VibeFox Australia Post for WooCommerce — Help

Requirements

WordPress: 5.8 or later.

WooCommerce: 5.0 or later, installed and active. The plugin refuses to activate without it.

PHP: 8.0 or later.

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). 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 WordPress go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin, choose the plugin ZIP file and click Install Now. You can also upload the vfd_australia_post folder to /wp-content/plugins/ by FTP.

2. Click Activate.

3. Open the settings: WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > VibeFox Australia Post, or click Settings under the plugin name on the Plugins page.

4. Enter your VibeFox license key in the license block at the top of the page and click Activate.

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

6. Add VibeFox Australia Post to a shipping zone in WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > Shipping zones, or turn on Ignore shipping zones and choose countries.

Configuration

All settings are on one page: WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > VibeFox Australia Post. They apply to every shipping zone. When you add the method to a zone, the zone window has only one field:

Title (zone): the name shown to the customer for this zone. Leave it empty to use the global Method title.

Every time you save the settings, the cached Australia Post rates are cleared. If live rates are chosen but the API key, the ship-from postcode or the AUD rate is missing, a warning is shown after saving.

General

Enable/Disable: turns the method on or off in all zones at once.

Method title: the shipping method name shown to the customer at checkout. A zone can override it with its own title. Default: Australia Post.

Tax status: Taxable adds WooCommerce tax on top of the shipping cost, None does not.

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.

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 WooCommerce adds tax on shipping itself (Tax status = Taxable), so GST is not charged twice. International postage is GST-free and is never changed.

AUD → (your currency) rate: Australia Post prices are in AUD. If your store currency is not AUD, enter how many units of your currency one AUD is worth, for example 0.61. Without it, live rates are not used. If your store currency is AUD, leave it 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 store 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 / Max cart weight 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.

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 store currency. Click + Add row to add a country and the remove button to delete one. Use * for all other countries. A country without a price (and without a * row) gets no fixed rate, so the method is hidden for it. 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 method below this cart weight. 0 means no limit.

Max cart weight (kg): hide the method above this cart weight. Default: 22. 0 means no limit. Australia Post parcels: 22 kg domestic, 20 kg international.

Minimum order amount: show the method only when the cart subtotal reaches this amount. Leave empty to always show it.

Excluded shipping classes: hide the method if any cart item has one of these WooCommerce shipping classes.

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

Free shipping from: the cart subtotal from which shipping is free. No API request is made in that case.

Availability without shipping zones

Ignore shipping zones: offer the method for the countries below, whatever zone matches.

Countries: the destination countries for that mode. Leave empty to use all countries your store ships to. Used only with Ignore shipping zones.

Advanced

Debug log: logs rate calculations to WooCommerce > Status > Logs, source "vfd-australia-post". API errors are always logged. The API key and customer postcodes are not logged.

Remove data on uninstall: when on, deleting the plugin removes its settings, zone methods and cached rates. Deactivating the plugin never deletes anything.

How it works at checkout

When the customer enters a delivery address, WooCommerce asks the plugin for a rate. The plugin first checks the cart weight, Minimum order amount and Excluded shipping classes. If free shipping applies, the rate 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 plugin sends Australia Post the parcel weight and, for domestic deliveries, the ship-from and delivery postcodes and the parcel size; for international deliveries, the destination country. A domestic live rate is requested only after the customer has entered 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.

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. API errors are never shown to the customer: the method is hidden, or the fixed price is used in the fallback mode.

The method works on the classic checkout and on the Cart and Checkout blocks. It is compatible with WooCommerce High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS).

The plugin 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 plugin works with a VibeFox license key from vibefox.net. The license block is at the top of WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > VibeFox Australia Post. Paste the key into License key and click Activate. The block shows the status, for example the date the license is active until and your domain. Use Check now to check the status again, Change key to enter another key and Remove key to remove it from this site. The link Manage licenses and domains in your account opens your vibefox.net account.

One key works on one domain. Removing the key from a site does not free its domain slot. Free the slot in your vibefox.net account.

Without an active key, Australia Post is not shown to customers at checkout. Logged-in store managers still see it, marked (unlicensed — visible to admins only), so you can set up and test the plugin before you buy a key. A reminder appears on the Plugins page and on WooCommerce pages. Existing orders are not affected.

When a license expires, the plugin keeps working, but updates and support need a renewal. The status is checked again automatically in the background.

Troubleshooting

Australia Post does not appear at checkout: check that the license is active, Enable/Disable is on, and the method is added to the zone of the customer's country (or Ignore shipping zones is on and the country is allowed). Check the cart weight limits, Minimum order amount and Excluded shipping classes. In the fixed mode, check that the country or * has a price.

Live rates do not appear: turn on Debug log, reload the checkout and open WooCommerce > Status > Logs (source "vfd-australia-post"). 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 store is not in AUD: enter the conversion rate (how many units of your currency one AUD is worth) in AUD → (your currency) rate. Fixed prices are always in your store currency.

GST is charged twice on shipping: domestic Australia Post prices include 10% GST. If Tax status is Taxable, turn on Remove GST.

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: save the settings page. This clears the cached Australia Post rates.

The license block shows an error: follow the message in the block. For example, if the key is already used on another domain, free a slot in your vibefox.net account and click Check now. If the site address changed, click Check now to activate the key for the new domain. If the license server cannot be reached, the plugin keeps working on the last known status.

Uninstall

Deactivating the plugin keeps all data. To remove it, deactivate and delete it on the Plugins page. The license key and license status of this plugin are always removed. Settings, zone methods and cached rates are removed only if Remove data on uninstall was on. Otherwise they stay for a later re-install. Existing orders keep their shipping lines.

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