FedEx Ground & FedEx Home Delivery

Hi, I've just added FedEx to my shipping options. There are 2 I'd like to use - the Ground (for business) & Home Delivery for residential. FedEx doesn't check them and return the correct method, and I tested CS-cart & it doesn't either, so is there a way to configure the shipping so that the cart will check residential vs non-residential and show only the applicable method?

Hi Brennie,



Last I checked, FedEx does not perform street/building level “Residential” address detection during realtime rate calls, thus they always return the rates based upon a commercial address. Currently we just add an extra $2.00 to our contracted rates returned from Fedex within the Ground shipping method we setup in CS-Cart, essentially we just split the cost difference between our residential vs. commercial customers. Keep in mind we don’t rcv retail rates from Fedex as they are highly discounted contract rates, so the rates our customers see still look quite attractive and are of no concern.



Now, UPS does actually perform & detect Residential vs Commercial addresses with realtime rates and returns the rate accordingly, so if you also have a UPS account, this is a huge benefit they have over FedEx and something for you to strongly consider! I guess you could say that unless you have a very compelling reason to use FedEx for your realtime shipping methods, UPS would be a better option for many that ship to both residential and commercial addresses. ;)

Hi Struck, thanks for the response.



The main reason I want to add FedEx (I still have USPS & UPS) is because their Business delivery rate (ground) is significantly lower than UPS & USPS (i.e. going from Denver CO to Sacramento CA returns $12.xx for UPS Ground & $7.xx for FedEx Ground/Business).



I know I am losing business over the shipping rates, so I was wanting to find a more affordable option. If I use the FedEx Home Delivery it's very close to UPS's rate so it would be a moot point. I hate losing customers but I can't afford to eat the shipping costs either.

You could add a field for customer accounts in CS-Cart that allows the customer to indicate if their address is Residential or Commercial.

You may be able to use that value in the FedEx Live Rate script so you are requesting a rate for Ground only when the customer says they are Commercial, and vice-verse.

It then depends upon the correct value being provided by the customer (fraught with fraud potential), but it's better than nothing. You would only have to write the code that would say something like IF the s_address_type = C then… ELSE, do the default - if the script defaults to Home Delivery.

Fedex might even have a flag (and their end) for a Residential vs Commercial address type that you could add to the script and that would be easier. It might already be included in the script and just needs to be a variable.

I'll look into that thanks!

[quote name=‘Brennie369’ timestamp=‘1371932429’ post=‘164166’]

Hi Struck, thanks for the response.



The main reason I want to add FedEx (I still have USPS & UPS) is because their Business delivery rate (ground) is significantly lower than UPS & USPS (i.e. going from Denver CO to Sacramento CA returns $12.xx for UPS Ground & $7.xx for FedEx Ground/Business).



I know I am losing business over the shipping rates, so I was wanting to find a more affordable option. If I use the FedEx Home Delivery it’s very close to UPS’s rate so it would be a moot point. I hate losing customers but I can’t afford to eat the shipping costs either.

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Ok Brennie, here is a little trick that may very well solve your dilemna…


  1. Name your Ground shipping method with a generic name such as “Standard Ground”


  2. Then select UPS Ground for the realtime rates call for this shipping method


  3. You can then enter an amount to “tweak” or fine tune the actual realtime shipping rates returned to your customers to very closely match the Fedex rates you are looking to display. (You will find settings under the “Shipping Charges” Tab for this shipping method where you can either add or subtract dollar amounts or percentages to the actual rates being returned so that you can closely simulate your Fedex rates.)



    Now you end up with the excellent address type detection (Residential vs Commercial) that UPS offers in realtime without any further efforts while still offering your customers more competitive shipping rates! 8)

What what rate do I end up paying? I want to save as well as save my customers. :)

[quote name=‘Brennie369’ timestamp=‘1372014317’ post=‘164215’]

What what rate do I end up paying? I want to save as well as save my customers. :)

[/quote]



Brennie are you really gonna make me answer this…really? ;)





You are going to actually ship via FedEx, so the objective was to return rates to your customers that most closely simulate what your true/actual costs will be from FedEx. You are just borrowing a little piece of UPS technology for detecting residential addresses in realtime so that you are actually charging your customers what you will be paying for these shipments. ;-)

[sub]ooohhhhh I get it! Thanks! :grin: [/sub]

[quote name=‘Brennie369’ timestamp=‘1372024963’ post=‘164225’]

[sub]ooohhhhh I get it! Thanks! :grin: [/sub]

[/quote]



Your welcome, hope it works out for you!