Hi All.
I’m currently running a trial of CS-Cart but having a problem setting up postage. Any Australian users successfully set up CS-Cart with Australia Post?
First, I can’t get real-time postage cost working.
Second, I sell small items that can be posted at “letter” or “large letter” rates and others that are posted at “parcel” rates. How can I set this up? The AP DRC only does parcel rates.
How can I allow for Prepaid Satchels?
I’ve been through the KB but it’s really only a repeat of the menus, with no real explanation of how to do it.
Can anyone point me in the right direction please?
Thanks, STeve.
Hi Steve 
I wish I could help but I found the Australia Post setting just didn’t work very well.
That was over 8 months ago.
I opted for weight based postage, manually working out what it would cost to ship different weights and setting that up. It wasn’t that hard.
But it means I have to include a weight for every item listed.
Hopefully someone can give you some proper help soon!
Make sure you have some type of measurement set up in Administration, Settings, Shipping Settings. The shipping calculation will not work unless you have a measurement in here (width, height and length).
I’m not sure how you would allow for the letter and large letter rates but to use satchels you can create a new shipping method called, for example, 500g satchel. Make sure your weight limit is 1-500 grams. Check “manual” for the rate calculation and tick the GST and All boxes (I think this would be the same for your version - I am looking at an older version of the cart).
Then under the shipping charges tab you put the amount you are charging for the satchel.
You can create as many different shipping methods as you like in this way but make sure you put the correct weight in, i.e. for a 3kg satchel, the weight would be 501-3000.
You will have to put the weight of each of your items in when setting them up as all postage is calculated on weight.
You can also give people the option of a normal 500g satchel or an express post satchel. Set each method up separately and they will then have a choice when checking out.
The trouble you run into using the satchels is if something comes within the weight limit but doesn’t physically fit into a satchel.
Good luck.
Hi GNI and Lyn.
Thanks for your help.
I’ve got satchels set up ok. And I’ve got the AP calculator working now. Except that it offers all AP methods to all customers. An Australian customer is offered Normal Parcel with 3-5 days delivery and also Airmail with 5-10 days delivery. A NZ or US customer is offered the same options, correct pricing but wrong options.
Have I done something wrong? Is anyone using the AP calculator successfully or is it just very poorly implemented? If it doesn’t work correctly, then CS should take it off their advertising.
Thanks, Steve.
This will have something to do with locations - as I’m not really familiar with CS-Cart 2, I can’t help you much more but have a read of the Knowledgebase and a play around with the locations.
Hmmm, strange things happening.
I added a couple of Localizations but all sorts of things stopped working until I added Localization to them, like Categories, Products, and a few other things. It also gave the customer an opportunity to change their localization without changing their location. Very strange feature.
I was about to toss the whole thing away as way too complicated to be bothered with and I deleted all of the Localizations. The next screen gave me a list of tables being rebuilt or something. Now the AP calculator works correctly. All of the national and international postage options work as they should. Really strange.
I’ll keep tinkering.
The KB is pretty useless, or at least those parts that I’ve read. Just a walk-through of the menus. No explanation of what they mean, how they’re used, what they’re for, etc…
Thanks, Steve.
I managed to get the Australia Post calculated cost working ok and I’ve added the Prepaid Satchels ok.
Next problem, half of my products are posted at “parcel” rates, which are covered by the calculated rate and the satchels mentioned above. But half of my products are posted at “large letter” rates, based on size and weight limits. Is there any way to nominate which products can be posted at the cheaper rates and how can I set up the “large letter” rates in CS-Cart?
Thanks, STeve.
I don’t think this is able to be done in CS-Cart, although I don’t use version 2 and it’s quite possible this has been allowed for in the later versions.
However, if you don’t get any replies or it can’t be done, you could always add the cost of the large letter postage to the item and tick the free post box when setting it up. That way you are still getting your postage cost covered. And an added bonus is that you can advertise it as being postage free!
But the postage cost varies from $1.20 for 125g to Australia up to $13.10 for 500g to international.
STeve.
The only thing I can think of is that you make the realtime calculation go from 251 grams to 20kg and create a new manual shipping method for items under 250 grams. You could make one for Australia and one for international and could even have one for 1 gram to 125 grams and another for 126 grams to 250 grams if you want to charge different amounts for these weights.
This is the only way I can think of to get around the issue of large letters.
If this doesn’t suit you and there is no other way of dealing with large letters in the current version of the cart, you could always see how much CS-Cart would charge you for a mod.
Sorry I can’t be of more help. Maybe someone else on the forum will have a solution for you.