Shipping module for drop-shipping

[ambrooks]

It seems to be working well. It was fairly easy to set up. I can tell that it is taking into account the various ship-from addresses and weights so the mod does what it claims to.

So, except for this one bug, I like the mod. I just hope we can figure out what the problem is. This feature is essential to the way we do business.

[litepockets]

It's essential to the way a lot of us do. I just don't understand why it hasn't been put into the downloads section yet. I'm gonna have a look at it tonight shortly after I get home. Could you tell me if the shipping address your using to test is using ground rates or express rates?

[ambrooks]

ground rates.

[ambrooks]

I found another problem. Hopefully this will be easier to fix.

When I add an item with attributes, I receive the following error:

1064 You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ':c2a409d648ab126e3dce3858c940aa54 LIMIT 1' at line 1
in:
[SELECT products_weight, products_origin_zip, products_origin_state FROM zen_products WHERE products_id = 96:c2a409d648ab126e3dce3858c940aa54 LIMIT 1]

The attributes for this particular product don't change any of the actual price or weight values. I'll do some testing to see if I can resolve this issue, but I wanted to let you know

[ambrooks]

It looks like the problem is on line 107 of fedexground.php where it looks-up the product['id'].

I'm not all that familiar with mysql, so I don't really understand what needs to be done.

I went and tested a bunch of other products with various attribute settings (change weight, price, etc) and I get the same error for all my products that have attributes.

I also tried disabling one of the fedex modules to see if the problem was limited to either fedexexpress or fedexground. The problem persisted with both of them.

It looks like maybe ZC appends a string onto the product id to show whatever attributes are selected. and that string is what is interfering with the sql statement.

[schoolboy]

While it's not relevant to the technology involved in the context of this discussion, has anyone stopped to think of how customers feel when presented with a shipping bill that may even exceed the value of goods bought?

... AND, added to that, the need to expect delivery from several companies?

So, not only (as a customer) will I have to pay HUGE shipping fees if I buy a range of goods from different shippers, I will have to wait for a number of delivery vans to pitch up to give me my goods?

There are many research studies to show that shipping charges are one of the most significant detriments to concluding orders on the internet.

A large portion of people will abandon a cart if they believe the shipping charges and fulfilment process to be unreasonable - and will go shop where all goods are delivered from one place, in one parcel for one price...

... just my observation. I personally don't see the practical (market-related) viability of multiple vendor drop-shipping... given that the research indicates high shipping costs as a key reason why online shoppers abandon a cart.

[litepockets]

@ambrooks,

Sorry I haven't gotten back to you on those two items, I have been rather busy. I will do my best to see what may be causing the price discrepencies and the attribute error within the next couple of days.

@schoolboy,

If this module, or the appeal to shop online from a dropshipper, doesn't suit you, than look elsewhere. After typing your first statement,

While it's not relevant to the technology involved in the context of this discussion, has anyone stopped to think of how customers feel when presented with a shipping bill that may even exceed the value of goods bought?

you should have realized that your post that followed was best suited for another thread. Perhaps your pompous and arrogant attitude overshadowed your ability to actually read and see exactly why this module was developed and what it actually does. Since apparently you've been "schooled" in every last corner of e-commerce, as well as supply chain logistics.. let me outline what you must have missed with regards to the context of this module:

• The NUMBER 1 purpose of this module is to charge the customer EXACT shipping cost so that they DON'T pay exorbitant rates.
• This module is designed to calculate shipping based on where the product being purchased is actually being shipped from.
• The calculation of shipping item A from one location and item B from another is simply a FEATURE, not the core of the module.
• "A large portion of people abandon a cart if they believe the shipping charges and fulfillment process to be unreasonable" - OK.... let's play this game for a moment... If I'm charging ACTUAL shipping cost, but since the items are coming in two packages from two locations it costs a little bit more than expected. So let's say the customer goes to someone else online. If they don't pay true shipping cost there and get a better deal, that's called competition right? That's the great thing about being a customer, there are options.. So ummm.. what's your point?
• "So, not only (as a customer) will I have to pay HUGE shipping fees if I buy a range of goods from different shippers, I will have to wait for a number of delivery vans to pitch up to give me my goods?" Uhhh, yeah.. What would the difference be if you bought one of the items off of me and one off of another retailer? Two trucks would still come.. oh but wait, the diffence would be only one transaction ...
• "There are many research studies to show that shipping charges are one of the most significant detriments to concluding orders on the internet." OK, so take your money down to wal-mart.. Here's some facts to add to your "research": Now more than ever, brick and mortar retail stores are going out of business. This can be attributed to the economy, high overhead costs, e-commerce competition or all of the above. What's possibly a great factor than all of that though? The fact that a brick and mortar store simply can't house near as many items as one can list online. And personally... I'd rather have 2 trucks deliver my order, than drive my car and waste my gas going to 8 different stores in the local metro area... Time costs more than the money I MIGHT pay in shipping, ASSUMING that I'm being charged for 2 packages instead of 1 consolidated package.
• Finally, to re-emphasize... the ENTIRE reason for this module, was for the sheer purpose to allow the ability to calculate shipping based on where an item is actually shipping from (as opposed to 30,000 products listed on a website all presumably shipping from 1 origin), NOT to calculate shipping for 3 items in one order shipping from 2 or 3 locations. That was simply built in. Further, it wasn't even a priority to consider multiple origins within the same order, it just so happened that it was fairly easy to do..

