Show the right delivery fee at checkout, not €0

The problem

Many shops display a €0 or placeholder shipping fee until the customer reaches a later checkout step. This creates sticker shock at payment, increases abandonment, and generates support messages from customers who didn't expect the final cost.

How Delivery Zone solves it

Call /v1/check at postcode entry and use priceCents from the response to display the delivery fee immediately. When the postcode is out of zone, show why rather than hiding the cost. The customer sees the real price from the start.

Example API request

# Server-side: check whether a postcode can be delivered to
curl -X POST https://api.deliveryzone.fi/v1/check \
  -H "X-Api-Key: dz_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"destinationPostcode":"00100","basketValueCents":4500}'

# response
{
  "canDeliver": true,
  "zone": "Helsinki Center",
  "priceCents": 590,
  "reason": null
}

// Server-side only — never expose your API key in browser code
const res = await fetch('https://api.deliveryzone.fi/v1/check', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'X-Api-Key': process.env.DZ_KEY,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ destinationPostcode: postcode, basketValueCents: basket }),
});
const data = await res.json();
if (!data.canDeliver) {
  showError(data.reason); // e.g. "OUT_OF_ZONE"
} else {
  setShippingFee(data.priceCents);
}

// PHP — server-side, keep API key out of frontend
$r = wp_remote_post('https://api.deliveryzone.fi/v1/check', [
  'headers' => [
    'X-Api-Key'    => get_option('dz_api_key'),
    'Content-Type' => 'application/json',
  ],
  'body' => json_encode([
    'destinationPostcode' => $postcode,
    'basketValueCents'    => $basketCents,
  ]),
]);
$data = json_decode(wp_remote_retrieve_body($r), true);
if (!$data['canDeliver']) return [];
foreach ($rates as $rate) {
  $rate->cost = $data['priceCents'] / 100;
}

Example customer-facing message

We don’t deliver to this postcode. Please check the postcode or choose a different delivery address. Your order has not been charged.

Who this is for

E-commerce stores with zone-based pricing

Restaurant delivery platforms

Grocery and last-mile delivery

Multi-zone logistics operations

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Checkout validation Example: return delivery price WooCommerce integration