Standard Container Option for a Product Variation
In case of product variations, things may be a bit different. One such case may arise when only some of the product variations may fall under the category of Non-Standard packaging. In such cases, the store owners may need a mechanism to differentiate the product variations which require special packaging and which don’t. With the help of WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin, the store owners can easily make sure the Non-Standard packaging is only enabled for the right product. In case of variable products, the plugin allows setting the non-standard packaging individually, as shown in the image below.
This way when a customer selects the variation with Non-Standard packaging enables, the following shipping rates appear on the cart page.
And, in case of the other variation for which the Non-Standard packaging was not enabled, the standard shipping rates are shown.
Hence this way, the store owners can easily handle the products that fall under the FedEx Non-Standard packaging, on both the product and product variations level.
Final thoughts…
This article covers one of the most important aspects of online shipping via FedEx. FedEx categorizes the packages that are sent for shipping as Non-Standard packages based on some conditions that we discussed above. And special packaging means special (additional) shipping rates. For a store owner selling hundreds of products, it is very important to handle a shipping scenario where some of his products may be packed differently than the other products. Using WooCommerce FedEx shipping plugin the store owners can easily manage the non-standard packaging enabled products along with other products. Not only that, this article will also help you with the classification of product variations based on the special packaging conditions of FedEx.
About the plugin…
WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin
- Get real-time accurate FedEx Shipping rates
- Add extra handling charges to the shipping cost
- Provide discounts on shipping cost
- Generate shipping labels
- Track your FedEx Shipments
- Premium Version Cost – $69