VibeFox Australia Post for PrestaShop — Help

Requirements

PrestaShop: 8.0 to 9.x.

PHP: 8.0 or later. The module refuses to install on older PHP versions.

Australia Post PAC API key (for live rates only): live rates use the Australia Post Postage Assessment Calculator (PAC) API. The key is free: register for a PAC API key on the Australia Post Developer Centre (developers.auspost.com.au). The module page links to the registration page. You also need the 4-digit Australian postcode you ship from. If you only use fixed prices per country, you do not need an API key.

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

Installation

1. In the back office go to Modules > Module Manager and click Upload a module. Choose the module ZIP file.

2. When the upload finishes, click Configure, or find VibeFox Australia Post in the module list later and click Configure.

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

4. Choose the Rate source. For live rates, enter the PAC API key, your ship-from postcode and, if your shop default currency is not AUD, the AUD conversion rate (see Configuration). Click Save.

On install the module creates the Australia Post carrier with the delivery time text Australia Post parcel delivery. The carrier is assigned to all zones and all customer groups. You can change zones, customer groups, delivery time, logo, size limits and the tax rule in Shipping > Carriers. Do not set prices there: the price always comes from the module.

Configuration

All settings are on the module page: Modules > Module Manager > VibeFox Australia Post > Configure. They apply to every zone. The top of the page shows the name and ID of the carrier in Shipping > Carriers. Each section has its own Save button, which saves the whole page. Every save also clears the cached Australia Post rates.

If a live rate source is chosen but the API key, a 4-digit ship-from postcode or the AUD conversion rate is missing, a warning is shown after saving. It also says what happens until you fix it: the carrier is hidden at checkout, or the fixed country prices are used in the fallback mode.

Number fields accept a point or a comma as the decimal separator. A value that is not a number or is negative is not saved: a warning names the field, and the previous value is kept. The page also warns if the shop weight or dimension unit (International > Localization) is one the module does not know. Product weights are then read as kg and dimensions as cm.

General

Enable Australia Post: switches the carrier off in all zones at once. This is the same switch as the carrier status in Shipping > Carriers.

Method title: the carrier name shown to the customer at checkout. It is also the carrier name in Shipping > Carriers, and renaming the carrier there updates this field. Default: Australia Post. At most 64 characters: a longer title is refused and nothing is saved. If the field is empty or contains characters PrestaShop does not allow in a carrier name, a warning is shown and Australia Post is used.

Tax status: how tax is applied to the shipping cost.

Rate source: how the price is calculated.

Error details go to the log, never to the customer.

Australia Post API (live rates) (not needed for fixed prices)

PAC API key: your free Australia Post PAC API key. It is sent to Australia Post in the AUTH-KEY header. 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 API key: turn on and save to delete the saved key. Live rates then stop.

Ship-from postcode: the 4-digit Australian postcode the parcels are sent from, for example 2000.

Domestic service: used for deliveries within Australia (up to 22 kg, 105 cm per side): Parcel Post (default) or Express Post.

International service: used for deliveries outside Australia (up to 20 kg): International Standard (default), International Express or International Courier.

Remove GST: divides domestic API prices by 1.1. Domestic Australia Post prices include 10% GST. Turn this on when PrestaShop adds tax on shipping itself (Tax status = Taxable with a tax rule on the carrier), so GST is not charged twice. International postage is GST-free and is never changed.

AUD → (your currency) rate: the label shows your shop default currency. Australia Post prices are in AUD. If your default currency is not AUD, enter how many units of your currency one AUD is worth, for example 0.61. The rate must be greater than 0. Without it, live rates are not used. If your default currency is AUD, the page says no conversion is needed: leave the field empty. Both a point and a comma are accepted as the decimal separator.

Parcel for live rates

The cart is sent as one parcel. Product weights and dimensions are converted from your shop units to kg and cm. The values below are used for products without weight or dimensions.

Default product weight (kg): used for each product that has no weight, in the Australia Post request and in the Min cart weight (kg) / Max cart weight (kg) check. Default: 1.

Default parcel length (cm): used when no product in the cart has dimensions. Default: 22.

Default parcel width (cm): used when no product in the cart has dimensions. Default: 16.

Default parcel height (cm): used when no product in the cart has dimensions. Default: 8.

When products have dimensions, the parcel takes the largest length and width among them, and the height grows until the parcel holds the volume of all items.

Fixed prices (used with fixed prices and as the fallback of live rates)

Country prices: a table of 2-letter country codes (AU, NZ, US and so on) and prices in your shop default currency, tax excluded. Click Add row to add a country and the × link to remove one. Use * for all other countries. A country without a price (and without a * row) gets no fixed rate, so the carrier is hidden for it. Rows with an invalid country code or without a price are dropped on save. The table is empty until you add prices.

Fixed price per: Order charges the price once. Item (price × quantity) multiplies it by the number of items in the cart. This applies to fixed prices only. Live rates are always calculated for the whole parcel.

Conditions

Min cart weight (kg): hide the carrier below this cart weight. 0 means no limit.

Max cart weight (kg): hide the carrier above this cart weight. Default: 22. 0 means no limit, an empty field means 22 kg. Australia Post parcels: 22 kg domestic, 20 kg international. If Min cart weight (kg) is greater than the maximum, the carrier would never be shown: a warning appears and both weights keep their previous values.

Minimum order amount: show the carrier only when the products subtotal (after discounts, tax excluded) reaches this amount, in your shop default currency. Leave it empty to always show it.

Free shipping: turn on free shipping from the amount below.

Free shipping from: the products subtotal (after discounts, tax excluded) from which shipping is free. No API request is made in that case. Used only when Free shipping is on.

