Making a Shipping Mod

Well I have been in contact with CS about getting a shipping mod made that would allow me to chose to either have my products shipped, combined, seperate, or by truck. I already have another mod in the process of design with them and I thought this mod would be about the same price, but unfortunatly it is a whole lot more. This is what the mod will do:


[QUOTE]We will do the following. You will be able to set any of three possible shipping methods for each product:

  1. Default combined.
  2. Default separate.
  3. By truck.



    If method 1 is selected then shipping cost for all such products in order will be calculated using default shipping system of the cart.



    If method 2 is selected for some product(s) in the order then shipping cost will be calculated separately for each such products.



    If method 3 is selected from some product(s) in the order then a special notice will be put into e-mail and invoice form stating that customer will be contacted soon regarding shipping cost for such item(s).

    Default CS-Cart allows modifying total shipping cost via admin panel, so after it is calculated you may updated shipping price for the order.



    This modification will cost $450. [/QUOTE]



    As you can see the cost of this mod is $450.00 which is a little bit out of my price range. I was hoping to just have this mod made and then share it with everyone, but because of the cost I am hoping that some of you guys would be willing to go in on it with me. It would be nice to be able to do like Snorocket did with the dynamic tabs mod and have the share of cost be $25.00, but I don’t know if there are enough people interested in this mod to get the price per person that low.



    I think for now I just want to see how many people are interested in this mod, then brake the price up by that amount and try to get it as low as I can. I am willing to pay more for this mod than what an equal share will hopefully cost so hopefully there are enough people interested that the price per person will be low enough.



    I’ll put in $100.00 for this mod to be developed so all we would need to come up with is another $350.00 so if there is anyone else out there that is interested just respond back to this thread or PM me.



    Brandon

I’d be willing to pitch in if they can add some destination dependacies, for example I would like to have an additional destination dependacy based on the states…so packages sent to TX would be like $10, packages to AZ $12, CA $15 ect…

brandonvd,



I am interested in the shipping mod so you can count me in for $25. We should further define the details of this mod to make sure we get our money’s worth.



Snorocket: What benefits will you get from having the additional destination dependacy? I guess I do not understand why you would want to charge other destination states more than others.



How about being able to choose to ship backordered items separately from the instock items?



How about being able to select different cart items for different shipping methods. For example, I want my 40lb oak table legs shipped UPS ground for cost savings. But, I really want the table assembly bolts shipped 2 day.



How about selecting a local pickup charge/no charge?



Just throwing more ideas out.

Snorcket:



I also don’t understand the state depedacies, but I will ask CS about the additional costs involved in doing this. The way I do my shipping, the costs are based on weight and destination. Basically since I live in CA and I need to ship something to NY than it would already cost more than if I shipped the same item to AZ. I don’t fully understand why someone would be basically penalized just because of the state they live in. If there is a particular reason for this than I would love to hear it, it might even help me out, who knows.



Frozen Tundra:



I like your ideas and I will ask CS about them. The only problem I see with these ideas is what it might do with the cost of the mod. The cost is already $450.00 for something that is fairly simple for CS to do and to increase the complexity would probably only increase the price.



Hopefully I will get a response from CS by tomorrow about the ideas and I will let you know. Hopefully more people will be interested in this mod and I can get the ball rolling on it soon.



Brandon

If it costs $450, it ain’t that simple. The destination dependencies cover the cost differentials the carriers charge based on which zones you’re shipping to. Why should someone 30 miles away pay the same for shipping as someone 3,000 miles away?



I’ll kick in $25, but I think the spec’s are far from done. The points others have made are valid and the mod would be better if it had them.



Mike

O.K. I know this is a little off the subject of the shipping mod that started this thread, but I really don’t understand the destination dependency that you guys are talking about. I know that when I ship an item through UPS, Fedex, or USPS the cost of the shipping is based upon 3 things, the weight of the item, the size of the item, and the destination zip code. If you have a normal size package that weighs 5 lbs than it cost more to ship it from CA to NY than it does to ship it from CA to AZ. All these companies have zones and the zip code you are shipping to falls into one of those zones, but the way I see it the price of shipping is still based off of the zip code and the zones are just a easy way for someone to look on a chart and see what the price of shipping is without actually having to know the full zip code or where exactly that zip code is for. There are also multiple zones in the same states. For example I used to live in Fort Bragg, CA which for Fedex for me would be considered zone 3 and if I were to ship something to Redding, CA than it would be zone 2 so I don’t see how having a destination dependency based upon what state someone lives in would be very fair.



