WooCommerce: How to Split Orders After Purchase

Splitting WooCommerce orders programmatically can be incredibly useful for store owners who need to manage complex workflows.

Whether you’re dealing with pre-orders, dropshipping, or simply organizing items for multiple shipments, dividing an order based on its products ensures smoother operations and a better customer experience.

However, splitting an order isn’t just about separating items; replicating crucial details like payment methods, shipping methods, and totals is equally important to maintain consistency.

In this tutorial, we’ll explore how to programmatically split orders in WooCommerce, ensuring that cloned orders include all relevant details from the original, such as payment method, order status, and billing and shipping addresses.

By the end of this guide, you’ll have a robust solution to automate order splitting directly in your WooCommerce store. Let’s dive into the code and get started!

PHP Snippet: Programmatically Split Order Upon Purchase Based on Shipping Class

Of course, you can change the split behavior and make it happen by product ID, product category, custom meta, etc. I chose shipping class because each product can only have one shipping class (or none, in such a case it’s equal to 0), and it’s a very common case scenario.

/**
 * @snippet       Split Woo Order Based on Shipping Class
 * @tutorial      Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli, Business Bloomer
 * @compatible    WooCommerce 9
 * @community     https://businessbloomer.com/club/
 */

add_action( 'woocommerce_thankyou', 'bbloomer_split_order_after_checkout', 9999 );

function bbloomer_split_order_after_checkout( $order_id ) {
	
	 $order = wc_get_order( $order_id );
	 if ( ! $order || $order->get_meta( '_order_split' ) ) return;
    $items_by_shipping_class = array();

    foreach ( $order->get_items() as $item_id => $item ) {
        $product = $item->get_product();		
		  $class_id = $product->get_shipping_class_id();
		  $items_by_shipping_class[$class_id][$item_id] = $item;
    }

    if ( count( $items_by_shipping_class ) > 1 ) {
		foreach ( array_slice( $items_by_shipping_class, 1 ) as $class_id => $items ) {
			
	      $new_order = wc_create_order();			
			$new_order->set_address( $order->get_address( 'billing' ), 'billing' );
    		if ( $order->needs_shipping_address() ) $new_order->set_address( $order->get_address( 'shipping' ) ?? $order->get_address( 'billing' ), 'shipping' );
			
			foreach ( $items as $item_id => $item ) {
				$new_item = new WC_Order_Item_Product();
				$new_item->set_product( $item->get_product() );
				$new_item->set_quantity( $item->get_quantity() );
				$new_item->set_total( $item->get_total() );
				$new_item->set_subtotal( $item->get_subtotal() );
				$new_item->set_tax_class( $item->get_tax_class() );
				$new_item->set_taxes( $item->get_taxes() );
				foreach ( $item->get_meta_data() as $meta ) {
					$new_item->add_meta_data( $meta->key, $meta->value, true );
				}
				$new_order->add_item( $new_item );
				$order->remove_item( $item_id );
			}
			$new_order->add_order_note( 'Splitted from order ' . $order_id );
			$new_order->calculate_totals();			
			$new_order->set_payment_method( $order->get_payment_method() );
			$new_order->set_payment_method_title( $order->get_payment_method_title() );			
			$new_order->update_status( $order->get_status() );

			$order->calculate_totals();
			$order->update_meta_data( '_order_split', true );
			$order->save();
		}

    }
	
}

Function Overview

The function bbloomer_split_order_after_checkout is hooked into the WooCommerce woocommerce_thankyou action. This means the code runs once an order has been completed and the user is redirected to the “Thank You” page.

Step-by-Step Breakdown

1. Check if Order is Already Split
   • The function first checks whether the order has already been split (using a custom meta field _order_split). If so, it skips the splitting process to avoid duplication.
2. Group Items by Shipping Class
   • The order’s items are looped through, and they are grouped by their shipping class (get_shipping_class_id). This is useful when you want to split the order based on different shipping methods or classes.
3. Check If Splitting is Needed
   • If there’s more than one shipping class in the order, it proceeds to split the order into multiple smaller orders.
4. Create New Orders for Each Shipping Class
   • For each group of items in a shipping class (other than the first one), a new order is created (wc_create_order).
   • Billing and shipping addresses are copied from the original order to the new order.
   • The items are cloned, and the new order is populated with these items, along with all relevant details such as quantity, total price, taxes, and meta data.
   • The original order has the items removed after they’ve been transferred to the new order.
5. Order Note & Totals
   • A note is added to the new order to indicate that it was split from the original order.
   • The new order’s totals are recalculated, and the payment method is copied over from the original order.
6. Finalizing the Original and New Orders
   • The original order has its totals recalculated and the _order_split meta is added to mark it as split.
   • The original order is saved to reflect the changes, and the new order is finalized with the correct payment method, status, and totals.

This code is ideal for situations where an order needs to be split into multiple smaller orders based on certain conditions—like different shipping classes. It ensures that each new order retains the relevant details from the original, such as billing/shipping address, payment method, and item information. This can be useful in scenarios like dropshipping or orders requiring separate shipments.