Checkout Shipping using Localization

Store Builder Questions
1

Hi Everybody,



This is my first post! Greetings all.



I am more of a entrepreneur than a web designer and I'm sure there are others at my amateur level.



I am loving the potential I can see in CS Cart, however I found a few things more complicated than I expected.



The shipping was quite complicated to set up, however I have some useful advice to people new to setting up shipping.



This was hard and took ages of twiddling but worth finding out how to do and you don't need to edit code.









Nowhere online could I find an example suitable for a 'noob' on how to configure your shipping.



Assuming you want to set up domestic & international custom Shipping Method settings.







My Domestic Prices: I created 3 shipping methods





Letter size 0-.99 kg (sending tshirts (0.2 kg), small items as large letter)



Small packet 1-3.99 kg (sending pack of items in package - slightly more expensive)



Carriage Boxes 4kg-64 kg (For example sending 80 Tshirts (16 kg) but charging for two boxes if ordered with Hoodies & it goes over 16kg - two boxes )







I then wanted to have similar appropriate settings for International - Keeping it simple I've added Ireland rather than Worldwide[list]

[]Set default localization & location to UK (you can edit the default worldwide to your country)

[]Add Ireland in Localization and in Locations

[]Add the correct county/province for UK Locations (Ireland has no postcodes)

[]Disable every country except Ireland and UK in 'Countries' (this makes your checkout shipping checker hide countries you don't send to)

[/list]

Adding Localization makes your site content in between header and footer dissapear.



I then went globally into categories, banners and products and edited the localization to each individual piece of content as I researched to do so. (This worked)







For new users to make global edits to multiple products/categories at once:




  • Go to products or categories in your admin panel. (you have to do it individually to front page banners in website > banners)


  • Check tick the products you require for the delivery method


  • At the bottom left of the screen next to save, click edit selected


  • scroll down and uncheck all (all product/category options will be ticked to edit)


  • check localize hit edit. (also tick weight as you need to set tshirt to 0.2 kg)


  • Each category or product requires you to have localization for UK set to active and you must also click over each instance of UK until it's highlighted (mines in grey)…click save.


  • You need to do this 'click highlight until grey' in > Shipping Methods > General > Localization > UK too.






  • Now you have the weight of each product set



    -Your set up in UK & Ireland in your Locations and Localization



    -You have each product and category set up with localization and your site looks as it did before you did the localization process






  • Go to your shop


  • Add a product with a set weight & localization to your cart and click on Calculate Shipping



    In calculate shipping a bubble box will pop up with the following info:







    Country : (Checkbox > UK/Ireland)



    State/Province: (County Checkbox for UK, Blank for Ireland)



    Postcode: (Blank)





    Clicking



    UK > Oxfordshire > OX254SX



    will result in:



    [color=#ff0000]Sorry, it seems that we have no shipping options available for your location.

    Please check your shipping address and contact us if everything is okay. We'll see what we can do about it.[/color]





    This happens if it's left blank or filled with anything.





    To fix this you need to go Locations > Required Location (UK)




  • Click Edit at the right hand side


  • Scroll to Zip/Post codes



    It states unhelpfully:



    You are able to use wildcards in this field:

    '?' - any single character; '*' - any number of characters.



    Example:

    98?78 (corresponds to 98878, 98378, 98978, etc)

    12* (corresponds to 12345, 12876, 12098, etc…)







    for UK Postcodes enter



    ??? (This allows OX254SX to be entered for shipping)

    ??? ??? (This allows OX2 54SX to be entered for shipping)

    ??? ??? (This allows OX25 4SX to be entered for shipping)







    If you have configured your shipping methods > location > localization > product/categories correctly custom shipping should be now useable.





    Not the most intuitive for beginners.





    Hope this helps and perhaps someone can help me out when I meet my next problem.





    I'm knackered after staying up all night to learn that one,





    Night!
2

You know you can also configure your shipping without the use of Localization? Localization is more for setting a currency, language, unit of measure etc.



But you can happily ship to various states, provinces, regions or countries by creating various locations. (just in case you weren't aware)

3

[quote name='Scott_C' timestamp='1369368235' post='162323']

You know you can also configure your shipping without the use of Localization? Localization is more for setting a currency, language, unit of measure etc.



But you can happily ship to various states, provinces, regions or countries by creating various locations. (just in case you weren't aware)

[/quote]



Thanks for the reply, I'm very interested to learn more about how to configure without relying on Localization.



I will be UK based and I'm not looking to jump into Worldwide shipping and business until I hit the ground running domestically!





I am content with this solution with regards to working out how many individual boxes need to go out based on quantity/weight of tshirt printing orders.



However it doesn't protect very well against non existent post codes or typing errors - using ??? as the entry wildcards.





What is the best way to go about products I'm selling via suppliers/outsouricing?



As in products being shipped for a fixed price from elsewhere.





I am interested in utilising the suppliers function and I am guessing assigning a supplier to a product would offer a postage price from them?



Just wondering if this naturally overrides the localized weight settings I've done. I haven't set up any outsourced products yet so I can ensure I untick the localize settings to the weight settings.



However I don't want the delivery to charge full delivery per item from the same supplier. At the same time, if people are ordering from 3 different suppliers, they need to pay 3 different deliveries! (Is that fair?)







Please let me know if you think theres a much more efficient way of setting up these instances:




  1. Clothing with a minimum order of 20 in a box. You can fit 80 Tshirts in a box. Or 40 Hoodies. < If the box is full I need it to roll onto box 2


  2. Smaller quantities > single tshirts, fit in a letter > however 6 would need to go into a package and over 12 would need to go in a box.


  3. Products which I would be outsourcing through a supplier > Fixed delivery price instances but priced intelligently, to combat putting people off ordering from different suppliers.


  4. Fixed price for international shipping. (I may have to ship items to me from supplier to ship to the customer internationally)







    I am also concerned that people outside the localization are not going to be able to see the site contents and in turn, increase the sites bounce rate.