CIS x WooCommerce Plugin Features & Benefits
Introduction
The Big Post Shipping Plugin on WooCommerce offers Big Post customers the following benefits:
- Provides real-time, accurate shipping quotes directly from the Big Post system to your customers.
- Get shipping rates for both small and large, heavy, and bulky items, accommodating a wide range of products.
- Enhance your customers’ shopping experience with an optional ‘Quick Quote’ widget on your product pages.
- Provide your customers with Business to Business, Residential Delivery, and Depot Collection rates at checkout and on the product page. The plugin even prompts customers to confirm if they have access to a forklift, enabling Business to Business quotes for bulkier items to be offered; and provide the option to select ‘Authority to leave’ services for home deliveries.
- Easily despatch your goods to over 180 Big Post depots nationwide for collection.
- Access great shipping rates from top carriers including TNT, Couriers Please, Northline, Capital Transport, Hi Trans, Hunter Express, Allied Express, Aramex, and more.
- Saves time and money by enabling customers to book freight jobs directly into the Big Post system during their online purchase, reducing manual data entry.
Quoting & Booking
The Big Post Shipping Plugin allows your customers to obtain a shipping quote directly from the Big Post System and will automatically create a Big Post job with the receiver's details as the order is placed. Once the job is created via the plugin, you can edit, delete, or despatch it to the carrier within the Big Post system at your convenience.
During the online transaction, your customer can:
- Choose between Residential Delivery, Business Delivery or Depot Collection. Residential Delivery options may include 'Authority to Leave' or a 'Tailgate Home Delivery' for bulky freight.
- Be provided with the cheapest quote or earliest estimated time of arrival (ETA) from Big Post's portfolio of carriers. You can customise this to restrict certain carriers of your choice from being included in the results.
- Once the transaction is complete and the customer has submitted their order, the delivery will be booked into the Big Post system, listed in your pending jobs. While the job is still 'pending', you will be able to edit it before despatch.
- If your customer has purchased multiple small items, such as cartons or satchels, you can choose to consolidate or reconfigure the packaging by editing the product dimensions and re-quoting, potentially saving on your freight cost.
Cart & Checkout Shipping Quote
At checkout, when a customer enters their shipping address, Big Post will automatically calculate the shipping cost for their items based on the dimensions and weights of the products saved on the plugin platform, referred to as the Custom Integration System (CIS). The system then offers Residential, Business, and Depot Delivery options on the checkout page for the customer to select from to continue with payment.
Product Quick Quote
While browsing your store, customers can generate a quick
shipping quote directly from the product page using the widget. By default, it
appears just below the product price and can be minimised if preferred.
To receive a quote, customers simply enter their postcode
and choose a delivery option: Residential, Business, or Depot
Collection. For larger or bulkier items, the widget will display tailgate shipping quotes and
may prompt customers to confirm whether their address is suitable for a
tailgate delivery, for residential addresses. For smaller residential shipments, customers can select Signature or Authority
to Leave (ATL) for added delivery flexibility.
For
larger or bulkier items, the widget will display tailgate shipping quotes and
may prompt customers to confirm whether their address is suitable for a
tailgate delivery, for residential addresses.
Pickups
Pickups can only be made from one location per
transaction. The plugin supports the following pickup-location options:
- Add multiple pickup locations if you ship stock from more than one warehouse.
- Assign a specific pickup location to individual products.
- If a product is stocked at multiple warehouses, the plugin will return the cheapest available quote by selecting the best origin for that delivery. For example, if you have warehouses in Sydney and Adelaide and the customer is in Brisbane, the plugin will typically quote from the warehouse that provides the lowest cost (often the closest location).
Important note: Warehouse selection priority
If the items in an order/cart are not all available from a single warehouse, the shipping calculator will generate the quote using the highest-priority (topmost) pickup location saved in CIS where at least one product in the cart is available. The order can still be placed, but the quoted shipping rate will be based on that single pickup location only, as the order cannot be split automatically.
If one or more items are stocked at a different location, it is the business’s responsibility to manually split the shipment by creating an additional Big Post job for the item(s) stocked elsewhere and then manually pass on any additional freight charges to the customer.
If the items in an order/cart are not all available from a single warehouse, the shipping calculator will generate the quote using the highest-priority (topmost) pickup location saved in CIS where at least one product in the cart is available. The order can still be placed, but the quoted shipping rate will be based on that single pickup location only, as the order cannot be split automatically.
If one or more items are stocked at a different location, it is the business’s responsibility to manually split the shipment by creating an additional Big Post job for the item(s) stocked elsewhere and then manually pass on any additional freight charges to the customer.
As
only one pickup origin can be used per transaction, the plugin may not
suit retailers whose orders commonly ship from multiple warehouses. For
example, if “Item Blue” ships from Sydney and “Item Red” ships from Melbourne
and customers often purchase them together, the plugin can’t create a single
Big Post job with two different pickup locations.
Order Submitted
After the customer completes payment and submits their
order, a job is automatically created and will appear in the Big Post system
under Pending Jobs.
While the job remains pending (and has not yet been
despatched), you can review and update key details such as items, addresses,
and contact information. If needed, you can also manually consolidate items
within the order and potentially reduce shipping costs.
Any changes made to a job will generate an updated quote. If
the price changes, the difference will not be automatically credited or
charged to the customer—you are responsible for collecting any additional
shipping fees (or arranging any refunds) before despatching the job.
Please note that the plugin does not automatically consolidate multiple items into a single package. Instead, shipping is calculated as multiple items within the same consignment.
Carrier Restrictions
Shipping costs in the back end are calculated the same way as in the Big Post system. When a quote is requested, the results returned include all eligible carrier and service options available for that job.
The plugin then filters these results based on your configuration and presents the customer with either the cheapest option or the fastest estimated delivery (ETA) option, depending on your settings.
If required, you can configure carrier preferences in your CIS settings by including or excluding specific carriers, ensuring the “best” quote is calculated using only the carriers you wish to offer.
Not all carriers can support every type of delivery. Before
limiting your carrier options, please consider the factors below to avoid
scenarios where customers are left with no available delivery services:- Job types: Can the selected carriers deliver to both residential and commercial addresses?
- Service types: Do they support services such as Signature on Delivery or Authority to Leave (ATL)?
- Pick-up and delivery areas: Do they service metro, regional, and remote areas?
- Weight limits: Are your products within the carrier’s minimum and maximum weight thresholds?
- Other restrictions: Additional constraints may apply, such as product type, handling requirements, or prohibited items.
Please note that quotes for Capital Transport’s On-Demand service (same-day metropolitan pick-up and delivery) are only available through the Big Post system. Due to the on-demand nature of this service, rates are not available via the plugin.
Installation & Support
The plugin is offered as a free service to our existing customers. As such, new accounts must complete a qualifying period of two invoices (two weeks) before the plugin is offered for installation via our setup guide. This gives new Big Post customers time to become familiar with the Big Post system, including Quick Quote, despatching jobs, printing labels, and invoicing.
If you decide to integrate your website with our system, we’ll provide a detailed, user-friendly guide that walks you through each step of the installation and configuration process. This ensures you have everything you need to implement the plugin successfully. While we’re happy to assist if you run into any issues or need clarification, it’s important to follow the guide closely to ensure a smooth setup.
Your active involvement is required to ensure a smooth setup.
If you run into any issues, please submit a support ticket or email us at helpdesk@bigpost.com.au, and we'll be happy to assist you.
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