A practical walkthrough of Print with Lulu for WooCommerce: how a book gets mapped, what your shoppers see, what happens after payment, and where to look when a print job stalls.
api.lulu.com. In sandbox it talks to api.sandbox.lulu.com. The two worlds are separate, so a production key will not work on the sandbox and the sandbox needs its own account.manage_woocommerce capability and uses the same Gutenberg components you see in the block editor.
wp-config.php using LULU_CLIENT_KEY and LULU_CLIENT_SECRET. A secret saved in Settings lives in the database and is readable by anyone with database access. Once saved it is never shown again, and leaving the field blank keeps the stored one.wp-config.php, that constant wins and the screen cannot override it.
You map a WooCommerce product to a Lulu book design (a POD package id) and a page count, then upload the interior and cover PDFs.
The shopper sees the book design on the product page. If uploads are allowed, they can replace the interior and cover. Empty fields print the files saved on the product.
WooCommerce quotes Lulu shipping levels for the cart and destination, and the shopper picks one.
When the order reaches Processing, the plugin creates one Lulu print job for the books in that order. Action Scheduler runs this in the background. If it is missing, the job is created in the same request.
Lulu charges the card on your account, prints the book and hands it to a carrier.
Status changes come back by webhook. An hourly check covers anything the webhook missed.
When Lulu reports the job as shipped, the WooCommerce order is marked Completed and the tracking number is stored on the order.
printable_id is sent instead of the files. The job also carries your contact email, the production delay, the shipping level, the address, and the tax ID when one was collected.
| Lulu status | What the screen says |
|---|---|
| Pending create | Not sent to Lulu yet |
| Created | Lulu accepted the job |
| Unpaid | Waiting for the card on the Lulu account |
| Payment in progress | Lulu is charging the card |
| Production delayed | Waiting out the cancellation window |
| Production ready | Queued for the press |
| In production | Being printed |
| Shipped | Handed to the carrier |
| Delivered | The carrier confirmed delivery |
| Rejected | Lulu rejected the job |
| Error | Lulu reported an error |
| Canceled | Canceled |
| Blocked | Blocked before the job was sent |
Refresh from Lulu reloads the status and the cost breakdown: each book, shipping, fees, and the total charged to the Lulu account, with currency. Costs only appear after Lulu has accepted the job. Until then the status still refreshes and the screen tells you costs are not ready.
On Shipped or Delivered, the plugin stores the carrier name, tracking number and first tracking URL on the WooCommerce order, adds an order note, and moves the order to Completed when it ships. The print job detail lists the same lines. Rejected and error transitions add an order note as well.
Cancel is available while a job is Created, Unpaid, or inside the production delay window. Once it is queued for the press, the button disappears and the screen says Lulu no longer allows a cancel.
Reprint sends a new Lulu job for the same files, using the printable id Lulu returned on the original. You enter the recipient, address, phone, email and a shipping level. The new job reuses your production delay and contact email, and the screen reports the new Lulu job id. It is not available for a job that never reached Lulu, since there is no printable id.
pwl_reconcile. It turns inactive webhooks back on, asks Lulu for the status of every local job that has a Lulu id and is not yet delivered, canceled, rejected, in error or blocked, applies the same transition rules as a webhook, and refreshes the flat shipping rates when a day has passed.
pod_package_id and page_count, plus product_id or sku. One identifier is enough.uploads/print-with-lulu, which is blocked from direct web access. Lulu receives a signed URL that expires after two days, and the signature is checked before the file is sent. The same storage is used for files you upload on the product and files a shopper attaches at add to cart.No. The product price is your normal WooCommerce price. Lulu’s print cost, shipping and fees are charged to the card on your Lulu developer account and show on the print job after Lulu accepts it. Price your books so they cover that cost with room to spare.
Yes. Use the sandbox with its own account and keys. Lulu accepts sandbox jobs but does not print or ship them. Move to production only when a sandbox job looks right.
In wp-config.php, using LULU_CLIENT_KEY and LULU_CLIENT_SECRET. A secret saved in Settings is stored in the database. Never paste secrets, webhook tokens or signed file URLs into public articles or screenshots.
Checkout falls back to five stored flat rates (Mail, Priority mail, Ground, Expedited and Express) that refresh once a day, so shoppers can still order.
An hourly check asks Lulu for the status of every unfinished local job and applies the same rules as a webhook. If Lulu paused the webhook after failed deliveries, the same check turns it back on.
The plugin reads the PDF and tells the shopper which fonts are not embedded before the file goes anywhere. Lulu has no field for a separate font file, so embedding is the only route.
Yes. The plugin declares compatibility with WooCommerce custom order tables.
Start in sandbox, map one product, and place a test order.
Connect a sandbox account, map one book, and watch the first job appear under Print jobs. Nothing gets printed until you switch to production.