About 75% of my orders are for 1 item. Of the 25% that are for multiple items, about 95% of the time, those items ship from the same place if not in the same box.

Point being, stick to the school books, and let others try to make an honest buck. You look as though you've been around this forum plenty long enough to know that there are an infinite number of ways to run an e-commerce website. If drop-shipping isn't one you agree with, than so-be it, pay for your extra warehousing space and pay to bring in those expensive containers of your minimum orders from vendor a, b, & c. Realize that when you are taking on exorbitant overhead, your profit margin is slipping, while ambrooks and I are capturing your market share (maybe losing a couple due to shipping charges being a couple of pennies off), but our profit margin remaining steady.

Good Luck and Best Wishes.

[schoolboy]

Wow... a real roasting! My, you are sensitive...

I admire all technological innovations to try to address particular functional issues - so your own efforts in this sphere are applauded.

I do think however, that people locked in the virtual world (as I often am myself), tend to be ignorant of the real and practical challenges of running a business - web-based or otherwise.

I come at this from the perspective of an experienced web marketer (active since 1992 in web-based marketing) who avidly follows respected research.

And I say it again... perceived excessive shipping costs are one of the most common reasons why online shoppers abandon carts. That's a simple fact - not a criticism of your efforts, nor a condemnation of drop-shipping as a business system.

The challenge will therefore remain for people who run webshops with multiple vendors each with their own shipping fees. There is no (easy) way around the simple, real fact, that fulfilling orders that require distribution of items from a number of depots, dramatically increases shipping cost and the number of deliveries a customer must wait for.

Competitors presenting easier, more efficient, and cheaper fulfilment options will be preferred over those who can't/don't offer such efficiencies.

I should have added the following to my original post:

What if a customer orders 3 products - each from a different drop-shipper, and one fails to arrive? Who are the complaints directed to? Some drop-shippers have policies rendering the carrier liable. Others have policies rendering the top-line seller as liable....

What happens when (of the 3 products) the customer wants to return 2 of them for being unwanted (they now have to return to 2 different places - each item in a separate parcel - each item costing return postage)....

These are LOGISTICAL issues that can and do occur, and add layers of inconvenience and annoyance to the customer's experience, and as far as I am concerned, ought to be just as carefully considered as any proposed software solution which addresses the functional aspects of a webshop.

As I said, my observation was in no way a condemnation of your programming prowess, I admire that, even though it cannot address the logistical challenges.

Best wishes

(a "badly educated" schoolboy )

[litepockets]

schoolboy,

My sensitivity to your original post was two-fold.

A - The irrelevancy to the thread in which it was posted. (This is a support thread for those that would like to and/or who are using it.) Not a thread inviting social commentary on your interpretation on web marketing and consumer behavior. If this was addressed in a more relevant thread, I would take no issue or sensitivity toward it.

B - Your posts were very presumptuous in that, YES, indeed I have thought about how customers feel when presented with a high freight bill. That's exactly why I am doing everything I can to provide ACCURATE real time rates through the implementation of this module. Further, to answer your question, Yes I do also consider the intangibles associated with shipping from multiple origins and the possible repercussions if one or more items should need to be returned, are damaged and/or do not arrive all together. In every instance, it is ME and my business that are held responsible to correct any problems or facilitate a fair return for the customer.

I'm not going to continue to sit here and exchange keystrokes with you. Start a thread in "Other Business Topics", the pub, or elsewhere. Lastly, don't patronize me or the others that worked on this project by claiming to "applaud our efforts", after completely misinterpreting this works purpose, and previously demeaning it.

Good Day. If you insist on discussing this further, simply PM me. I don't want this rubbish to continue in this support thread.

[ambrooks]

I've been doing some research to try and help find a solution to these problems.

For the attributes problem, I found this post, which explains the string appended to the product id. http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=139912

It is as I suspected, an MD5 hash added to uniquely identify the attribute combination.

I'm not very skilled with PHP, but I was playing around with fedexground.php

// Get products in cart
				$products = $_SESSION['cart']->get_products();
				$origins = array();
				
				// loop through each product and make a array for each origin
				foreach($products as $product){
				//	$sql = $db->Execute("SELECT products_weight, products_origin_zip, products_origin_state FROM " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " WHERE products_id = " . $product['id'] . " LIMIT 1");  //orignal code
					$productID = explode(':', $product['id'], 2);  //take product id and break it  apart at before md5 hash
					$sql = $db->Execute("SELECT products_weight, products_origin_zip, products_origin_state FROM " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " WHERE products_id = " . $productID[0] . " LIMIT 1");
					// set values from database for this product
$weight = $sql->fields['products_weight'] * $product['quantity'];
					$zip = $sql->fields['products_origin_zip'];
					$state = $sql->fields['products_origin_state'];

This got rid of the error, but I don't see anything that takes the attribute weights into account. It looks like you are pulling the weight listed for the product. So with my little hack, I'm completely ignoring any attribute hacks.

But at least now we know for sure what is causing the error.