Smart Carrier Rules: setup and help

Requirements

Requires PrestaShop 1.7 or later and PHP 7.1 or later.

Upload the release ZIP through Modules > Module Manager > Upload a module and install it. Open Shipping Rules > Rules. The menu also contains Carrier Setup, Simulator and Settings.

Select the intended shop before creating rules or carrier profiles. Rules and carrier profiles are scoped by shop. Configure the carriers themselves in PrestaShop before adding module restrictions.

Version-dependent behavior

The module adds no core class override. Test the real checkout you use, including any one-page or express checkout. Custom checkout compatibility depends on that checkout using the relevant hooks and carrier data.

Open Shipping Rules > Settings > Configuration.

Click Save.

Open Shipping Rules > Carrier Setup and edit a carrier.

• Active starts as Yes for a new profile. Set No to leave that carrier under native PrestaShop behavior for this profile.
• Restrict to categories offers the carrier only if the cart contains a product from the selected categories. Selected categories include their descendants. Leave the selection empty for every category.
• Restrict to zones limits the profile to the selected delivery zones. Leave it empty for every zone.
• Weight mode starts as Respect native weight ranges. On PrestaShop 8/9, Ignore weight (stay available beyond weight ranges) can keep a weight-billed carrier available beyond its ranges when its native out-of-range behavior would disable it. Cost uses the highest defined weight range. This does not bypass unrelated native carrier restrictions.

Click Save, then test the carrier in the simulator and checkout. Carrier profiles use carrier references so normal PrestaShop carrier revisions can retain the association.

General

In Shipping Rules > Rules, add a Shipping Rule and complete General.

An active rule with no conditions matches without a condition restriction, subject to its date window. Start with a narrow condition while testing.

Conditions and actions

Open Conditions and actions. Use Add condition, then choose Type, Operator and Value. Negate reverses the condition. Entity pickers can supply IDs through Copy selected entity IDs to focused condition.

The available condition types are Customer group, Category, Product, Manufacturer, Postcode, Country, Zone, Subtotal, Weight, Quantity and Date/time.

• Use entity IDs for group, category, product, manufacturer, country and zone selections.
• Use numeric comparisons for subtotal, weight and quantity. between min:max takes two numeric bounds, such as 10:20.
• Postcode patterns support * wildcards, such as AB*, and numeric ranges, such as 10000-19999.
• Stock-availability conditions are not available in this release.
• Date/time accepts a JSON object with boundaries and optional weekday/time constraints. Weekdays use 1 for Monday through 7 for Sunday. For example:

{"days_of_week":[1,2,3,4,5],"time_start":"09:00","time_end":"17:00"}

Use Add action and select the desired action:

Use the carrier picker to copy current carrier IDs into the focused action. Saved associations resolve carrier references. Leave targets empty only for an action that permits applying to all eligible carriers. Hide and show-only actions require carrier targets.

The action text language controls let you enter translated label and ETA text. Save the rule, then use its Test action or open Simulator.

If Label or ETA is empty in the current storefront language, the action loader uses the default shop language's text. Fill the default-language fields if you want a fallback for untranslated languages.

The engine applies active matching rules in descending priority and then ascending ID.

1. All matching hide actions apply first. A show-only action does not restore a hidden carrier.
2. The highest-priority usable show-only action wins. Lower show-only actions do not keep narrowing its result.
3. Fixed surcharges are added first. Percentage surcharges then apply successively to the running shipping total.
4. A qualifying free-shipping action makes the final shipping amount zero, overriding surcharges. Its threshold compares the tax-excluded subtotal.
5. The first non-empty rename and first non-empty ETA win in priority order. All applicable append-label texts are accumulated.

Fixed amounts and thresholds use the shop's default currency and are converted to the cart currency for evaluation. A single rule is not necessarily the winner for every action: visibility, cost, name and ETA can come from different rules.

Open Shipping Rules > Simulator.

1. Select real products under Cart contents. Category/manufacturer selection uses representative products rather than reproducing every possible cart from that selection.
2. Set Customer groups, Country, Zone and Postcode.
3. Supply Subtotal excl. override, Subtotal incl. override, Weight override or Quantity override only when needed.
4. Set Date/time for date-based rules.
5. Click Run simulation.

Inspect each carrier's Shown or Hidden result, matched rules, expected and actual condition values, surcharge breakdown, free-shipping result, final label and ETA. NO CARRIER LEFT means this simulated cart has no remaining delivery choice.

The simulator uses the same rule engine as checkout, with a temporary cart and address that it removes afterwards. Its result still depends on the inputs, native eligibility and carrier integrations; read any notes about external carriers. On PrestaShop 1.7 and 8, simulated surcharge and free-shipping results are informational; a test order still uses the native shipping cost.

Checkout test

Create one matching cart and one non-matching cart using the same products, quantities, address, group and time as your simulation. Confirm the carrier list, labels and ETA. On PrestaShop 9, verify the actual shipping total and test an order before enabling cost rules for customers.

Common problems

• A carrier is missing before rules apply. Check its native shop, group, zone, product and range settings. Show-only generally filters available carriers.
• No carrier remains. Read the hide/show-only traces and carrier-profile restrictions. Disable the responsible rule or adjust its targets.
• A surcharge appears but is not charged. Native cost mutation requires PrestaShop 9. Labels on 1.7/8 are informational.
• The wrong label appears. Check priority, the current language and any append-label actions from other matching rules.
• Simulation differs from checkout. Match the complete inputs, choose actual products, and read external-carrier replay notes. Test the installed checkout integration.
• PrestaShop 1.7 visibility is unchanged. Confirm the front script is loading and the checkout exposes the expected carrier markup and selection flow.
• Tables, menu or hooks are missing. Open Shipping Rules > Settings > System Check.

The module does not create shipping labels, retrieve live carrier rates, track parcels or manage warehouses.

Record or back up your rules and carrier profiles before uninstalling through Module Manager. Uninstall removes the module menu, declared rule/condition/action/profile tables and its configuration. The checkout then returns to the remaining native and third-party carrier behavior.