Setting up postal zones
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I want to set up postal zones to exclude free shipping to remote and regional Australia. How do I do this to coincide with AustPost postcodes?
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Hi @phloque,
To exclude free shipping to remote/regional areas in Australia, you’ll need to create two shipping zones:
- Remote Zone – add a narrower list of postcodes (e.g. remote/regional ones based on Australia Post).
- Standard Zone – a broader zone that includes the rest of Australia.

Make sure the Remote zone is listed above the Standard one in WooCommerce → Shipping Zones.
- In the Remote zone, add your Australia Post Live Rate method without free shipping.
- In the Standard zone, include free shipping:

That way, addresses matching the Remote zone get standard rates only, and the rest get free shipping if they qualify.
I described a similar setup for DHL Express Remote Area here (includes ready-to-use postcode lists for AU): https://octolize.com/blog/how-to-charge-extra-for-dhl-express-remote-area-shipping-in-woocommerce/
Let me know if you need help importing the postcodes.
Best regards,
TomekAs we haven’t got any replies here, I’m marking this topic as resolved for now.
If you have additional questions, please let us know, we will be happy to help and reopen this thread.
Best regards,
TomekSorry Tomek I’ve been wrongly replying to no-reply
The main reason I want to set up zones is for eligibility for free shipping over a cart value of $200. Free shipping is only available for orders with a cart value over $200, are not in a remote area and which do not contain heavy items
And I presume I need some message at checkout explaining to users their status regarding free shipping, based on their location and whether they have heavy items in their cart . Is this something I can do within your plugin?
Hi @phloque,
The main reason I want to set up zones is for eligibility for free shipping over a cart value of $200. Free shipping is only available for orders with a cart value over $200, are not in a remote area and which do not contain heavy items
In our Australia Post plugin you can handle the “over $200” and “not in a remote area” parts by combining the free shipping threshold with separate zones (as I described above).
The “no heavy items” condition isn’t available in this plugin, and that would require an additional solution to set weight-based restrictions.
You could combine Australia Post Live Rates with Flexible Shipping PRO – that way, the live rates from Australia Post are still used, but Flexible Shipping PRO can apply extra rules, like hiding free shipping when the cart contains heavy items.
This is a paid solution, so we can’t go into details about it here on the ww.wp.xz.cn forum, but you can find more information on our website.
This article explains how to connect both plugins (not exactly your case, but it shows the general setup):
https://octolize.com/blog/new-feature-connect-live-rates-and-table-rate-in-woocommerce-with-flexible-shipping/.And I presume I need some message at checkout explaining to users their status regarding free shipping, based on their location and whether they have heavy items in their cart . Is this something I can do within your plugin?
As for displaying an additional message at checkout, we don’t have a built-in solution for that right now. Customers would need to rely on the shipping method’s name to communicate the free shipping conditions.
Best regards,
TomekThanks Tomek.
Very helpful. I’ve got more exploring to do, but we can close this topic now.
Happy to help! All the best as you continue your research.
Best regards,
Tomek
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