Can I apply Flat Rate to one Category & Zone, Per Weight for all other Categories?

Been researching this, can't figure it out.

Basically, one whole category in my store is a product that will be dropshipped by the manufacturer, a flat $10 for shipping any amount ordered in that category, and can only be shipped to the US. I know I need to use Flat Rate Shipping and US zone.

BUT, all other categories I have here in stock and will be shipping myself based on weight, using USPS. I will ship internationally for these items, so more zones.

I've seen lots on using and cloning different shipping modules for different zones, but not for different categories.

If a customer orders a mixture of products from the dropship category and from the other categories, I will need their cart to itemize the $10 flat fee plus the additional shipping by weight (I think it would be cool if these could show on separate lines if possible).

Anyone have any experience with this? Thanks!

OK, I just found a post where someone was having the exact same issue: http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123932

One suggested solution was to compromise and come up with one flat rate for the whole store, which I just don't think will work in my case. The category that I need to be a flat rate of $10 for shipping is higher priced jewelry pieces compared to the clothing and accessory items in the rest of the store. If someone buys an $8 shirt, they are not going to want to pay $10 shipping, it would only be a good deal if they buy more items. If I compromise and say the flat rate is $5 shipping, I'll be losing on shipping in most circumstances. Anything above $5 is too much for those items under $10. I was thinking I could do the whole store by weight, and make those dropshipped items weigh more so the shipping charge is higher for them, but then it might go over $10 if they order a lot from that category.

The thread I posted above talks about adapting osC modules for Zen Cart, and I found the directions here: http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.p...dules_from_osC

But where would I find the osC modules in the first place?

Nevermind, I found it: addons.oscommerce.com/info/4129

I'll update if it does what I'm needing to after I modify it.....

Did you try just setting the weight to 0 on the Products from that Category and then just test if 1 or more Products from that Category and add the Flat Rate amount to the calculated shipping cost in the USPS shipping module?

You can also make it so if all Products in the order are from that Category then turn off the USPS shipping module and just enable the Flat Rate flat shipping module ...

I actually had that thought, that one way to separate these products from the ones that would ship by weight would be to set their weight to 0, and then to "somehow" make all the 0 weight products fall under the flat shipping price. It's just the "somehow" that I don't get!

When you say "test if 1 or more Products from that Category and add the Flat Rate amount", are you talking about a .php query or something? Honestly my .php knowledge is limited, I can cut/paste in all the right areas and files. What files do I want to be looking at? I'm doubting that this is as simple as configuring in the admin area.

I downloaded that osC module, and there look to be over 20 php files that I'd have to modify, not sure that's the route to go....

Thank you!

If all the Products in that Category are using the same master_categories_id ... say this was categories_id 10 ... you could test for how many are being used with:

Code:

---

global $cart;
$chk_flat_cat = $_SESSION['cart']->in_cart_check('master_categories_id','10')

---

$chk_flat_cat would then tell you the number of Products x quantity in the shopping cart ...

I would have to really sit down to write the customizations to the code for this ... which is not hard, but more time consuming ...

Yes, they are all under the same master category. I totally understand what I'm asking would be time consuming, and I'm not at all expecting you to come up with the whole fix for me. Would you be able to just tell me what file I'd be putting that test into? If I know what file to start with, I can experiment and investigate and see if I can figure it out....

I'd customize the Flat Rate flat shipping module:
/includes/modules/shipping/flat.php

and I would customize the USPS shipping module:
/includes/modules/shipping/usps.php

You can then determine which one needs to run based on the results of the test of the cart contents ...

Controlling the $this->enabled determines which runs, by setting it to false when it should not run and true when it should run ...

Cool, thanks for the headstart, I'll see what I can do!

One more question and I'm out of your hair, to create the right override setup, would I put the modified files in:

1. includes/modules/my_template/shipping

or

2. includes/modules/shipping/my_template

Or would they both work the same?

Thanks again!

The shipping modules do not have overrides ...

Save a copy of the originals on your computer ... and then save a copy of your customized files on your computer for the future ...

Don't try to save them in the:
/includes/modules/shipping

directory as this is a self loading directory and unless you name them right, they will cause you issues if left in there ...