We are moving our cart from Volusion to CS-Cart. We use FedEx for shipping and though our trade organization have a 24% discount on ground and 27% on 2 day and saver express and 29% on overnight shipments. This plus another 5% cumulative discount with our Amex open business card give us better rates than UPS or USPS.
Anyway, we have an account # with FedEx that we’ve been using for years. This account is tied down to the discount rates I mentioned above. In Volusion, we set up FedEx live rates using only the account number and everything was dandy. However CS-Cart wants a “meter number” and neither I nor our account rep knows what that is.
I read in the install guide that Cs-Cart can retrieve the meter number when you enter an account #. I did this and got an “account # not in database” error. I read this and signed up for a development meter number which I received along with a test account number. I put these in and was able to test the rate request but the rate that came back for a 4 lb 2 day shipment from Denver to Boston was no where near what our rates should be.
So long story short, we want to use our account number to retrieve our negotiated live rates based on weight and ship method. How can I get a meter number that is tied down to this account and not some test account and meter? And why does CS-Cart require a meter number anyway? Volusion doesn’t and it works fine. I want to make sure our rates are correct for our customers before I put our store online and turn off Volusion.
Thanks,
Chris
Short story: Ask FedEx to generate a meter number for you. (I suppose it can be likened to a water meter, allowing you to access rates etc)
[quote name=‘ChrisW’]We are moving our cart from Volusion to CS-Cart. We use FedEx for shipping and though our trade organization have a 24% discount on ground and 27% on 2 day and saver express and 29% on overnight shipments. This plus another 5% cumulative discount with our Amex open business card give us better rates than UPS or USPS.
Anyway, we have an account # with FedEx that we’ve been using for years. This account is tied down to the discount rates I mentioned above. In Volusion, we set up FedEx live rates using only the account number and everything was dandy. However CS-Cart wants a “meter number” and neither I nor our account rep knows what that is.
I read in the install guide that Cs-Cart can retrieve the meter number when you enter an account #. I did this and got an “account # not in database” error. I read this and signed up for a development meter number which I received along with a test account number. I put these in and was able to test the rate request but the rate that came back for a 4 lb 2 day shipment from Denver to Boston was no where near what our rates should be.
So long story short, we want to use our account number to retrieve our negotiated live rates based on weight and ship method. How can I get a meter number that is tied down to this account and not some test account and meter? And why does CS-Cart require a meter number anyway? Volusion doesn’t and it works fine. I want to make sure our rates are correct for our customers before I put our store online and turn off Volusion.
Thanks,
Chris[/quote]
That was the problem Jesse, my account rep said meter numbers are no longer required for live rates and haven’t been since 2007 or so. They are around for legacy and European shipments (or so she says).
The answer to my problem was to call FedEx Tech Support. That was 1-800-GOFEDEX, option 5 → 5 → 3 → “Other” → “None of the above”. Tech support was able to get me a meter number which I put in the cs cart ship settings and was able to Test the live rates. Unfortunately, they are wrong. CS Cart brings back $26.80 for Express 2nd Day for a 4lb package from 80220 (denver) to 02125 (boston). In the FedEx ship manager, it says that rate for our account should be $21.70.
I’ll see if I have any other settings that are wrong in CS-Cart, otherwise I guess I’ll get on my 30 days of free tech support. 
Thanks Jesse.
Whether or not it’s been a widely documented issue with CS-Cart mainly since FedEx’s website caused so many issues generating a meter number
[url]http://forum.cs-cart.com/vbugs.php?do=view&vbug_id=974[/url]
It’s suggested that you create a new bug-report and state the official response as it will be necessary for others to review this incase they have the same issue.
It was my settings that were bringing back the incorrect rates. In Admin->Settings->Shipping Settings->FedEx, the “Package type” and “Drop off type” drop downs affect the rates you get when you test a shipping method. In our case, the drop off was set to Regular Pickup which adds to the rate we get from FedEx. When we set it to Drop at station, the test rates cam back correctly.
Just went through the FedEx meter number issue, and called FedEx support as described by ChrisW. They will no longer give out meter numbers, as the system is “discontinued”. They did however tell me to verify all my account info, and make sure it’s entered perfectly, and the API should grab the required data. So…
I verified the address and account number with the support rep, and learned that account number and phone number must have no dashes, and address must be exactly as entered on your FedEx acct, and all caps were suggested.
After verifying this, the CS “get meter number” worked, and we’re in business with FedEx realtime.
After verifying this, the CS “get meter number” worked, and we’re in business with FedEx realtime.[/QUOTE]
I checked everything mentioned by interfaceFactory and wasn’t having any luck. Then I noticed that the country had to be entered as “US” instead of “U.S.A.” (displayed this way when you’re setting up your account at FedEx) as noted in the CsCart knowledge base article for setting up a FedEx shipping method. After that, CsCart was able to retrieve the Meter Number and populate the field automatically.