I am sure that there is probably more to this destination dependecy and I would really appreciate it if someone could explain it to me. I know that most of you guys have shipped out probably many more packages than I have and so I know that I have a lot to learn and so I would like to.



As for the suggestions, I will ask CS about them today and hopefully I’ll get a response by tomorrow. I just asked CS about this mod the way I did because it is what I need, but I can see why these suggestions would be good ideas and I probably wouldn’t have thought about them until I needed them down the road. It would definately be better to have this mod made once instead of over and over again so I guess I’ll just see what CS has to say.



Brandon

The dependency is necessary because the major carriers don’t interface with the cart at the “item” level. The more I think about, the more I don’t know if it can even be done. The only way to do it would be to bring in the entire pricing db, (for your rate tier), into the cart. Talk about slowing things down. There are too many variables to even think about that. Even Amazon doesn’t do it. They tack on shipping based on the item, as do most shopping carts.



Cheers,

Mike

Well I asked CS about the additions to the mod and this is how they replied:


[QUOTE]Dear Brandon,



I’m sorry for the delay with response.



Actually, each additional request for new feature needs additional discussing with client so I don’t think this will be very effective to work it out in this way.

We may provide you with a discount in case you don’t need to extend order editing feature in admin back-end with new shipping options.



Please let me know your thoughts.





Thank you

Vladimir V. Kalynyak

[url]https://www.cs-cart.com/[/url][/QUOTE]



I don’t mean to sound stupid or anything, but what exactly does this mean? I asked CS this same question, but I won’t get a response from them until Monday at the soonest. If anyone know what this means and has suggestions of what to do I would apprectiate the advise. I just want to get this mod designed.



Brandon

it sounds like we keep asking questions about adding features to this mod (each additional request for new feature needs additional discussing with client so I don’t think this will be very effective to work it out in this way) and Vlad is just saying maybe this isn’t the best way to work this out because things can get confused as to what we do and don’t want ect…

Snorocket hit the nail on the head with his comment. Basically what he said is exactly what CS said. I got this email this morning:


[QUOTE]Dear Brandon,



I’m sorry for being not very clear.



I meant that the quote I gave you for the shipping modifications you requested at first assumesdevelopment of these features only.



And if you wish us to add more features to this modification, namely features that Snoroket and Frozen Tundra wanted, then this will require additional discussion and quotation.



I’m looking forward to hear from you.

[/QUOTE]



Basically after reading this, I think I just want to leave my original mod the way I had it and later look at doing additions.



This is something that is really important to me and I am sure that other people must need it to. Since I am going to keep the mod the way I planned hopefully there are still people interested. I have also changed my mind on what I am willing to pay. If I can get at least 10 people or $250 commited to this mod than I will have CS make it for us. I will eat the other $200 since this is something that is basically a must have for me. I hope there are a few of you guys out there that are still interested and for the guys who said they are interested, but wanted the additions, I hope that you are still onboard. Let me know what you guys think and I hope to hear from at least 10 of you.



Brandon

Hi There,



This is something that I would be interested in as well (which means I’ll throw in some money :)), but have a few questions for you:



Here is what I would want to be able to do (and I’m guessing you have the same needs)



Example:



I have products from two different suppliers, but want to sell them together.

  • Product Category A
  • Product Category B



    If a customers only buys products from Category A, shipping would be calculated the standard way (by total weight of all products & zip code, etc.).



    If a customers only buys products from Category B, shipping would be calculated the standard way (by total weight of all products & zip code, etc.).



    If a customer buys products from BOTH Category A & Category B, shipping would be calculated by for each Category and them combined for a total cost. This scenario assumes that each product category is shipped from a different location and therefore would have a different pricing structure per item, per category. The customer would ultimately receive two packages shipped from different locations, but would only see one total shipping charge.



    Hopefully that made some sense and is inline with what you’re trying to accomplish. If not, could you explain how/why you want this functionality?



    Thanks,



    B

[quote name=‘bholland’]Hi There,



This is something that I would be interested in as well (which means I’ll throw in some money :)), but have a few questions for you:



Here is what I would want to be able to do (and I’m guessing you have the same needs)



Example:



I have products from two different suppliers, but want to sell them together.

  • Product Category A
  • Product Category B



    If a customers only buys products from Category A, shipping would be calculated the standard way (by total weight of all products & zip code, etc.).



    If a customers only buys products from Category B, shipping would be calculated the standard way (by total weight of all products & zip code, etc.).



    If a customer buys products from BOTH Category A & Category B, shipping would be calculated by for each Category and them combined for a total cost. This scenario assumes that each product category is shipped from a different location and therefore would have a different pricing structure per item, per category. The customer would ultimately receive two packages shipped from different locations, but would only see one total shipping charge.



