Royal Mail Basic UK Shipping Modules

[marvinwade16]

Basic Mail Shipping module add-on is not working. Can someone please HELP!!!
Hi Guys,

I just installed the Basic Mail and UK Courier shipping modules for Zen Cart v1.3.9h.

When I click the shipping estimator button on the checkout page of my site, it doesn't show the Royal Mail First Class Standard and Royal Mail Standard Parcel as a shipping option. It only shows UK Courier option for some reason. However, it doesn't the state the cost of this UK Courier option beside it because I set this up so that when the customer spends over 50 pound this option should be available.

Prior to this issue I had changed the shipping rates for the Royal First Class Standard, Royal Mail Standard Parcel, and UK courier options, but still I wouldn't of thought that this could have such a profound affect on the shopping cart.

I checked another thread by someone who said that when the status button is yellow instead of green under the shipping-modules within your zen cart admin , they said this means that the option is activated but not for all zones. I didn't understood what they meant by this. My understanding from reading this was that all of the shipping options should be working.

Could someone let me what I can do to get this working, and also how I can configure my shopping cart so that it automatically calculates the shipping cost based on the weight specifications I have given for all three shipping options. For example if they order a product on my website that weighs under 1kg, I want the shopping cart to indicate Royal Mail Standard First Class, and show the correct shipping cost.


Much appreciated guys.

[marvinwade16]

This is my first time using Zen cart, so my apologies if I'm being too vague.
I am looking to sell honey on my website, and the weight of each item will vary from 340g to 27.5kg. I had noticed that Zen cart by default sets the measurement unit in llbs. I find out from a different support thread that this could be changed in the english.php file, which I changed to kg's although it would be better if I could set the measurement unit to display as grams for my products that weigh under 1kg, and any product over this weight display in kg's. Can this be done.
Also following on what I said in my previous thread I installed the basic mail shipping module - from this module I am using the Royal Mail 1st class and Royal Mail Standard parcel shipping methods.
I also installed a courier shipping module called UK Courier, which I am still in two minds about using.
Basically within my shopping cart I want it show beside the shipping cost what shipping method that will be used instead of the customer clicking the shipping estimator button.
Also if the customer's total order weight is over 2kg I want the a courier method to be used like yodel, fedex, or a courier service that is quite reasonably priced, and again I want this reflected in the shopping cart.

[Chuckl]

It is very difficult to offer any advice, as you give no details of the order for which you are expecting to be offered first and standard parcel shipping, particularly, the weight and cost.
By Courier I assume you mean Parcelforce, since the Basic UK modules have no 'UK Courier' module?

The modules will generate a quote for a shopping cart basket if the customer is in a valid zone/country for the module, and if the price, weight and value are within those set for the particular module.

[marvinwade16]

Could you be more specific ??.

[Chuckl]

All of the stuff you're describing is pretty much the standard operation of the modules.

Firstly, go to Admin-Configuration-Shipping/Packaging, and set the Shipping Estimator Display Setting to display as a list rather than a popup - set to '2'.

Unfortunately, Zen Cart only has 1 set of weight units, so you're stuck with choosing either Kg or grams. I'd choose Kg, and show the smaller weights as decimal fractions 0.250Kg, etc The only alternative is some heavy editing of the shipping modules what really doesn't bear thinking about.
The modules automatically stop displaying when the value or weight gets above the RM limits for the method.
You can however change or override those as you see fit. Ditto if the method is not appropriate for the customers country.
e.g. Standard Parcels are accepted up to 20Kg, but if you want to limit that to 2Kg, just edit the settings in Admin-Modules-Shipping, and set the Max Weight for Standard Parcels to 2Kg, and Save.

[marvinwade16]

OK... I did what you said about editing the weight limits for the royal mail first class and royal standard parcel modules.
It works.... many thanks.

But what I am struggling with is finding a courier shipping module that suits my shipping requirements.
E.g. I basically want to setup three shipping options for my customers, royal first class for items under 1kg, items from 1-2kg use standard parcel, and for items over to 2kg to use a courier service.

I checked the shipping modules available on the zen cart website, but I noticed that the majority of courier shipping modules listed are for US couriers.

Is there a courier shipping module I could use for UK courier companies such as CityLink, Yodel.....
Fedex and ParcelForce carriage prices are too expensive for the type of goods I'm selling.

Any suggestions??

Would a link to my website help??

[Chuckl]

I seem to remember that the Big Royal Mail modules used to have a Courier module, but I've never used it, and have no idea how well it works.
If you want a range of Couriers, I suspect your best bet would be to use an aggregator like P4D - http://www.p4d.co.uk/, but again I've never used any of them, so I can't vouch for their services.

[scrapbook party]

I have installed the shipping module, but think i may have done something wrong. I have set the weight of the item to be purchased to 0.01, and the shipping estimator is coming up at £11.30 1st class standard and £12.50 1st class recorded - Am i setting the weight wrong, or is there something else i have done?

[Chuckl]

SP, Firstly I'd caution that the 1st Class rates are the Packet rates, NOT the letter rates. i.e. They START at 750grams.
If you will mainly be shipping letter size and weight items, you should edit the prices to reflect the much lower letter weights and prices. The prices are shown in the pdf here

http://www.royalmail.com/prices2012/personal

Secondly, it's likely you have neglected this bit of the installation instructions -

'4. Edit the Package Tare and larger Packages settings, also in Configuration-Shipping & Packaging, to reasonable values for your store. If you don't know what ARE reasonable values, at least change the Package Tare to 10:0 or similar. This will remove one of the most common Zen Cart shipping problems - all packages being 3kg or 3lbs too heavy.'

[scrapbook party]

OMG, how thick am I!! I read that bit, and thought it was set at that, but it was the larger packages below it that was set to 10:0

So sorry, and thank you so much! Only set it at 0.01 for now because I dont know the weight of the items just yet and was testing it.