User documentation (EN)
We are glad you have decided to learn more about our free plugin, developed and maintained directly by Packeta. Undoubtedly, you would like to know which features our plugin provides. In the following text, you will find chapters containing not only the overview of functions our plugin provides but also a guide on how to set up and use the plugin. Let’s get into it then.
- Deliver to pickup places of Packeta (Czech Republic, Slovakian Republic, Hungary, and Romania).
- Deliver to pickup places of carriers all around Europe
- Automatically send orders to Packeta with one click.
- See the tracking number with a link to a website with the shipment tracking for each order sent to Packeta.
- Print labels, including direct carrier labels.
- Set up an 18+ age verification setting for every one of your products. During the packet delivery, the age of the end customer will be verified.
- Print shipment lists (AWB).
- Change the destination pickup point of an existing order in the WordPress administration.
- An option to choose a pickup place in the e-shop checkout using the widget v6.
- Widget HD – a tool, that allows the customers to verify their delivery address before finishing their order. You can choose whether this verification should be required, optional or disabled.
We have prepared for you a brief guide, in which we will show you the basic setup needed before you start working with the Packeta plugin.
If you have not installed any older versions of our plugin yet, move over to the administration of your e-shop. You can then install the plugin in the Plugins section.
Click on the Plugins section, and in the following selection, choose the Add new option. In the Add new subsection, find the Packeta plugin by filling in Packeta into the search bar in the top right. Find the Packeta plugin and click on Install and then on Activate.
After a successful installation of the plugin, you will see a new section named Packeta appear in your WooCommerce administration. This section contains the options for setting up the plugin.
Before you start using the plugin, you will have to set up the following:
- Shipping zones in WooCommerce
- Set up the Products section
- General settings of the Packeta plugin
- Run an update of carriers and then set them up
The setup of our plugin also requires the setup of shipping zones in the WooCommerce section. The Shipping tab and Shiping zones category is where you will be able to set up all the settings important to our plugin.
- This tab contains a list of all the shipping zones, that can have a shipping method assigned to them. This shipping method will then be offered in the shipping zone it has been assigned to.
- If you would like to use the Packeta shipping method in your shipping zone, you will have to activate this shipping method first.
Choose a shipping zone and click on Edit shown under it.
Click on the Add shipping method button, choose Packeta and then click on Add shipping method in the modal menu.
This method should now be shown in the Shipping methods part and be enabled by default. This setting will also automatically save.
If it is not enabled, click on the Enabled switch next to Packeta shipping. It will be necessary to save the change by clicking Save changes afterward.
Repeat this process for all the shipping zones, for which you would like to enable the Packeta shipping method.
Our plugin adds the option to check an Age verification 18+ option for each product in the Packeta tab. In case an order would contain a product with this option checked, the end customer will be required to verify his age during the parcel pick up.
You can find this feature in the Products section, in the subsection All products. Under the chosen product, click on the Edit button. On the following page, you can find the Product data, where you can find the Packeta tab. In there you will find the above-mentioned Age verification 18+ option.
The plugin can also calculate the overall weight of an order, from the weights of individual products in it, if they have filled out the weight in the Shipping tab.
If you do not have the weight set up for all of your products, we recommend doing so.
In case the products in the order do not have the weight set up, it will be necessary to fill the weight of the order manually in the order edit. You can find more information about the order edit in the Working with the plugin chapter.
Now it will be necessary to configure the basic plugin settings in the Packeta section, subsection Settings.
Here you can fill out the API password of your Packeta client account. You can find this password in the User support subsection.
This parameter requires a specific Sender created in your client section, that will be used for the submission of packets to our system. In this field, you have to fill in the sender indication, which can be found in your client section, in the User information subsection, in the Sender tab.
Now you will have to choose a format of the labels for delivery to Packeta’s own pickup points and for the labels that will be created if direct courier label creation is unavailable.
NOTE: The formats marked as “on a page of same size” are used for generating individual labels for use in label printers.
Here you can choose the format of labels, for when the direct carrier label generation will be possible.
Here you can choose the payment method that will be considered as cash on delivery payment by our plugin. Any order with this payment method selected will be submitted to our system with a cash on delivery equal to the overall value of the order.
The “--” option is used for disabling the option of having a cash on delivery payment method. With this option selected, no order submitted to Packeta will be paid with cash on delivery.
This parameter is used for declaring the average weight of packaging materials of the physical packet. This weight will be added to the weight of the products in the order during the automated calculation of order weight. This weight will be added only if there is at least one product with weight set up in the order.
Click on the Save Changes button.
Before we move over to the set up of individual carriers, it is necessary to update the list of available carriers. In the Packeta-Carrier settings section, click on the Run update of carriers button. After the update, the list below will be filled with all the countries you can deliver to with Packeta.