Availability without shipping zones

Normally the carrier is offered in the zones selected for it in Shipping > Carriers.

Ignore shipping zones: offer the carrier for the countries below, whatever zone matches. On save the carrier is linked to all zones, and zones you create later are linked automatically. Switching the option off gives back the zones the carrier had before.

Countries: the destination countries for that mode. Leave it empty to allow all active countries. Hold Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) and click to select several. Used only with Ignore shipping zones.

Advanced

Debug log: logs rate calculations to modules/vfd_australia_post/logs/vfd_ap.log.php. The file cannot be opened from the web. API errors are always logged. The API key and customer postcodes are not logged. Turn the log off when you are done.

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 module deletes the settings, cached rates and the log. The carrier is always removed on uninstall. Re-installing restores it when the data is kept.

How it works at checkout

At the shipping step PrestaShop asks the module for the Australia Post price. Only physical products count: virtual products add no weight and are not included in the order amount. The module first checks the conditions: the Countries list (with Ignore shipping zones), the cart weight and Minimum order amount. If free shipping applies, the price is 0 and no request goes to Australia Post.

In the fixed mode the price is taken from the table. In the live modes the module sends Australia Post the parcel weight and, for deliveries within Australia, the ship-from and delivery postcodes and the parcel size; for international deliveries, the destination country. A domestic live rate is requested only when the delivery address has a 4-digit postcode. No request is sent when the parcel is over the Australia Post limits (22 kg or 105 cm domestic, 20 kg international). The AUD price is converted with your rate, and GST is removed from domestic prices if Remove GST is on. The price is calculated in your default currency and then shown in the customer's cart currency.

Each successful answer is cached for 1 hour, so the same cart does not trigger a new request. A failed request is cached for 10 minutes, so the checkout does not wait for Australia Post on every refresh. The API timeout is 10 seconds. API errors are never shown to the customer: the carrier is hidden, or the fixed price is used in the fallback mode. The reason is written to the log.

If you edit the carrier in Shipping > Carriers after it has orders, PrestaShop saves it as a new carrier version. The module follows the new version automatically.

The module calculates rates only. It does not create shipping labels, eParcel or MyPost Business shipments or manifests, track parcels or let customers choose parcel lockers or Post Offices. The cart is always priced as one parcel. Letters, satchels and contract (eParcel) rates are not included.

License key

The module works with a VibeFox license key from vibefox.net. The license block License — VibeFox Australia Post is the first block on Modules > Module Manager > VibeFox Australia Post > Configure, 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 shop. Below them are the line Product: presta-shipping-australia-post and the link Manage licenses and domains in your account, which opens your vibefox.net account. Only employees with the Configure permission for the module can change the key. The texts of the block follow the back office 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 shop address changes, or after you free a domain slot in your account, click Check now. If the license server cannot be reached, the module keeps working on the last known status.

One key works on one domain: the domain of the main shop, also in a multistore setup. Removing the key from the shop does not free its domain slot. Free the slot in your vibefox.net account.

Without an active key, the Australia Post carrier is not shown to customers at checkout and no rate is calculated. The PrestaShop storefront does not know that you are logged in to the back office, so the carrier is hidden for you too: you can set up the module before you buy a key, but not test it at checkout. A reminder appears in Modules > Module Manager on the Alerts tab. Existing orders are not affected.

When a license expires, the module keeps working, but updates and support need a renewal. The status is checked again automatically while you work in the back office: once a day for the first 14 days after the key is entered, then once a week. No cron job is needed. Uninstalling or resetting the module always removes the license key and license status.

Troubleshooting

Australia Post does not appear at checkout: check that the license is active and Enable Australia Post is on (the carrier is active in Shipping > Carriers). In Shipping > Carriers check that the carrier covers the zone of the customer's country and the customer's group (or Ignore shipping zones is on and the country is allowed in Countries). Check the cart weight limits and Minimum order amount. In the fixed mode, check that the country or * has a price. Products can also be limited to certain carriers in the product page.

Live rates do not appear: turn on Debug log, reload the checkout and look at the Log field on the module page. It shows the reason: no API key or ship-from postcode, no 4-digit delivery postcode yet, a parcel over the limits, no AUD conversion rate, or the Australia Post error message. With Live rates, fixed price if the API gives no rate customers still get the fixed price while you fix the problem.

My shop is not in AUD: enter the conversion rate (how many units of your default currency one AUD is worth) in the AUD → (your currency) rate field. Fixed prices are always in your default currency.

GST is charged twice on shipping: domestic Australia Post prices include 10% GST. If Tax status is Taxable and the carrier has a tax rule, turn on Remove GST, or set Tax status to None.

Tax is not added to shipping: with Tax status = Taxable the tax comes from the carrier tax rule. Select it in Shipping > Carriers. The module page shows a warning while the carrier has no tax rule.

The price is too high or too low: check the product weights and dimensions and the default values in Parcel for live rates. With Item (price × quantity) fixed prices are multiplied by the number of items.

Rates look outdated after a change: click Save on the module page. This clears the cached Australia Post rates.

The page says the Australia Post carrier was deleted: the carrier was deleted in Shipping > Carriers. Click Save on the module page to create it again, or reset the module in Modules > Module Manager.

Uninstall

Go to Modules > Module Manager, open the menu next to VibeFox Australia Post and choose Uninstall. The license key and license status are always removed. The carrier is always removed (orders keep their history), and the cached rates are cleared. If Remove data on uninstall is on, the settings, the rate cache table and the log are also deleted. If it is off, the settings are kept, and installing the module again restores the carrier with its zones, groups and logo.

Australia Post is a trademark of its respective owner. This module is not affiliated with or endorsed by Australia Post.