--- title: "Install Weight-Based Shipping and Add It to a Zone" description: "Install Weight-Based Shipping, add it to a WooCommerce shipping zone, set your weight unit and product weights, and check rates at checkout." url: "https://wpfactory.com/docs/install-weight-based-shipping/" updated: "2026-10-05" category: Getting Started --- # Install Weight-Based Shipping and Add It to a Zone To set up [Weight-Based Shipping for WooCommerce](https://wpfactory.com/item/weight-based-shipping-for-woocommerce/) after activating it, go to **WPFactory > Weight-Based Shipping** (also reachable at **WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping**), open or add a zone, click **Add shipping method** and choose **Weight-Based Shipping**. Then open the method and replace the three default tiers with your own. ## Install Weight-Based Shipping The steps below cover requirements, installation, adding the method to a zone, and checking that rates appear at checkout. ## Requirements | Requirement | Minimum | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | | WordPress | 5.8 | Declared as `Requires at least: 5.8`. | | PHP | 7.4 | Declared as `Requires PHP: 7.4`. | | WooCommerce | 5.0 | Required. Without it the plugin does nothing and shows an admin notice. Tested up to WooCommerce 10.9. | | User capability | `manage_woocommerce` | The capability WooCommerce requires for its shipping settings. Administrators and shop managers have it. | | HPOS | Compatible | Declared compatible with High-Performance Order Storage. The plugin only reads cart contents, so order storage does not affect it. | | Cart & Checkout Blocks | Compatible | Declared compatible. Rates appear in the block checkout as they do in the classic one. | ## Install the plugin **From WordPress** 1. Go to **Plugins > Add New**. 2. Search for *Weight-Based Shipping for WooCommerce* (use the ZIP route below if you bought it from WPFactory and it does not show in search). 3. Click **Install Now**, then **Activate**. **From a ZIP** 1. Download the plugin ZIP from your WPFactory account. 2. Go to **Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin**, choose the ZIP, click **Install Now**. 3. Click **Activate**. Activation creates no database tables and runs no migration. If WooCommerce is not active, the plugin stays dormant and shows a notice saying WooCommerce is required. Install and activate WooCommerce, and the shipping method appears without any further step. ## Where the screens live There is no settings page of the usual kind. Three routes lead to the same place: - **WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping**, then open the zone you want. This is where the method is actually configured. - **WPFactory > Weight-Based Shipping** in the admin sidebar, which is a shortcut to the same shipping screen. It needs the `manage_woocommerce` capability. - The **Settings** link on the plugin's own row on the Plugins screen. ![the WPFactory admin menu with the Weight-Based Shipping entry](https://wpfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/install-weight-based-shipping-1.png) ## Add the method to a shipping zone A zone is WooCommerce's answer to "where does this customer live". The method has to be added to each zone that should offer it. 1. Go to **WPFactory > Weight-Based Shipping** (also reachable at **WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping**). 2. Open an existing zone, or click **Add zone** and set its regions. 3. Click **Add shipping method**. 4. Choose **Weight-Based Shipping** and confirm. 5. Click the method name to open its settings modal. ![Create shipping method dialog in a WooCommerce shipping zone, listing Free shipping, Flat rate and Weight-Based Shipping](https://wpfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/Weight-based-Shipping-Create-Method.png) Step 1 of 2: pick Weight-Based Shipping, then Continue. The modal opens with a working configuration already in place: three default tiers of 0 to 5 (cost 10), 5 to 10 (cost 15) and 10 and up (cost 25), in your store's weight unit and currency. Those defaults are live values, not placeholders: a method you add and never edit will quote them. Replace them with your own before going anywhere near a real order. See [set up your weight tiers](https://wpfactory.com/docs/weight-based-shipping-tiers/). ![Weight-Based Shipping settings modal showing Enable/Disable, Method Title, Tax Status, Handle Zero Weight and the weight tier table](https://wpfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/Weight-based-Shipping-Values.png) Step 2 of 2: the method's own settings, with the default tiers already filled in. Repeat for every zone that needs weight-based rates. Each zone instance keeps its