Gift Note Checkout Plugin Implementation

A WooCommerce plugin pattern for capturing customer gift messages at checkout and applying a configurable fee. This approach was adopted for ^[1] to replace the defunct Loeb plugin.

Overview

When a client needs to offer a paid gift note or message service at checkout, a dual-implementation approach works well:

1. Product-page prompt — an "Is this a gift?" checkbox on all product pages, surfacing the option early in the purchase flow before the customer reaches checkout.
2. Checkout plugin — a dedicated WooCommerce plugin that captures the written message and adds a configurable fee to the order total.

This separates the UX prompt (product page) from the transactional logic (checkout), giving customers an early signal while keeping the fee and message capture in one reliable place.

Plugin Details

• Free version is sufficient for core functionality (message capture + fee configuration).
• Premium version costs approximately $80/year and may be required for advanced features. Approve and upgrade only if the free tier proves insufficient.
• The plugin supports a configurable price field; set to $5 for the gift note fee in the Doodla implementation.

Implementation Steps

1. Install the gift note plugin from the WordPress plugin repository.
2. Configure the fee amount (e.g., $5) in the plugin settings.
3. Set the checkout copy/label text to match the client's preferred language (e.g., "Add a gift note — $5").
4. Add the "Is this a gift?" checkbox to all product pages (can be applied globally via plugin or theme settings).
5. Test the full checkout flow end-to-end to confirm the fee appears correctly on the order total.
6. If the free version is insufficient for any required feature, notify the project lead before purchasing the premium license.

Known Limitation: ShipStation Sync

The plugin does not support syncing gift messages to ShipStation. If a client uses ShipStation for order fulfillment and wants gift notes visible during packing, this gap requires a manual workflow workaround.

Doodla context: Lucy's preference was for gift messages to carry over into ShipStation with the order (as the Loeb plugin did, imperfectly). Because the replacement plugin does not support this, Karly took responsibility for communicating the workflow change to Lucy directly. The core capture-and-charge functionality was prioritized over the integration.

If ShipStation sync is a hard requirement for a future client, evaluate whether a custom WooCommerce order note or a ShipStation API integration could bridge the gap separately.

Related

• ^[2]
• ^[3]