VibeFox Econt for OpenCart — Help

Requirements

OpenCart: 3.0.x (tested on 3.0.5.0) or 4.0.2 and later (tested on 4.1.0.3).

PHP: 8.0 or later.

Countries: Bulgaria and Romania must be enabled in System > Localisation > Countries.

Econt: no contract or API key is needed. The office list is a public Econt nomenclature. Only the country code is sent to Econt, no customer data. Fill in an e-Econt username and password only if Econt asks your store for authorization. The e-Econt login is described on the Econt developers page (econt.com/developers).

VibeFox license key: bought on vibefox.net. One key works on one domain.

Installation

The download is one zip file with the packages for both OpenCart versions. Unpack it on your computer. It contains README.txt, the OpenCart 3 package vfd_econt-oc3-(version).ocmod.zip and the OpenCart 4 package vfd_econt.ocmod.zip. Install only the package for your OpenCart version. The license key is the same for both versions.

OpenCart 3

1. In the admin go to Extensions > Installer, click Upload and choose the file vfd_econt-oc3-(version).ocmod.zip. The extension adds no OCMOD modifications, so you do not need to refresh Extensions > Modifications. Instead of the Installer, you can copy the contents of the upload folder of this package into the root folder of your store.

2. Go to Extensions > Extensions and choose the extension type Shipping. Find VibeFox Econt and click Install (the green + button).

3. Click Edit (the pencil button) to open the settings page.

4. Paste your VibeFox license key into License key in the license block at the top of the Edit page and click Activate (see License key).

5. Set the prices per country and check the other options (see Configuration), turn on Enable/Disable and click Save. Click Load offices from Econt now to test the connection.

OpenCart 4

1. In the admin go to Extensions > Installer, click Upload and choose the file vfd_econt.ocmod.zip. Do not rename the file: OpenCart 4 takes the extension code from the file name, and a renamed package does not work.

2. The package appears in the list of installed extensions on the same page. Click Install (the green + button) next to it.

3. Go to Extensions > Extensions and choose the extension type Shipping. Find VibeFox Econt, click Install (the green + button), then Edit (the pencil button).

4. Enter the license key and the settings as in steps 4 and 5 for OpenCart 3. The settings page and its fields are the same in both versions.

After install the method is off until you turn on Enable/Disable and save. If you install the extension again after an uninstall, the settings you kept are used again.

Configuration

All settings are on the extension page: Extensions > Extensions > Shipping > VibeFox Econt > Edit. The sections are listed on the left. One Save button saves the whole page without reloading it. Only admin users with the modify permission for this extension can save the settings, load the offices or clear the log.

At the top of the page the extension shows warnings: the demo API is on, no price is set for Bulgaria or Romania (the method is then never shown), the last office request for a country failed, or your store has no weight class with the unit kg (product weights are then read by their unit name: kg, g, lb or oz). Number fields accept a decimal comma, for example 5,99. If a number field contains something that is not a number or a negative number, or Minimum weight (kg) is greater than Maximum weight (kg), an error names the field and nothing is saved. The same happens with an empty Name or one longer than 64 characters, a Sort order that is not a whole number, or an unknown tax class or geo zone.

General

Enable/Disable: shows or hides Econt delivery at checkout. Default: off.

Name: the shipping method name shown in the cart and at checkout. Default: Econt Express. Required, at most 64 characters.

Sort order: the position among the shipping methods at checkout. A whole number.

Tax class: the tax class of the shipping price, or --- None --- (default). OpenCart adds this tax on top of the prices below. With --- None --- the prices are final.

Econt office list

Offices and Econtomats are loaded from the Econt API and cached for 24 hours.

Demo API: use the Econt demo API with test data. Keep it off on a live store. Demo offices have other IDs than the real ones. In demo mode the public Econt test account is used when no login is set.

Econt username: optional. Your e-Econt login for HTTP Basic authorization.

Econt password: optional. Stored in the store database and never written to the log. After saving, the field stays empty and shows Saved - leave empty to keep it. Type a new value only to change it.

Remove the saved password: turn it on and click Save to delete the saved password.

Office list: shows how many offices are cached per country and when they were loaded. The button Load offices from Econt now reloads the lists of Bulgaria and Romania immediately and shows the result per country. If a load fails, the offices from the last successful load are kept. Without this button, the list is loaded automatically at the first checkout. Changing Demo API, the username or the password clears the cached lists.

Office selector at checkout

Show: which points customers can choose.

City order: show the largest cities first (Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Bucharest and others). When off, cities are sorted alphabetically. Default: on.

City list width: the CSS width of the city list, for example 100% or 300px. Default: 100%.

Office list width: the CSS width of the office list, for example 100% or 400px. Default: 100%.

Prices (the section title shows your store default currency)

Prices are in your store default currency, tax excluded. The extension does not ask Econt for live rates. Bulgaria uses the euro since 1 January 2026, so a Bulgarian store normally enters EUR prices.