NOTE: There are countries in the list that require customs declarations for any parcel being delivered to them. Our plugin is unable to work with carriers in these countries as of now, so you will be unable to set them up or activate them. All such carriers will have an error message with a blue stripe next to them “Cannot use this carrier because requires customs declaration”.
Now it is necessary to set up shipping for each country that you want to deliver to. The Packeta-Countries section contains a list of all the countries you can ship to with Packeta. Next to the country, you would like to set up is a button Set up.
ATTENTION! Set up the carriers one by one. First, it is necessary to check the Active carrier field if you want to use the carrier. Then after setting up the carrier, don’t forget to click on Save changes. Otherwise, you will lose all the data you filled in. Do not forget to set up carriers one by one and always save after setting up the carrier.
Check this field if you want to activate this carrier.
Here, you can fill in the name under which the carrier will be shown in your e-shop, during the shipping selection. Required!
Weight rules affect the price of the shipping method for orders with weight up to the filled-in value. Each active carrier has to have at least one valid weight rule to be able to be saved. You can add additional weight rules with the Add weight rule button. You can have as many weight rules set up as you want, but it is required to always have at least one. Required!
This parameter determines the surcharge in case a COD payment method is selected.
These rules determine the value of the COD surcharge according to the value of the order. You can have as many surcharge rules set up as you want.
This field is used for declaring the value, which if exceeded, will cause the selected shipment method to be offered free of charge.
If you are setting up a carrier for address delivery, you will also have the option to set up address validation. This validation takes place during checkout. You can set it to be required, optional, or completely disabled. If you decide to use address validation, a Check shipping address button will appear in the checkout during the shipping method selection.
After clicking on the Check shipping address a window with our widget HD will open, and you will be able to validate your delivery address. You can select the address to validate by placing a pin on the map. After clicking the Confirm selected address button, our plugin will save the address and use it as the address for the packet delivery. One of the benefits of a validated address is that the street and house number will be separated, which is required by certain carriers.
Required address validation
If you choose the required address validation option, the customer will see the Check shipping address button during the checkout and beneath it a message - Delivery address has not been verified Verification of delivery address is required by this carrier. If the customer tries to place the order without validating, he will receive the same error message as mentioned above, and he will not be able to place the order. The customer will be required to validate his shipping address, and only after validating will be able to place his order.
Optional address validation
If you choose the optional address validation option, the customer will not be required to validate his delivery address. He will be able to either validate his address after clicking the Check shipping address or just complete the order by clicking Place order.
No address validation
The Check shipping address button will not appear in the checkout at all.
Pickup points - the use of widget v6
In case the customer chooses delivery to a pickup point, he will see a Choose pickup point button during checkout. By clicking on this button, the client will open the widget v6, in which he can select the desired pickup point for delivery. The selection of pickup points that will be visible is dependent on the settings available in your client section under User information in the Allowed branch settings subsection.
NOTE: The widget is able to show the pickup points of both Packeta and our external carriers if you have them allowed in your client section. Changes made in these settings will take effect a few hours after the change has been made.
Click on the Save changes button.
This process has to be done for each country you want to deliver to with Packeta. After finishing this setup, your Packeta plugin is ready to be used. You can start sending packets.
To get acquainted with the plugin, we will guide you through everything you should know.
Work with the plugin, as a whole, includes mainly the processing of orders and eventually editing of orders based on the responses from our plugin.
The WooCommerce-Orders section contains a list of all the orders placed through your e-shop. In the case of orders with delivery utilizing Packeta, you will see the name of the selected pickup point or the name of the carrier chosen for delivery in the Pickup point or carrier column. You will also see icons, in the Packeta column, through which you can easily interact with the orders.
In this section, you can change the order data, send it to Packeta’s system, and generate a label, that you will use to label the parcel.
Submitting orders will send their data to Packeta’s system, and the packet will appear in your client section in the list of Posted parcels.
You can either submit orders using the bulk action or each order individually.
A bulk action will perform the action selected for all of the orders selected beforehand. You can select the action in the menu above the list of orders. To perform the action, you will need to click Apply.
After installing the plugin, this menu gets expanded with four new options. We will go over them now.
This action will send data of the selected orders to Packeta. At the same time, it will return a response beneath the Orders title, whether the submission was successful or not, along with a colored stripe signifying success (green) or failure (red). You can find more information about solving problems with packets in the Common issues section.
After submitting an order to our system, you will need to generate a label for it. This option will generate Packeta’s labels that you can put on your packets that will be delivered to pickup places of Packeta.
This button will generate direct carrier labels for you.
Packeta labels need to be generated only for packets being delivered to pickup places of Packeta. In case of address delivery or delivery to a pickup place of external carriers, you will need to generate direct carrier labels.