own tiers, fees, thresholds and limits, so a domestic zone and an international zone share nothing. ## Set your weight unit Weight-Based Shipping reads **WooCommerce > Settings > Products > General > Weight unit** and uses it everywhere: the tier table headings, the free shipping weight threshold, the maximum weight, and the weights it reads off your products. Change that unit later and nothing is converted. Your tier boundaries stay the numbers you typed, now meaning something else entirely: 0 to 5 kg quietly becomes 0 to 5 lbs. If you do change it, go through every zone and restate the numbers. ## Give your products weights The method is only as accurate as the weights on your catalog. **Simple products.** Edit the product, open the **Shipping** tab in the Product data box, fill in **Weight**, update. **Variable products.** Edit the product, open **Variations**, expand each variation and fill in its **Weight**. A variation left blank falls back to its parent product's weight, which is worth using deliberately: set the weight once on the parent when every variation weighs the same, and only override the variations that differ. **Virtual products** do not need shipping, so WooCommerce leaves them out of the shipping package entirely and they never reach the weight total. A cart of physical products that all have an empty weight weighs zero: see **Handle Zero Weight** in the [settings reference](https://wpfactory.com/docs/weight-based-shipping-settings/) for what should happen then. A product with no weight is not an error and produces no warning. It simply adds nothing, and the customer is quoted a lighter bracket than the parcel really is. ## Check it works 1. Add a product with a known weight to the cart, quantity 1. 2. Open the cart or checkout and set a shipping address inside the zone you configured. 3. Confirm the method appears with the title you set and the cost of the tier that weight falls into. 4. Raise the quantity until the total crosses a tier boundary and confirm the cost changes. If the rate does not move after you edit the method's settings, WooCommerce may be serving a rate it cached for the session. Empty the cart and add the product again, or turn on **Enable debug mode** under **WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > Shipping options** while testing, which bypasses the shipping rate cache. ## Troubleshooting the install - **"WooCommerce Weight-Based Shipping requires WooCommerce" notice.** WooCommerce is not active. Activate it; nothing else is needed. - **Weight-Based Shipping is not in the Add shipping method list.** The plugin is not active, or you are looking at a WooCommerce screen loaded before activation. Reload the shipping settings page. - **No WPFactory menu entry.** The settings are always reachable at **WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping**, or through the **Settings** link on the plugin's row on the Plugins screen. - **You cannot see the shipping settings at all.** The account needs `manage_woocommerce`. Administrators and shop managers have it; editors and authors do not. ## Where to go next - [How to charge shipping by weight in WooCommerce](https://wpfactory.com/docs/woocommerce-charge-shipping-by-weight/) - [Set up your weight tiers](https://wpfactory.com/docs/weight-based-shipping-tiers/) - [How to set different weight-based rates per zone or country](https://wpfactory.com/docs/weight-based-shipping-rates-per-zone/) - [Handling fees, free shipping thresholds and weight limits](https://wpfactory.com/docs/weight-based-shipping-fees-and-limits/) - [FAQ and troubleshooting](https://wpfactory.com/docs/weight-based-shipping-faq/) ### Get Weight-Based Shipping Every setting covered here is included in [Weight-Based Shipping for WooCommerce](https://wpfactory.com/item/weight-based-shipping-for-woocommerce/), with no locked Pro options. [Get Weight-Based Shipping](https://wpfactory.com/item/weight-based-shipping-for-woocommerce/). Need a hand? Our team answers every ticket on the [Weight-Based Shipping support forum](https://wpfactory.com/support/). Related articles - [What Weight-Based Shipping Does (and What It Does Not)](https://wpfactory.com/docs/weight-based-shipping-overview/) - [How to Offer Economy and Express Weight-Based Shipping Options](https://wpfactory.com/docs/weight-based-shipping-economy-express/) - [How to Offer Free Shipping Over an Order Amount with Weight-Based Rates](https://wpfactory.com/docs/weight-based-shipping-free-over-amount/) - [Weight-Based Shipping Developer Reference](https://wpfactory.com/docs/weight-based-shipping-developers/) - [How Weight-Based Shipping Calculates the Shipping Cost](https://wpfactory.com/docs/weight-based-shipping-cost-calculation/)