FedEx module calculates incorrectly

[mitch_h]

I just installed the FedEx module and am trying to verify that the calculations are the same as when I ship using the FedEx site.

I have a FedEx account which I have put the number into the shipping module. However, when I get shipping quotes from my Zen Cart checkout, they are extremely higher than when I put the identical information into the FedEx Ship Manager on their website.

For example, 1 single bottle of wine, package weight of 4 lbs, from Northern California to Reno Nevada, FedEx Ground is $12.09 in Zen Cart and only $6.82 on FedEx. FedEx Standard Overnight is $27.27 in Zen Cart and only $12.39 on FedEx.

Can anyone offer any suggestions why I am have such a large discrepency?

Thanks in advance.

[Merlinpa1969]

the simple answer is that zen cart displays what the rates are for someone that dosnt have a fedex account,

when you go to fedex.com you are seeing your discounted rates


( which fedex says your not allowed to display )

[mitch_h]

So.... Does that mean that I'm S.O.L. on being able to use Zen Cart and calculate shipping costs per order? That seems pretty harsh.

[mitch_h]

If the module doesn't access your FedEx account to pick up discounts, why does it require that you include a FedEx account number?

[Merlinpa1969]

It shows you the PUBLISHED rates,
( this is all fedex allows you to display )

they have been nice enough to build in a profit margin.

So your customers pay x shipping ( published rates )
you get charged y shipping ( your discounted rates )

you keep the difference.....

[barco57]

You also need to make sure your packaging setting are correct so that you do not send inflated weights to fedex when pulling the shipping estimate.
Unlike ups fedex doesn't allow just anybody to connect to their servers to pull rates. They require you to have an account to check their rates server. By TOS you are not allowed to display your discount rates that they give you, you can only display published counter rates.

[mitch_h]

I checked out the FedEx Terms of Use (http://www.fedex.com/cgi-bin/global_...=us&sc=/legal/) and there was nothing in it regarding not being able to display my discounted rates.

I called my FedEx business representative and told him what was going on, and asked if I was allowed to display my discounted rates. He told me I could display any rates I wanted to charge, that there were no such restrictions.

I am going to try and figure out the module and code to get it to return my actual rates. If anybody has a suggestion, please let me know.

Also, the FedEx module version 1.4.2 that I installed has handling fee field in the product category page, but will not allow any other entry except "none". Does anybody know how to add a handling fee?

Thanks in advance.

[Merlinpa1969]

Mitch,

while you may have talked to a Business rep.,
you may want to call and talk to the people at Identity,

I dealt with them for several YEARS with this module...

and when they told me that the discounted rates COULD NOT be displayed we made em go away....

Sorry if I sound rude but Im getting tired of people picing up the telephone and talking to some ############## that answers the phone and coming back and basically calling me a liar...

at least now you see why I dropped support for this mod,

[EZorb]

I was talking to FedEx tech support who transfered me to web integration on 07/10/2009 because my customer in Canada select FedEx Ground which showed $16.18 to ship his package which was off by $34.73. When I entered customer shipping information on FedEx web site to print label the shipping charge was $52.35. So web integration was trying to figure out the reason for this great of difference. I put the cart in debug mode and the information being sent to FedEx was correct. What FedEx was returning was correct but not complete due to the following.

FedEx was not sending back the charge for "Clearance entry fee which may be (?) based off of the declared value". Clearance entry fee's is what broker's charges FedEx to move package through customs and turn back over to FedEx to deliver. I understood him to say different brokers charge different fees so FedEx has stop returning this field. To solve this problem I created a zone "Shipping in US" now FedEx is only shown for USA only.

The software engineer also said they have stop supporting this module and want everyone to switch over to a newer FedEx API method (XML?). fee in the estimated shipping cost. Maybe someone would look into providing a New FedEx shipping module.

Hope this will help others,

Larry

[mitch_h]

I worked through the modules and customized them for my website. I have been able to get them to agree 100% with FedEx, although it was tough, not knowing the Zen Cart architecture very well.

I have to hand it to the folks at Numinix Technology for the writting of the module, since it has to do so much for so many. I think that's where many of the difficulties come in.

One of my original problems was that www.fedex.com/ratefinder is so tempermental. I had to get a FedEx technical help desk person dig up and email me a copy of FedEx Tagged Transactions Layouts, which should have been readily available.

Anyways, I was able to write custom logic that does multiple calls to get prices for a number of wine cases and the remaining number of bottles (40 bottles ships in 3 full cases plus a four pack), as well as omit Alaska and Hawaii ground requests since they are more expensive than 2nd day air (go figure!).

I appreciate the work done by all those who have come before me.