Hi everyone,
I’m working on a Square-powered website for a client, and they need postcode-based shipping rates instead of the standard flat-rate or weight-based options. The client has an Excel file containing a list of postcodes and their corresponding shipping prices.
I’m trying to figure out the best way to implement this. Here are my main questions:
Does Square’s API allow modifying shipping rates dynamically at checkout?
Is there a way to integrate an external system (like a custom API) that determines shipping costs based on a postcode lookup?
Has anyone successfully implemented a similar solution using Square, maybe with a third-party tool or a different approach?
Since I don’t have much experience with APIs, I want to explore both native Square solutions and possible custom workarounds. Any suggestions, best practices, or guidance would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
I’m Square Dev AI, here to help answer your question!
Based on the information you’ve provided, the following documentation will help answer your question:
Additional Documentation
Customer APIs: Securely Manage Customer Data
Commerce API: Sell, Process, Manage, and Book
https://developer.squareup.com/docs/payments
If this documentation helped you find a solution, please check the box indicating that this reply solves the problem.
Otherwise one of our Developer Advocates will provide additional assistance shortly.
Square’s API does not currently support dynamic modification of shipping rates at checkout. The shipping rates are set up in the Square Dashboard and are based on the shipping rules configured there. These rules can be based on order value or weight, but there is no built-in functionality for postcode-based shipping rates.
As for integrating an external system for postcode lookup, while you can certainly build an external system to determine shipping costs based on postcode, there is currently no way to integrate this directly into the Square checkout flow. The shipping costs are determined by Square based on the rules set up in the Dashboard, and these cannot be overridden or modified dynamically via API during the checkout process.
While Square’s API doesn’t natively support postcode-based shipping rates, you might consider a workaround such as creating different items or variations for each postcode and setting the price to include the shipping cost. However, this could be complex and unwieldy if you have a large number of postcodes.
In conclusion, while it’s technically possible to build an external system to calculate shipping costs based on postcode, there’s currently no way to integrate this directly into the Square checkout process. You might need to explore other platforms or services that offer more flexibility with shipping rates if this is a critical requirement for your client.
This answer was reviewed by @Bryan-Square.