Price per country: one country per line (or comma separated): country code, colon, price, for example BG:5.99 and RO:8.99 (these are the defaults). A decimal comma is fine: BG:5,99. A price of 0 means free delivery. If the field is empty, the default prices BG:5.99 and RO:8.99 are used. Entries in another format are ignored and listed in a warning when you save. The rest is saved.

Calculation: Per order (default) charges the price once. Per item (price x quantity) multiplies it by the number of items that need shipping.

Price for other countries: used for an Econt country (Bulgaria or Romania) that is not listed above. Empty or 0 hides the method there.

Conditions

Cart subtotal means the products that need shipping, after the coupon, before tax.

Free shipping from: the cart subtotal from which delivery is free. Leave it empty to never give free delivery.

Minimum subtotal: show the method only when the cart subtotal is at least this amount. Leave it empty to always show it.

Minimum weight (kg): hide the method for lighter carts. Product weights are converted from their weight class to kg. Leave it empty for no limit.

Maximum weight (kg): hide the method for heavier carts. Leave it empty for no limit.

Availability

Econt delivers only to Bulgaria and Romania. Normally the geo zone decides where the method is offered; with Ignore geo zone the selected countries decide instead.

Geo zone: offer Econt only to addresses in this geo zone. All Zones (default) means everywhere in Bulgaria and Romania. Geo zones are managed in System > Localisation > Geo Zones. The geo zone is not used with Ignore geo zone.

Ignore geo zone: the geo zone is not checked. Econt is offered in the countries below, whether or not the address is in the geo zone.

Countries: Bulgaria and/or Romania. Used only with Ignore geo zone. None selected means all Econt countries.

Advanced

Debug log: writes debug messages to storage/logs/vfd_ecn_debug.log.php (on OpenCart 4 system/storage/logs/vfd_ecn_debug.log.php). The file cannot be read from the web. When it reaches 5 MB, a new log is started. API errors and warnings (Econt unreachable, no offices, an order without an office) are always logged. No passwords or customer data are written.

Log: shows the size and the latest entries of the log. Click Clear log to empty it.

Remove data on uninstall: when on, uninstalling the extension deletes the Econt settings, the log and the choices of unfinished checkouts. When off, the settings are kept for a re-install. Offices saved in orders are always kept.

Import / Export

Export: click Download JSON to save the settings as a JSON file. The password is not exported.

Import: paste previously exported JSON and click Import to restore the settings, for example on another store. The values are checked like a normal save. The saved password is kept.

How it works at checkout

The method is offered only for Bulgaria and Romania. When OpenCart shows the shipping methods, it asks the extension for the Econt price. With Ignore geo zone the geo zone is not checked and the method is offered only for the selected Countries (none selected = Bulgaria and Romania). Otherwise, if a Geo zone is set, the address must be in it. Only products with Requires Shipping set to Yes count: other products add no weight and are not included in the subtotal. The extension checks the weight limits and the minimum subtotal, then takes the price for the country. If the cart subtotal reaches Free shipping from, the price is 0. If no office list is available for the country, the method is hidden, because delivery always goes to an office. The price is calculated in your default currency and shown to the customer in their currency with the tax of the selected Tax class.

When the customer selects Econt, two lists appear under the method: City and Office / Econtomat. The office list is loaded once per page, only when Econt is selected. Econtomats are marked in the list. The choice is saved at once. If the office list cannot be loaded, the customer sees Econt offices cannot be loaded right now. Please try again in a few minutes or choose another shipping method.

When the customer clicks Continue in the delivery method step, the extension checks on the server that an office is chosen and that it exists in the Econt list for the delivery country (filtered by Show). Without an office the customer sees Please select an Econt office or Econtomat. An office that is not in the list is refused with The selected Econt office is not available for the shipping country. Please select it again. The office name is always taken from the Econt list, not from the browser.

On OpenCart 4 the customer clicks Choose in the shipping method block of the checkout page and picks Econt in the window Shipping method options. The City and Office / Econtomat lists appear in that window under the method and work as described above. The Continue button of the window does not go on without a valid office, with the same messages.

The office list is cached for 24 hours, separately for the live and the demo API and for each country. If Econt cannot be reached, the last good list is used and Econt is not asked again for 10 minutes. The API timeout is 15 seconds. The office list comes from https://ee.econt.com/services/ (live) or https://demo.econt.com/ee/services/ (demo).

The extension uses fixed prices only. It does not ask Econt for live prices, create waybills or labels, order couriers, track parcels, handle cash on delivery or deliver to an address. Only Bulgaria and Romania have an office list.

Pickup points

When the order is placed, the office chosen at checkout is saved with the order: the city, the office name and address, and the Econt office code. Use the office code when you create the shipment in e-Econt.

