Zones

Zones represent states, provinces, territories, or regions within countries. They enable location-specific shipping rates, tax calculations, and address validation. When customers enter their address during checkout, they select their country first, then choose from the zones available for that country.

Requirements

• PHP 8.3.0+
• Joomla 6.x
• J2Commerce 6.x

Locating Zones

Zones are managed from the J2Commerce Dashboard.

There are two ways you can access the Zones.

Option A: Go to the J2Commerce icon at the top right corner -> Localization -> Zones

Option B: Go to Components on the left sidebar -> J2Commerce -> Dashboard -> Localization -> Zones

Zone List

The Zones list displays all zones configured in your store. Each zone shows:

Checkbox: Select zones for batch actions.

Status: Set to Published to make the zone available, or Unpublished to hide it.

Zone Name: The full display name shown to customers and in admin lists. Example: California,Ontario, New South Wales

Zone Code: A short identifier for the zone, typically 2-3 uppercase letters. Example: CA, ON, NSW

Country Name: The country this zone belongs to. Select from the dropdown of published countries. Example: United States

ID: The individual ID numbers assigned to each zone

Adding a New Zone

1. Click the New button in the toolbar.
2. Fill in the zone details (see Configuration below).
3. Click Save or Save & Close.

Zone Code Standards

Zone codes follow regional conventions:

• United States: Two-letter state abbreviations (CA, NY, TX, FL)
• Canada: Two-letter province/territory codes (ON, BC, QC, AB)
• Australia: Two or three-letter state codes (NSW, VIC, QLD, WA)
• United Kingdom: County abbreviations (ENG, SCT, WAL, NIR)

These codes are used by:

• Shipping carriers for rate calculations
• Tax services for regional tax rates
• Address validation services

How Zones Are Used

Zones are referenced throughout J2Commerce:

1. Customer Addresses — Customers select their zone after choosing a country.
2. Shipping Rates — Configure shipping costs for specific zones within countries.
3. Tax Geozones — Combine countries and zones to create geographic zones for tax rules.
4. Payment Restrictions — Restrict payment methods to specific zones.
5. Address Validation — Validate customer addresses against known zones.

Filtering Zones by Country

The Zones list includes a Country filter dropdown:

1. Select a country from the dropdown to see only zones for that country.
2. Select "All" to show zones from all countries.

This is useful when managing zones for stores with international shipping.

Bulk Actions

The Actions button will be hidden until at least one country is chosen. It comes in handy when you need to change the status to a lot of zones at once.

• Publish — Enable selected countries
• Unpublish — Disable selected countries
• Trash — Move selected countries to trash

Search and Filter

Use the search and filter options to find zones:

• Search — Type a zone name or code to filter the list.
• ID Search — Type id:3668 to find a zone by its ID.
• Status Filter — Filter by Published, Unpublished, Archived, or Trashed.
• Country Filter — Filter zones by their parent country.

Tips

• Match official postal codes — Use zone codes that match official postal abbreviations for compatibility with shipping carriers.
• Disable unused zones — Unpublish zones you do not ship to. This simplifies the customer checkout experience.
• Group zones by country — When configuring shipping, filter by country to ensure you set rates for all zones within that country.
• Order within countries — The ordering position determines the sequence zones appear in dropdown lists for each country.
• Create zones before geozones — Zones must exist before you can add them to geozones for tax and shipping rules.

Common Zone Configurations

United States (50 States)

Zone Name	Zone Code
Alabama	AL
Alaska	AK
Arizona	AZ
California	CA
...	...

Canada (10 Provinces, 3 Territories)

Zone Name	Zone Code
Alberta	AB
British Columbia	BC
Manitoba	MB
Ontario	ON
Quebec	QC
Yukon	YT
...	...

United Kingdom (Counties)

Zone Name	Zone Code
England	ENG
Scotland	SCT
Wales	WAL
Northern Ireland	NIR
...	...

Troubleshooting

Zone Not Appearing in Dropdown

Cause: The zone is unpublished, or the parent country is unpublished.

Solution:

1. Go to J2Commerce -> Localisation -> Zones.
2. Search for the zone by name or code.
3. Check that the Status shows a green checkmark (Published).
4. If the zone is published, check that the Country is also published in the Countries list.

Country Filter Shows No Zones

Cause: No zones are assigned to the selected country.

Solution:

1. Clear the country filter by selecting "All" or a different country.
2. Click New to create a zone.
3. Select the desired country from the Country dropdown.
4. Enter the zone name and code.
5. Save and publish the zone.

Zone Code Must Be Unique

Cause: Zone codes must be unique within each country.

Solution:

1. Search for existing zones with the same code within that country.
2. Either use a different code for the new zone or edit the existing zone.
3. Zone codes can be reused across different countries (e.g., "WA" exists for both Washington state and Western Australia).

Customer Cannot Select Zone After Choosing Country

Cause: The country has no published zones configured.

Solution:

1. Go to J2Commerce -> Localisation -> Zones.
2. Filter by the problematic country.
3. Create zones for that country, or unpublish the country if it should not have zone selection.