Description
Shipping Doctor for WooCommerce helps you find why shipping is missing, wrong or confusing at checkout.
Run a read-only health check of your WooCommerce shipping setup, find likely shipping-zone and Free Shipping problems, and test which zone and built-in shipping methods WooCommerce would return for a customer address.
Shipping Doctor does not change your store settings and does not send diagnostic data to an external service.
Common problems Shipping Doctor can help find
- No shipping options are available at checkout.
- The wrong shipping zone is being matched.
- A broad shipping zone is hiding a more specific zone.
- An Everywhere catch-all zone is placed above more specific zones.
- A shipping zone has no enabled built-in shipping method.
- Free Shipping is not appearing at the expected order value.
- Products are missing weight or dimensions that shipping methods may need.
- Postcode rules may overlap or need review.
Shipping Health Check
With one click, Shipping Doctor checks your existing WooCommerce shipping configuration for common problems.
The report can identify:
- Shipping zones with no enabled shipping method.
- Broad zones appearing before more specific zones.
- Everywhere catch-all zones that can hide zones below them.
- Suspicious or duplicate postcode rules.
- Free Shipping minimums that may be misconfigured.
- Multiple Free Shipping methods in one zone.
- Physical products missing weight or dimensions.
- Whether a fallback shipping method is configured.
- Third-party shipping methods that may need separate troubleshooting.
Each finding explains:
- What was found.
- Why it can matter at checkout.
- What to do next.
- Where to open the relevant WooCommerce setting.
Test a customer address
Enter a country and postcode, and optionally choose a product and quantity.
Shipping Doctor then shows:
- Which shipping zone WooCommerce uses for that address.
- Whether a later, more specific zone also matches.
- Which built-in WooCommerce shipping options are returned for the test cart.
- Flat Rate prices returned by WooCommerce.
- Whether Free Shipping is available.
- Automatic checks just below, at and above a Free Shipping minimum.
This can help when WooCommerce shipping is not showing, the wrong shipping zone appears to be used, or Free Shipping does not appear when expected.
Safe by design
Shipping Doctor is read-only.
- It does not change your WooCommerce shipping settings.
- It does not send store data to an external Shipping Doctor service.
- It does not include telemetry.
- It does not intentionally run third-party carrier APIs.
- It uses WooCommerce’s own built-in shipping logic where possible.
Scope
Shipping Doctor focuses on WooCommerce’s own shipping zones and built-in shipping methods.
It can show that a third-party carrier or shipping method is enabled, but it does not diagnose private carrier APIs, account credentials or proprietary rule engines inside third-party plugins.
Privacy
Shipping Doctor 1.0 does not collect or transmit telemetry or store diagnostic results on an external service.
The plugin reads WooCommerce configuration inside the WordPress admin area to generate the requested report.
Screenshots
Installation
- Install and activate WooCommerce.
- Install and activate Shipping Doctor for WooCommerce.
- Open WooCommerce > Shipping Doctor.
- Click “Check my shipping setup”.
- Optionally use “Test a customer address” to verify a real destination.
FAQ
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Does Shipping Doctor change my shipping settings?
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No. Shipping Doctor is read-only. Buttons in the report can open the relevant WooCommerce settings, but Shipping Doctor does not automatically modify them.
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Does it send my store data anywhere?
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No. Version 1.0 has no telemetry and no external Shipping Doctor service.
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Can it help with “No shipping options are available” at checkout?
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It can help identify common WooCommerce configuration causes, including shipping-zone order, missing enabled methods, catch-all zones and Free Shipping conditions. It does not guarantee that every cause comes from WooCommerce Core, especially when third-party carrier plugins are involved.
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Does it work with DHL, UPS, FedEx, PostNord or other carrier plugins?
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Shipping Doctor can detect that a third-party shipping method is enabled, but it deliberately does not run or diagnose the plugin’s private carrier connection or rule engine.
The Health Check is focused on WooCommerce’s own shipping configuration. The address test executes built-in WooCommerce Flat Rate, Free Shipping and zone-based Local Pickup only.
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Why does Shipping Doctor mention missing product weight if Flat Rate works without it?
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Some carrier and table-rate plugins use product weight. If your store only uses a shipping method that does not need weight, the message is informational rather than proof of a shipping failure.
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Why does the address test say another zone also matches?
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WooCommerce uses the first matching shipping zone. If a broad zone appears before a more specific zone, the more specific zone may never be used for that address. Shipping Doctor highlights this so you can review the order of your zones.
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Is this a checkout replacement?
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No. Shipping Doctor is a troubleshooting tool. It helps explain WooCommerce shipping configuration and built-in shipping results; it does not replace a real checkout test.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“Shipping Doctor for WooCommerce” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
Translate “Shipping Doctor for WooCommerce” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.0.4
- Replaced the short internal WSD prefix with the unique SHIPDOC prefix throughout the plugin.
- Renamed internal classes, constants, nonces, request fields, file names and admin CSS identifiers to reduce conflict risk.
- No shipping diagnostic behavior or store settings are changed.
1.0.3
- Fixed the final two internationalization errors reported by WordPress Plugin Check.
- No shipping logic or user-facing functionality changed.
1.0.2
- Renamed the plugin to “Shipping Doctor for WooCommerce” to follow WordPress.org trademark naming rules.
- Changed the plugin slug/text domain to shipping-doctor-for-woocommerce.
- Fixed internationalization/plural-string issues reported by Plugin Check.
- Removed a direct database query from postcode overlap diagnostics.
- No shipping behavior or settings are changed by this update.
1.0.1
- Fixed a false positive for custom WooCommerce zones set to Everywhere.
- Shipping Doctor now recognises Everywhere as a legitimate catch-all zone.
- Added a critical warning when an Everywhere zone appears above more specific custom zones.
- Added a passed check when an Everywhere zone is correctly placed last.
- Rest of the world diagnostics now account for a custom Everywhere catch-all.
- Address testing now explains that an Everywhere zone matches every destination.
1.0.0
- Reworked the interface for non-technical WooCommerce store owners.
- Added plain-language “Why it matters” and “What to do” explanations.
- Added direct lists of products missing weight or dimensions.
- Simplified address and cart testing.
- Simplified shipping-rate results to Available / Not available.
- Kept automatic Free Shipping boundary tests.
- Added safer exception handling for both Health Check and address tests.
- Added a plugin-list shortcut to open Shipping Doctor.
- Removed beta/demo language from the product UI.
- Added WordPress.org-style readme, FAQ, privacy and screenshot descriptions.