Introduction to Geo Zones in OpenCart

It’s very important to understand Geo Zones in OpenCart. Geo Zones are created to define specific geographical areas to be used for shipping and taxation. Before we can begin setting up Geo Zones, it’s important to cover some basic terms we’ll be using:

• Zone: a section of land residing within a country. States, Territories, and Provinces are all zones
• Country: a designated country entered in OpenCart
• Geo Zone: Abbreviated for “Geographical Zone” which is a group of countries and/ or zones in a user-defined area

Geo Zones are created in OpenCart to help define specific areas when referring to taxes and shipping costs. Separate Geo Zones can be created for tax and shipping or sometimes can be combined. Geo Zones can be comprised of a single country or zone, or multiple countries and zones. Geo Zones are sort of like labels you can use for existing countries or zones. This means you can customize Geo Zones to include multiple countries but call them whatever you’d like.

How Geo Zones work with Customer Addresses

Geo Zones are mapped directly to the customer’s country and zone. If you have set up a Geo Zone for “All Zones in the United States”, when a customer chooses any state within the US for their address OpenCart will match that zone for shipping and/or tax options. The same scenario applies if you have a Geo Zone set up for Virginia in the United States. Any customer with an address in Virginia would then also be displayed the “All Zones” option as well as the “Virginia” option.

You can have multiple Geo Zones that overlap geographical locations. As in the example above, any customer that uses a shipping address for Virginia would be given the option for both Geo Zones.

If you need further assistance please feel free to ask a question on our support center website.