What Is a Shipping Class and How to Create One in WooCommerce

Setting accurate shipping costs is crucial for both customer satisfaction and your bottom line. WooCommerce’s Shipping Classes feature helps you categorize similar products—like lightweight accessories or bulky equipment—so you can assign different shipping charges accordingly. This approach makes handling logistics easier while offering precise cost control.

Follow these easy steps to create and manage shipping classes.

Step 1: Access the shipping classes section

In your WordPress dashboard:

1. Navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping.
2. Click on the Shipping Classes tab, where you can view, add, or edit shipping classes.

Step 2: Create a new shipping class

1. Click Add shipping class
2. Fill in the following fields:
   • Shipping class name: Give it a clear and descriptive name (e.g., "Heavy Items", "Small Products").
   • Slug: This is a unique label used behind the scenes. You can either type one or leave it blank to let WooCommerce create it.
   • Description: Add a note explaining the purpose of this class.
3. Click Save shipping classes.

Step 3: Assign the shipping class to a product

Once the class is created:

1. Go to Products > All Products.
2. Click Edit under the product you want to modify.
3. Scroll down to the Product Data section.
4. Click the Shipping tab.
5. Select the appropriate shipping class from the dropdown.
6. Click Update to save changes.

To save time, use bulk edit from the product list to assign a shipping class to multiple products at once:

1. From the Products page, check multiple items.
2. Select Edit from the Bulk actions dropdown and click Apply.
3. Choose a shipping class and click Update.

Step 4: Set shipping rates for the class

To define the cost associated with each shipping class:

1. Navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping.
2. Select a Shipping Zone (e.g., United States, Europe) or create one.
3. Click Edit under an existing Flat Rate method, or add a new one.
4. Configure the following:
   • Method Title: This name appears at checkout.
   • Tax Status: Choose whether the rate is taxable.
   • Cost: Enter a base flat rate or a formula (e.g., [qty] * 3 to charge per item)
5. Scroll to Shipping Class Costs:
   • Enter specific costs for each class.
   • Optionally set a cost for items without a class.
   • Choose a Calculation Type either per class to add rates for each class in the cart or per order to apply the highest class rate once per order.
6. Click Save changes.

Step 5: Managing shipping classes

To edit or remove a shipping class:

1. Return to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > Classes.
2. Use the Edit or Delete options next to each class to make changes or remove it.

You can update names, slugs, or descriptions, and click Save to apply edits.