Adding donation functionality to store

[Brian1234]

I suspect this has been asked and answered before but I'm not finding an exact case in Search. Tips here or a pointer to an appropriate thread would be appreciated. We have a store that's been working for quite a while... it's been so long I don't feel comfortable experimenting in the admin side without some guidance.

We are selling tickets for our event using the basic Flat Rate shipping module for a fixed S&H fee per order. Basic install of 1.3.8a with all patches applied as of a couple months ago.

We would like to add the ability to accept donations, which of course do not need a S&H fee added. It's not really 'Free shipping' either.

First question: Can I make a fill-in-the-price product, or do I need to make separate items for $10, $25, $50 donations?

Second question is the deeper one. If the only thing the person is doing is making a donation, then we do not want to assess the flat rate S&H, and perhaps it would be nice to skip the shipping page (though we DO want to capture their mailing address for our records). If the person makes a donation -and- makes a ticket order, then the flat rate S&H should be applied and they would go through the standard shipping page(s).

I don't care too much that each item might still have the 'Price' label, but it'd be nice not to have a 'Free Shipping' label.

Thanks!

[schoolboy]

Perhaps try setting it up as a "virtual" product. This will not attract shipping, or possibly use a different Product Type.

[Brian1234]

I'm looking for some more help with this.

I looked into Virtual Products but that seemed like it's more for downloads, etc. I also see there is a Product Type with free shipping but that requires the free shipping module and I'm not sure how that module works / shows up to the end user (we don't want to give them a free option if they're purchasing something where we need the Flat Fee shipping to apply).