Australia Post Shipping for WooCommerce

What the plugin does

The plugin adds an Australia Post shipping method to WooCommerce. When a customer reaches checkout, it measures the cart, sends the parcel details to Australia Post, and returns the actual postage prices for the services you have enabled — so customers pay what postage really costs and you stop under- or over-charging on shipping.

• Live domestic & international rates pulled straight from Australia Post for every cart.
• Two rate sources. Use the public PAC API (retail postage) or the Shipping & Tracking API for your negotiated account rates.
• Service picker. Choose exactly which products to offer — Parcel Post, Express Post, Courier Post, satchels and the international services.
• Pricing controls. Add a handling fee, a percentage markup, a free-shipping threshold, or strip GST.
• Safe by default. Optional fallback rate so checkout is never blocked, admin-only test mode, response caching and debug logging.

Before you start

There are two ways to get rates, and you only need one. Decide which suits you before configuring:

• PAC API (easiest). A single free API key that returns standard retail postage prices. Best if you do not have an Australia Post business account. Register at developers.auspost.com.au and request the Postage Assessment Calculation (PAC) API.
• Shipping & Tracking API (account rates). Uses your Australia Post charge-account number, API key and password to return your negotiated rates (eParcel / MyPost Business / Enterprise). Best if you have a business account and contract pricing. Request API access through Australia Post.

Step 1 — Install & activate

Install the plugin the same way as any other WordPress plugin:

• In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
• Choose the plugin .zip file, click Install Now, then Activate.
• If WooCommerce is not active yet, install and activate it first — this plugin depends on it.

After activating, you will find a new tab at WooCommerce → Settings → Australia Post. That is where everything below is configured.

Step 2 — Connect Australia Post

Open WooCommerce → Settings → Australia Post and start at the top:

• Rate source. Choose PAC API or Shipping & Tracking API. The credential fields below update to match your choice.
• Enter your credentials. For PAC, paste the API key (AUTH-KEY). For the account API, enter your account number, API key and API password.
• Save changes. Credentials are stored masked — once saved, the field shows a placeholder and you can leave it blank to keep the existing value.
• Click “Test credentials”. The plugin sends a sample Sydney → Melbourne quote and tells you straight away whether your credentials work.

Step 3 — Set your origin & packaging

Rates depend on where the parcel ships from and how big it is.

• Origin postcode. The postcode you dispatch from (e.g. 2000). If left blank, your WooCommerce store postcode is used.
• Use product dimensions. When on, parcel size is calculated from your products’ length, width and height — as long as every item has dimensions set.
• Default weight & box. Fallback values used when a product has no weight or dimensions. Set a realistic default box in centimetres so quotes stay accurate for items you haven’t measured.

Weights are summed across the cart and converted to kilograms automatically; dimensions are converted to centimetres for Australia Post.

Step 4 — Choose services, fees & options

This is where you shape what customers see and pay.

• Enabled services. Tick the services to offer — Parcel Post, Express Post, Courier Post, the 500g/1kg/3kg/5kg satchels, and international options. Leave it empty to show every service Australia Post returns. A service only appears if Australia Post offers it for that parcel’s size, weight and destination.
• Handling fee & markup. Add a flat fee per order and/or a percentage on top of the Australia Post price to cover packaging and labour.
• Delivery time estimate. Optionally append an indicative delivery window to each service at checkout.
• Remove GST. Strip the 10% GST from the quoted price — useful if you add tax separately through WooCommerce’s own tax settings.
• Free shipping. Optionally offer a free option once the cart subtotal reaches a threshold you set.
• Fallback rate. A flat rate offered only if the API is briefly unreachable, so customers can always check out.

Step 5 — Add Australia Post to a shipping zone

WooCommerce only quotes a method once it is added to the zone a customer is shipping to.

• Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Shipping and open the relevant zone (for example, “Australia”), or add one.
• Click Add shipping method, choose Australia Post, and add it.
• Open the method’s settings to set the title customers see and the tax status. Leave tax status on None — Australia Post domestic prices already include GST, so “Taxable” would charge GST twice.

Step 6 — Test before going live

• Turn on Test mode (admin only) on the settings tab. Live rates then show only to logged-in administrators while you check everything.
• Add a product with a real weight to the cart and run a checkout to an Australian address, and to an international one, to confirm the right services and prices appear.
• If something looks off, enable Debug logging and review the entries under WooCommerce → Status → Logs (source: wc-auspost).
• Happy with it? Turn Test mode off and you are live.

Settings reference

Troubleshooting

No rates appear at checkout

Check, in order: the credentials are saved and the Test credentials button succeeds; an origin postcode is set; the Australia Post method has been added to the customer’s shipping zone; the products in the cart have a weight; and, if you set an enabled-services list, that those services are actually available for the parcel and destination.

The shipping price looks doubled

Australia Post domestic prices already include GST. If you also let WooCommerce add tax, customers pay GST twice. Set the method’s tax status to None, or enable Remove GST if you intend to add tax yourself.

A specific service isn’t showing

Australia Post only returns services that are valid for the exact parcel — Express satchels, for example, won’t appear for a parcel heavier or larger than that satchel allows. Try a smaller test parcel, or leave the service list empty to see everything on offer.

“Plugin file does not exist” when uploading

Upload the original plugin .zip exactly as supplied. If you re-zipped it on Windows, the archive can end up with the wrong internal path separators, which breaks extraction on a Linux web host. Delete any partial upload from Plugins (or via your host’s file manager) and upload a clean copy.

Rates seem out of date

Responses are cached to keep checkout fast. Lower the cache duration on the Advanced section, or set it to 0 while testing, then raise it again for production.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an Australia Post account?

No. The PAC API only needs a free developer key and returns standard retail postage. An account is only required if you want your negotiated rates through the Shipping & Tracking API.

Does it handle international orders?

Yes. When the destination is outside Australia, the plugin requests the relevant international services for the destination country and parcel weight.

Will it slow down checkout?

Each unique quote is cached, so repeat carts to the same destination are instant, and a fallback rate keeps checkout working if Australia Post is briefly unreachable.

Is this an official Australia Post product?

No. It is an independent integration that uses Australia Post’s public developer APIs. You bring your own credentials.