Customer: the office is added to the shipping method of the order, for example Econt Express - Econt office / Econtomat: city, office (address) (at most 128 characters; on OpenCart 4 the text is not shortened). So it appears in the customer's order history, the order e-mails, the invoice and the admin order. OpenCart 4 keeps one order for the checkout and updates it each time the customer confirms again, and the office of the order is updated with it.

Admin order page: on Sales > Orders, the Econt office / Econtomat panel above the history shows the office and its office code, also when the method is disabled later. Under Change choose another city and office of the order's country and click Save. The panel shows Saved., the shipping method text of the order is updated, and a note in the order history (not sent to the customer) records the old and the new office. If you click Save without choosing an office, the panel says Select a city and an office first - nothing was changed. An office that is not in the list for the order's country is refused with The selected Econt office is not available for the shipping country - nothing was changed. Any admin user with the modify permission for orders can change the office; access to the extension settings is not needed. If the office list cannot be loaded, the panel shows Econt offices cannot be loaded right now. An order placed without an office shows No Econt office is saved for this order., and the log has an error for it.

Office names are shown in the local language (Cyrillic for Bulgaria) when the store language is Bulgarian or Romanian, and in English otherwise.

License key

The extension works with a VibeFox license key from vibefox.net. The license block License — VibeFox Econt is the first block on Extensions > Extensions > Shipping > VibeFox Econt > Edit, above the settings. Paste the key into License key and click Activate. After that the block shows the key masked, the status (for example the date the license is active until and your domain) and the buttons Check now to check the status again, Change key to enter another key and Remove key to remove the key from this store. Below them are the line Product: opencart-shipping-econt and the link Manage licenses and domains in your account, which opens your vibefox.net account. Only admin users with the Modify permission for the extension can change the key. The texts of the block follow the admin language (English and Russian are included).

If the key is not accepted, the block says why, for example Key not found, This key belongs to another product, Domain limit reached or License expired on a date. After the store address changes, or after you free a domain slot in your account, click Check now. If the license server cannot be reached, the extension keeps working on the last known status.

One key works on one domain: the store address from the OpenCart configuration. Removing the key from the store does not free its domain slot. Free the slot in your vibefox.net account.

Without an active key, the Econt shipping method is not shown to customers at checkout and no rate is calculated. An admin user who is logged in to the admin in the same browser still sees the method in the store, marked (unlicensed — visible to admins only), so you can set up and test the extension before you buy a key. On OpenCart 4 this preview is not available: the store does not see the admin login, so without an active key the method is hidden for everybody. After you have opened the Edit page once, a reminder appears on the admin Dashboard. Close it with × to hide it for 7 days. Existing orders are not affected.

When a license expires, the extension keeps working, but updates and support need a renewal. The status is checked again automatically when you open the admin Dashboard or the Edit page: once a day for the first 14 days after the key is entered, then once a week. No cron job is needed. Uninstalling the extension always removes the license key and license status.

Troubleshooting

Econt does not appear at checkout: check that the license is active and Enable/Disable is on, and that the delivery country is Bulgaria or Romania (enabled in System > Localisation > Countries). Check Geo zone (or Ignore geo zone and Countries), that a price is set for the country, the weight limits and Minimum subtotal. Check the Office list line in the settings: the method is hidden while no office list is available for the country. Check that the products have Requires Shipping set to Yes.

The office list does not load: click Load offices from Econt now and read the result, or the warning at the top of the settings page. Errors are always written to the log; turn on Debug log for more detail and look at the Log field. If Econt requires authorization for your store, fill in Econt username and Econt password.

Customers see test offices: Demo API is on. Turn it off on a live store.

Which currency are the prices in? In your store default currency, tax excluded. Customers see them in their currency.

Tax is charged on top of the price: a tax class is selected. Set Tax class to --- None --- if your prices already include VAT.

The page says "Warning: You do not have permission to modify VibeFox Econt!": your admin user group may only view the settings. Give the group the modify permission for extension/shipping/vfd_econt (OpenCart 3) or extension/vfd_econt/shipping/vfd_econt (OpenCart 4) in System > Users > User Groups.

Uninstall

Go to Extensions > Extensions, choose the type Shipping and click Uninstall (the red − button) next to VibeFox Econt. The license key and license status of this extension are always removed. OpenCart always resets Enable/Disable, Sort order, Tax class and Geo zone. The extension always removes its events and the cached office lists. If Remove data on uninstall is on, the other settings, the log and the choices of unfinished checkouts are deleted as well. If it is off, the settings are kept and are used again when you install the extension again. Offices saved in orders are always kept, and existing orders keep their shipping method and cost.

On OpenCart 4, to remove the files of the extension as well, go to Extensions > Installer after the uninstall and click Uninstall (the orange − button) next to VibeFox Econt in the list of installed extensions, then Delete (the red bin button) to remove the uploaded package.

Econt is a trademark of its respective owner. This extension is not affiliated with or endorsed by Econt.