How to Hide WooCommerce Shipping Methods
If you are running an online store with WooCommerce, you know how important it is to offer multiple shipping and payment methods to your customers. However, sometimes you may need to restrict the availability of certain shipping methods based on various factors such as product type, location, or customer group. In this article, we will show you how to hide WooCommerce shipping methods to improve your store’s conversion rate.
Why Hide Shipping Methods?
There are several reasons why you may want to hide certain shipping methods in your WooCommerce store. Here are some of the most common scenarios:
– Certain products are not eligible for free shipping: If you offer free shipping for orders above a certain amount, you may want to exclude certain products that are heavy or bulky and would cost too much to ship for free.
– Certain regions are not eligible for certain shipping methods: If you offer international shipping, you may want to exclude certain countries or regions that are too far or too expensive to ship to.
– Certain customer groups have different shipping options: If you have a membership program or a loyalty program, you may want to offer different shipping options for different tiers of customers.
Whatever your reason may be, hiding shipping methods can help you streamline your checkout process and improve your customers’ experience.
How to Hide Shipping Methods in WooCommerce
Now that you know why you may want to hide shipping methods, let’s see how you can do it in WooCommerce. There are several ways to hide shipping methods, depending on your specific needs. Here are some of the most common methods:
Method 1: Use a Plugin
The easiest way to hide shipping methods in WooCommerce is to use a plugin. There are several plugins available that allow you to customize your shipping options, including hiding certain methods. One of the most popular plugins is Advanced Shipping for WooCommerce by JEM Plugins.
This plugin allows you to create custom shipping rules based on various factors such as product weight, destination, shipping class, and more. You can also hide certain shipping methods based on these rules. For example, you can create a rule that hides free shipping for products over 10 pounds or for orders shipped to certain countries.
To use this plugin, simply install and activate it on your WooCommerce store, and then go to the Shipping Rules tab in your dashboard. From there, you can create new rules and customize your shipping options.
Method 2: Use WooCommerce Shipping Zones
Another way to hide shipping methods in WooCommerce is to use the built-in Shipping Zones feature. This feature allows you to create different shipping methods for different regions or countries. You can also exclude certain regions from certain shipping methods.
To use this feature, go to the Shipping Zones tab in your WooCommerce dashboard and create a new zone for the region you want to customize. Then, add the shipping methods you want to offer for that zone, and exclude any methods you want to hide. For example, you can create a zone for international orders and exclude free shipping for that zone.
Method 3: Use Custom Code
If you are comfortable with coding, you can also hide shipping methods in WooCommerce by adding custom code to your functions.php file. This method requires some knowledge of PHP and WordPress, so it’s not recommended for beginners.
To use this method, you need to find the ID of the shipping method you want to hide. You can do this by inspecting the source code of your checkout page and looking for the ID attribute of the shipping method element. Once you have the ID, you can add the following code to your functions.php file:
add_filter( ‘woocommerce_package_rates’, ‘hide_shipping_method’, 10, 2 );
function hide_shipping_method( $rates, $package ) {
$shipping_method_id = ‘flat_rate:1’; // Replace with your shipping method ID
if ( isset( $rates[ $shipping_method_id ] ) ) {
unset( $rates[ $shipping_method_id ] );
}
return $rates;
}
This code will hide the shipping method with the specified ID from the checkout page. You can customize the code to hide multiple shipping methods or to hide methods based on different criteria.
Conclusion
Hiding shipping methods in WooCommerce can help you optimize your checkout process and improve your customers’ experience. Whether you want to exclude certain products, regions, or customer groups from certain shipping methods, there are several ways to do it in WooCommerce. You can use a plugin, the built-in Shipping Zones feature, or custom code to customize your shipping options. By hiding unnecessary shipping methods, you can increase your store’s conversion rate and boost your sales.
