Bolder Fees for WooCommerce

The gift wrapping you are paying for yourself today

Many stores absorb small costs without realizing it: gift wrap, a surcharge for delivering to a remote area, a signature on delivery. They get buried in the product price or given away, and nobody sees them in the margin until they add up. Charging for them separately sounds easy, but in WooCommerce without help it usually ends in custom code or in artificial products added to the cart.

Bolder Fees for WooCommerce adds a Fees tab to the WooCommerce settings. There you create flat-rate or percentage fees, as well as fees the customer decides whether to accept.

From optional gift wrap to a charged order: the walkthrough in Bolder Fees

Imagine you want to offer gift wrapping. These are the steps and what the plugin solves at each one:

• You create the fee. You pick a flat amount or a percentage and give it a name. This is the part that used to force you to invent a fake product.
• You make it optional. The customer decides whether to add it. You can write a description that appears below the optional fee in the cart and at checkout, ideal for explaining what the wrapping includes.
• You set conditions. The fee can depend on the subtotal, the number of items, a particular item, the shipping method or option, or whether a product is on backorder. There is also a setting to exclude virtual products from the subtotal.
• You check the taxes. Look at the demo and at a test order to see how the fee is shown in the cart, especially if you sell in areas with different tax treatment.
• You place a test order. Before going live, go through checkout as a customer with and without the fee ticked, and with products that do and do not meet the condition.

One limit to keep in mind: the conditions are the ones the plugin offers. If your case depends on something very specific (for example, a criterion that is not product, subtotal, quantity or shipping), check in the demo that it is there before deciding.

Questions to ask before setting up your first fees

Can I charge a percentage instead of a flat amount?

Yes, you can choose between a flat fee and a percentage. There is also an option to apply the fee per item, so it is worth testing how the total looks with several units in the cart.

Can the customer decline the fee?

Only if you mark it as optional.

Does it replace my shipping methods?

No. It adds extra charges to the order. It can use the shipping method or option as a condition, but the shipping calculation remains up to WooCommerce and your shipping zones.

What about digital products?

You can exclude virtual products from the subtotal used as a condition, so that a fee designed for physical shipments is not triggered by them.

When the fee is not an extra but a delivery or fuel surcharge

The same mechanism works for delivery or fuel charges. It is worth making the reason for the charge clear in the fee name.

You can also offer optional shipping services, such as tracking or signature on delivery, and charge only those who ask for them.

Bolder Fees charges for the extra, but it does not provide it for you

The plugin takes care of the charge on the order. Preparing the wrapping, contracting the tracking service with the carrier or deciding the amount of a surcharge is your job. If you are looking for a full shipping calculator, you will need another tool; if you want to stop giving away small services and show them clearly at checkout, this gives you the control to do it.