Can I show shipping amt in product details, before add to cart?

[sb12759]

I'm about to start a website with Zen Cart and wanted to know if there is a way to have the shipping amount show on the site with the details (price etc.), maybe right below price, before you even add the item to your cart? I've seen this on other websites and I think that I as a customer would like this quite a lot! I guess this would assume that you have shipping cost per item set up. And would hope also that if you have item as free shipping that the phrase "free shipping" would show instead of amount.
Anybody know how to do this? Or is there a add on or something?

Thanks -

Steve

[RodG]

I guess this would assume that you have shipping cost per item set up.

This is a fair/valid assumption, but in my opinion it is far from the best solution for shipping quotes, and in MY experience most people (customers) tend to shy away from stores that don't offer any means to combine shipping when ordering multiple items.

Anybody know how to do this? Or is there a add on or something?

In one way or other zencart can cater for almost any shipping need imaginable.

I suggest you spend a little time reading the following tutorials:
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/i...hp?category=12

There are also over seventy different shipping modules (all free) that can be downloaded from here:
http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?ma...ex&cPath=40_51

Between these two links you should find exactly what *you* need for *your* store and *your* products, including the cost per item that you are asking about, as well as many other solutions which are probably going to be better for you than what you are proposing.

Cheers
Rod

[sb12759]

Thanks Rod!
But I have checked out all those links.
I need to show the shipping charges when users are looking at the product details/description (product info page I think it is called). Or have it say "free shipping" if that applies.
I've noticed that on some zen cart websites, they have some details listed on the product info page. Like the following:


LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET
Model: Model1
Shipping Weight: 2lbs
Units in Stock: 998
Manufactured by: Example 1
Price: ## $550.00
Add to Cart: ## ##

Are those separate fields that can be edited in a normal zen cart set-up? And can they be renamed? Like could I change the one that said shipping weight to just "Shipping" and then have the shipping charge show up there or have it say "ships free" etc....

Please, if anyone knows about this I would appreciate some help. Or knows of a better way to achieve what I'm trying to do.

Thanks,

Steve

[schoolboy]

Your suggestion only makes sense if you are pricing your shipping per product.

MOST shippers and postal services charge their rates based on the consignment total... all the goodies packed into a box, ready for posting or courier delivery.

MOST shoppers want to see the TOTAL - not the price per product, because they then have to "memorize" those amounts and try to add them up mentally, as they add more items to their cart.

So what you are effectively doing, is requiring your customers to have to perform an irritating running total in their heads. That is a sure-fire way of annoying your vitors, who FAR PREFER the website to do all the adding up for them.

And zencart does this beautifully. The place people WANT to see shipping totals is at the CART TOTAL stage, so they can see exactly what they will be charged for everything that they are ordering.

Nice and simple... the way shoppers want it.

Your idea add layers of unnecessary complications and confusion, and in my opinion is not a very good idea at all.

[RodG]

I've noticed that on some zen cart websites, they have some details listed on the product info page. Like the following:

LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET
Model: Model1
Shipping Weight: 2lbs
Units in Stock: 998
Manufactured by: Example 1
Price: ## $550.00
Add to Cart: ## ##

Are those separate fields that can be edited in a normal zen cart set-up?

The question is rather vague. The aforementioned fields can be enabled/disabled via zencarts configuration settings.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'edited'.

And can they be renamed? Like could I change the one that said shipping weight to just "Shipping" and then have the shipping charge show up there or have it say "ships free" etc....

Short answer is Yes, these can be renamed (probably). In fact virtually every bit of text that you see *displayed* by zencart can be edited/changed via the various language files (in most cases, the english.php files).

Having said that, I think that in order to get the shipping cost to be displayed along with the products price on the products pages you'll need to do a little bit of code editing because the default products pages doesn't have inbuilt code for this purpose (however I could be wrong).

As you have been informed on two occasions now, shipping cost per product is not something that customers like to see, which essentially means you are trying to go out of your way to add something that no one actually wants.

One has to wonder why you are wishing to go against this advice and make things difficult for yourself..

So, to summarise, what you are asking *can* be done, but probably *shouldn't* be done.

Cheers
Rod

[sb12759]

Thanks for your replies! I appreciate it.
The reason I want to do it this way is because the products that will be sold are big items and can't be combined anyway! So the cost per item makes sense in this case. Customers need to see the shipping cost up front in this case because it is a big part of the purchase!
What I meant by "edited" is - Yes, can the names of those fields be changed in the admin area? Or do you have to some how change in the coding somewhere?
Also, If you mark an item as free shipping, will that designation (saying "free shipping"), show up in the product info page, or do you not see that until the shopping cart and does it show as "free shipping" or just zeros for the shipping amount?
Wish there was a functioning demo of the admin area so I could check some of these things out! There isn't one is there?
Thanks so much for you help!

Steve

[RodG]

The reason I want to do it this way is because the products that will be sold are big items and can't be combined anyway!
So the cost per item makes sense in this case.

Fair comment.

What I meant by "edited" is - Yes, can the names of those fields be changed in the admin area? Or do you have to some how change in the coding somewhere?

As per my previous reply, virtually all text displayed by zencart can be changed with simple edits to the /language/english.php files.

Also, If you mark an item as free shipping, will that designation (saying "free shipping"), show up in the product info page, or do you not see that until the shopping cart and does it show as "free shipping" or just zeros for the shipping amount?

Off the top of my head I can't say for sure.

Wish there was a functioning demo of the admin area so I could check some of these things out! There isn't one is there?

Yes, there is a live/functioning demo here:
http://www.zen-cart.net/admin/

A Google search indicates that there are several other demo sites set up by various people.

Cheers
Rod

[sb12759]

Thanks again! Appreciate the help!

Steve