Loadlink WooCommerce Shipping Plugin

Overview #

Before installing the Loadlink WooCommerce Shipping Plugin, confirm that your website meets the minimum technical requirements. This ensures reliable rate calculation, order processing, and API communication with Loadlink.

Failure to meet these requirements may result in missing shipping rates, checkout errors, or failed shipment creation.

WordPress Requirements #

Your site must meet the following WordPress requirements:

• WordPress 6.0 or later
• HTTPS enabled
• REST API enabled and accessible
• WP Cron enabled (default WordPress behaviour)

WordPress multisite is supported, but the plugin must be configured per site.

WooCommerce Requirements #

• WooCommerce 7.0 or later
• WooCommerce Cart and Checkout enabled
• Standard WooCommerce shipping zones in use
• No hard-disabled shipping calculations

The plugin integrates with WooCommerce shipping zones and methods and relies on standard WooCommerce checkout behaviour.

PHP and Server Requirements #

• PHP 7.4 or later (PHP 8.0+ recommended)
• cURL enabled
• JSON extension enabled
• OpenSSL enabled
• Sufficient memory allocation (minimum 128MB recommended)

Shared hosting environments are supported, provided outbound HTTPS requests are permitted.

Loadlink Account Requirements #

To use the plugin, you must have:

• An active Loadlink account
• Valid API credentials
• Permission to retrieve rates and create shipments

API credentials are entered during plugin configuration.

Product Data Requirements #

For accurate shipping rates, products must have:

• Weight set
• Dimensions set where applicable
• Shipping enabled per product

Products missing required data may result in incorrect rates or no rates being returned.

Checkout and Address Requirements #

The plugin requires:

• Standard WooCommerce address fields enabled
• Suburb, state, postcode, and country collected at Checkout
• Australian delivery addresses for Loadlink shipping

Custom checkout plugins must not remove required address fields.

Caching and Performance Considerations #

The following are supported with correct configuration:

• Page caching plugins
• Object caching
• Server-level caching

Rate requests must not be cached. Checkout and Cart pages should be excluded from caching to ensure live shipping calculations.

Unsupported Configurations #

The following are not supported:

• Stores without WooCommerce
• International-only stores with no Australian shipping
• Disabled WooCommerce shipping calculations
• Servers blocking outbound HTTPS requests

Pre-Installation Checklist #

Before proceeding, confirm:

• WordPress and WooCommerce are up to date
• PHP meets minimum requirements
• Product shipping data is populated
• Loadlink API credentials are available
• Cart and Checkout pages are not cached