This option will generate an airway bill containing all the selected orders and a barcode, that will allow the bulk scan of all the contained orders.
You can interact with individual orders by using the icons listed in the Packeta column. These icons allow you to do all the necessary interactions in one click each.
Let’s explain their functions one by one:
The exclamation mark icon warns that the order lacks weight. Weight is a parameter required by Packeta. After clicking on this icon, you will be able to fill in the weight of the order and then confirm it by clicking the Save button.
In case the pencil icon is shown instead, you do not have to change or fill in anything. The parcel has weight computed from the sum of weights of products in the order and the packaging weight if you filled it out in the plugin settings.
After clicking on the pencil icon, you will be able to change the weight of the parcel. You will also have to confirm the change by clicking the Save button.
The icon with an arrow serves for submitting an order to Packeta’s system. This action will also return a response beneath the Orders title, whether the submission was successful or not, along with a colored stripe signifying success (green) or failure (red). You can find more information about solving problems with packets in the Common issues section.
After successful submission of an order, you will also see the Tracking number in the Barcode column. If you click on this number, you will get redirected to the track and trace page for this order.
After successful submission of an order to Packeta, the selection of actions gets reduced to only one icon with a sheet of paper in it. Through this icon, you can print a label for your parcel. This printing option will always try to generate a direct carrier label first, and if it fails to generate a direct carrier label, only then will it generate a Packeta label that can be used instead.
Sometimes it is necessary to change some of the data of the order. You can edit the data on the page you can get to, by clicking on the blue writing with the order number and the customer’s name shown in the order list.
After clicking on the order, you will be shown its data (delivery address, a chosen pickup place, weight of the order, shipping details, the items in the order, etc.). You can change this data the same way you are used to. After the plugin installation, a new window containing the options to edit further parameters of the order has been added.
You can also change the pickup point chosen for delivery on this page:
By clicking the Choose pickup point button, our widget v6 will open and allow you to choose a different pick up place.
Next, you can also change the parcel weight and its dimensions.
All changes in the order data need to be confirmed by clicking the Update button.
The most common issue that can happen is that the submission of data to Packeta fails. After attempting to submit a shipment, an error message with a red stripe will appear.
In this case, the shipment probably contains data that are, for various reasons, considered invalid either by our system or by the carrier themselves. You can find more specific information about what happened in the Packeta-Log section.
Here, you can see all the responses that our system returned for the actions done in the administration, that are related to Packeta.
NOTE: The Log only shows the last 100 responses.
Errors are highlighted in bold and most commonly contain the "errorMessage": "Failed to validate attributes". This message means that some of the data in the shipment are not considered valid. After this message follows the list of data considered to be invalid.
The most common issues are wrong ZIP codes, incorrect formats of phone numbers, or missing weight. All these errors can be solved in the Order detail, as described in Editing the data of an order chapter.
This issue can be caused in several ways:
-
Packeta is not assigned as a shipping method in the particular region. In this case, please set up the Packeta shipping method in the Shipping zones according to the Setting up of shipping zones in WooCommerce chapter.
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In the selected country, there are no carriers set up. Our plugin offers shipping options according to the country selected in the shipping details during checkout. If no carrier is being shown, please make sure you have your carriers in this country set up correctly and active, according to the Carrier settings chapter
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The overall weight of the items in the cart and packaging materials exceeds the weight rules of the carriers set up for this country. Our plugin computes the price of the shipping methods according to the weight rules filled in the carrier settings (the packaging weight filled in in the Packeta-Settings is included in these calculations). If these weight rules get exceeded, the carrier will stop being offered.
If your client account has not been authorized yet and you try to submit an order to Packeta, you will get an error message and the Log will tell you, that Your client account has yet to be authorized for the creation of parcels. The authorization of a client account usually takes 2-3 days. After your account gets authorized, you will get notified by e-mail.
In order to be able to use modern development procedures and continue to expand the functions of the plugin, it is necessary to run the plugin on WordPress 5.3+ and PHP 7.2 - 8.0
Yes. All functions of our plugin are completely free. No need to purchase any premium extensions.
We are constantly working on adding new features. You can find a list of feaures we are curently working on in the "You can look forward to" chapter. If there is a feature You would like to see added, that is missing in our list, then please contact us at technicka.podpora@zasilkovna.cz.
What is planned for the future:
- the option to choose a pickup point in an order made manually in the administration
- the option to change the Packeta carrier in an already existing order (e.g. changing an order with a pickup point delivery to address delivery)
- automated updates of the packet statuses
- the ability to automatically change the order status according to the packet status
- creation of claim assistant
- the ability to fill in customs declarations and send parcels outside of the EU