How to Enable Rate Limiting in TaxCloud for WooCommerce

Summary

This guide explains how to enable and configure the rate limiting feature in the TaxCloud integration for WooCommerce. Rate limiting helps protect your store by restricting the number of API calls that can be made within a specific time frame, reducing the impact of nefarious activities or bots.

When to Use This

Use this feature when you want to:

• Limit the number of TaxCloud API requests generated by shoppers or bots.
• Prevent excessive usage that could impact your account or store performance.
• Configure specific thresholds for API request limits per customer or globally.

Best Practices

• Applying rate limits based on Customer / Visitor (per user or session) is the best path for most sellers. This way the behaviors of one customer do not impact the experience of your other customers.
• Start with relatively high limits to target bot traffic without impacting your legitimate customer traffic. You can always make the limits more aggressive over time if needed. Every commerce site has different traffic patterns, so one size does not fit all.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Navigate to Settings: Log in to your WordPress dashboard and go to WooCommerce > Settings.
2. Access TaxCloud Integration: Click on the Integration tab, then select the TaxCloud sub-tab.
3. Locate Rate Limit Settings: Scroll down the page until you find the Rate Limit Settings section.
4. Enable Rate Limiting: Check the box for Enable TaxCloud Rate Limiting to activate the feature. By default, this is turned off.
5. Configure Limits:
   • Number of Requests: Enter the maximum number of allowed requests (e.g., 50).
   • Apply Rate Limit To: Choose whether to apply limits per Customer / Visitor (per user or session) or Global (across all users).
   • Time Window: Set the duration in minutes for the rate limit reset (e.g., 60 minutes).
6. Optional Notification: Check Notify Customer If Rate Limited if you want to display a notice to shoppers when they are stopped by the limit.
7. Save Changes: Click the Save changes button at the bottom of the page to apply your new settings.

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Common Questions

Who does the rate limiting apply to?

These settings apply to shoppers and visitors on the public-facing site. They do not apply to store administrators or backend processes.

Which API calls are limited?

Tax lookups and address verifications. Order capture in TaxCloud is not impacted.

Which customer actions can trigger a tax lookup?

• Visiting the cart page the first time
• Updating the cart
• Changing shipping address
• Selecting a different shipping method
• Applying or removing a coupon
• Checking out

What happens if I don't enable this feature?

By default, the feature is disabled, meaning there are no artificial limits on the number of TaxCloud API calls your store can generate based on traffic.

What happens if a legitimate customer triggers the limit?

While this is unlikely, it could happen if you have the threshold set too low. When the limit is reached:

• A message is displayed to the customer if the Notify Customer If Rate Limited option is enabled.
• Tax is set to $0, and is not recalculated for any subsequent changes to the cart, shipping address, or shipping method.
• If the customer submits the order, it is still captured in TaxCloud and the correct tax values will be calculated at that time. However, tax will not be collected from the customer.