    Hopefully that made some sense and is inline with what you’re trying to accomplish. If not, could you explain how/why you want this functionality?



    Thanks,



    B[/QUOTE]



    Well this is kind of what I am thinking, but I am only planning on using one origination zip code. It would be nice to have multiple zip codes if you are planning on using multiple dropshippers, but as i am not planning on doing this myself I didn’t ask about this. As for why I need this mod, I sell items that can’t be shipped together like long lights and aquariums so I need to be able to quote the shipping costs based on seperately shipped items. Also some of my items are heavy and can’t be put into one box because of weight restrictions and also need to be shipped seperately.



    Brandon



    Brandon

[quote name=‘bholland’]Hi There,



This is something that I would be interested in as well (which means I’ll throw in some money :)), but have a few questions for you:



Here is what I would want to be able to do (and I’m guessing you have the same needs)



Example:



I have products from two different suppliers, but want to sell them together.

  • Product Category A
  • Product Category B



    If a customers only buys products from Category A, shipping would be calculated the standard way (by total weight of all products & zip code, etc.).



    If a customers only buys products from Category B, shipping would be calculated the standard way (by total weight of all products & zip code, etc.).



    If a customer buys products from BOTH Category A & Category B, shipping would be calculated by for each Category and them combined for a total cost. This scenario assumes that each product category is shipped from a different location and therefore would have a different pricing structure per item, per category. The customer would ultimately receive two packages shipped from different locations, but would only see one total shipping charge.



    Hopefully that made some sense and is inline with what you’re trying to accomplish. If not, could you explain how/why you want this functionality?



    Thanks,



    B[/QUOTE]





    CS-Cart developers are working on CS-Mall which will allow for multiple, independent “stores”. Fortunately, this setup will also allow shipping from different suppliers or warehouses. I have not done a follow-up with the developers for quite a while but we do also have this need. I would contact CS sales and ask for more information on this.



    Bob

Well I decided to go ahead with this mod even though there aren’t that many people interested in it. I didn’t see any other way for me to accomplish my shipping goals so I just figured “what the heck I need it.” The mod will work as initially described like this:


[QUOTE]We will do the following. You will be able to set any of three possible shipping methods for each product:

  1. Default combined.
  2. Default separate.
  3. By truck.



    If method 1 is selected then shipping cost for all such products in order will be calculated using default shipping system of the cart.



    If method 2 is selected for some product(s) in the order then shipping cost will be calculated separately for each such products.



    If method 3 is selected from some product(s) in the order then a special notice will be put into e-mail and invoice form stating that customer will be contacted soon regarding shipping cost for such item(s).

    Default CS-Cart allows modifying total shipping cost via admin panel, so after it is calculated you may updated shipping price for the order.



    This modification will cost $450. [/QUOTE]



    I will be sharring this mod with anyone who wants to contribute to it. Contributions can be made to csmod@jandkonline.com Contributions can be any amount $25.00 or more. Unfortunately because of the price of this mod I can’t freely distribute it like I plan to do with the Product Configurator mod since I hope to be able to get back at least some of my money.



    Brandon

Kickin Up and old thread



Brandon, will this mod have the capibility to break orders into weight allotments?



Ie classify

1 order of items[50Kg total] into 3 shipping charges of 20Kgs?



Australia Post doesn’t allow 20Kg+ Shipping, hence if a customer makes an order it will allow realtime multiple ordered shipping for the one order.



Customer purchases 3 brake rotors containing a total of 50Kgs, proceeds to shipping details where it calculates 2x20Kg+1x10 Kg allotments via realtime postage estimates. The total being visable to the customer.



This really is confusing to explain so let me know if you’re as lost as I am.



Jesse

Jesse



Maybee? I will ask CS about this since I think it will work something similar to what you are asking for, but I am just not sure if it will work exactly the way you want it too. I should get a response by tomorrow morning since CS is about 11 hours ahead of me.



Brandon

Jesse



Well CS got back to me a lot sooner than I exected. This is what they said:


[quote]Dear Brandon,



actually, no, the described functionality was not discussed and correspondigly was not included into the task.



I hope this makes sense.







Thank you

Vladimir V. Kalynyak

[url]https://www.cs-cart.com/[/url] [/quote]



Sorry this won’t work the way you were hoping. I wish this shipping thing was easier to deal with, but there are just so many options available and they all cost money to have included. I thought that my original idea was a good one and I know it is one that I really need, but I was really surprised with all of the other ideas that were thrown out there when I posted this. Hopefully what I am paying for will be a start and CS will be able to build on it with everyone’s ideas.



Brandon