Skillmerc Shipping for The Courier Guy, Pudo and PAXI

Description

This plugin adds four shipping methods for South African WooCommerce stores:

• The Courier Guy (door to door): live rates from the ShipLogic API that The Courier Guy uses. Each service level on your account (for example Economy) shows as its own option, or you can limit it to the codes you choose.
• Pudo locker: door to locker rates from Pudo (The Courier Guy Locker). The customer picks a locker at checkout, and the plugin quotes the smallest locker box (XS to XL) that fits the cart.
• Fastway (door to door): live rates from Fastway Couriers South Africa. You choose the Fastway franchise that collects your parcels, and the customer sees each Fastway parcel service for their address (for example Local or Road), with satchel prices as an option. It uses a free Fastway API key; the default limit is 100 calls a day and rates are cached to save calls.
• PAXI (collect at a PEP store): the customer picks a PAXI point on the official PAXI map at checkout. PAXI has no public rates API, so you set the Economy and Speed prices yourself (defaults R59.95 and R109.95; check your current PAXI price list).

The Courier Guy, Pudo and Fastway methods share these settings in each shipping zone (Fastway uses a pickup franchise in place of the sandbox switch and sender address):

• Sandbox or live API key
• Sender address
• Default parcel size and weight for products without dimensions
• Markup in rand and percent (or a discount with a negative number)
• Free shipping over an order amount
• A fallback flat rate that shows when the courier API fails, times out or returns nothing, so a courier outage never leaves customers with “no shipping method”

The PAXI method has its own prices, labels, an optional maximum cart weight and a free shipping threshold.

The plugin does not change your billing or shipping address fields.

Locker and PAXI point picker

When the Pudo method is selected, a locker list appears under the shipping options. Lockers in the customer’s postal code, town and province are listed first, and a search box filters the list. The chosen locker is checked against the Pudo locker list.

When a PAXI rate is selected, a “Choose a PAXI point” button opens the PAXI map. The point the customer picks is checked (it must be a PAXI node code such as P1234) and the order cannot be placed without one.

The chosen locker or PAXI point is saved on the order and shown on the admin order screen, the order received page and order emails.

Checkout block and classic checkout

Both pickers work on the Checkout block (the default on new WooCommerce stores) and on the classic [woocommerce_checkout] shortcode checkout. On the Checkout block the picker appears below the shipping options and shows up to 200 lockers, best address match first. The choice is saved through the WooCommerce Store API and checked again on the server when the order is placed.

What this version does not do

Version 0.1 quotes rates and records the locker or PAXI point. It does not book collections, print waybills or send tracking updates. Book shipments in your The Courier Guy, Pudo, Fastway or PAXI account as usual. The optional Pro version adds booking for The Courier Guy only.

External services

This plugin connects to these services. It sends data only when rates are calculated in the cart or checkout, when the Pudo locker list is refreshed (at most every 12 hours), or when the customer opens the PAXI map.

• ShipLogic / The Courier Guy (api.shiplogic.com for sandbox keys, api.portal.thecourierguy.co.za for live keys): used for door to door rates. Sends your sender address, the customer’s delivery address (street, suburb, city, province, postal code, company), the parcel size and weight, and the cart value as declared value. Terms: https://thecourierguy.co.za/terms-conditions/ Privacy: https://thecourierguy.co.za/privacy-policy/
• Pudo (The Courier Guy Locker) (sandbox.api-pudo.co.za for sandbox, api-tcg.co.za for live): used for locker rates and the locker list. Sends your sender address, the chosen locker code and the parcel size and weight. Pudo is now The Courier Guy Locker, covered by the same terms (https://thecourierguy.co.za/terms-conditions/) and privacy policy (https://thecourierguy.co.za/privacy-policy/).
• Fastway Couriers South Africa (sa.api.fastway.org): used for Fastway door to door rates. Sends your API key, your pickup franchise code, the customer’s town or suburb and postal code, and the parcel weight. Website terms: https://www.fastway.co.za/terms-and-conditions/website-terms-of-use/ Privacy: https://www.fastway.co.za/media/2467/privacy-and-protection-of-personal-information-fastway-june-2021.pdf
• PAXI map (map.paxi.co.za, run by PAXI, part of the Pepkor group): when the customer clicks “Choose a PAXI point”, the map loads in a frame in the customer’s browser. The plugin sends nothing to PAXI itself; the map page is loaded from PAXI’s servers (which see the customer’s IP address and browser details) and it may use Google Maps and Google Analytics. Only the chosen point (code, name, address) comes back to your store. Terms and privacy policy: https://www.paxi.co.za/terms-conditions

You need your own account and API key with The Courier Guy and Pudo, and a free Fastway API key from sa.api.fastway.org for Fastway rates. PAXI parcels are sent through your own PAXI account or a PEP store.

Pro version (optional)

Skillmerc Shipping Pro books The Courier Guy shipments from the WooCommerce order screen, downloads the label PDF, adds the tracking reference to the customer’s completed order email and My Account, books up to 50 orders at once from the orders list, and shows the courier status in an orders column. Pudo and PAXI booking are not included yet. USD 49 a year for one site, with a 14-day money-back guarantee: https://checkout.freemius.com/plugin/43024/plan/74888/licenses/1/

This free plugin shows a short Pro panel at the bottom of its own The Courier Guy method settings and a “Get Pro” link on the Plugins screen. You can hide the panel, it is never shown as an admin notice, and nothing in the free plugin is locked or time-limited.