Need help with shipping

[Miru]

Hello~

I'm re-creating my store with Zen Cart and I have small issue with shipping costs. I'm not very good at English, but I try my best.

My store has lot of small items that are very light (30-100 g), but they are so big that I need to get special service from Post to send them. I would need module that would allow me to choose whatever item is small or big and after that calculate the shipping cost based on the weight of the item.

If there is small + big items at shopping cart it would automatically count the whole order as big item.

Example of shipping costs:
Small items
50 g = 1 $
100 g = 2 $
250 g = 6 $

Big items
50 g = 4 $
100 g = 4,5 $
500 g = 8 $

etc.

I really hope that some one could help me with this!

[mc12345678]

How are your sized items arranged? (For example, are all of your big items in a particular category?) There are several ways to look at this. All small items only in a particular category, all large items in a category or not in a category, by manufacturer, etc... The goal being to identify a particular trait that when an item from that grouping is in the cart then the applicable shipping method is used.

[Miru]

How are your sized items arranged? (For example, are all of your big items in a particular category?) There are several ways to look at this. All small items only in a particular category, all large items in a category or not in a category, by manufacturer, etc... The goal being to identify a particular trait that when an item from that grouping is in the cart then the applicable shipping method is used.

They are not arranged like that. There is big and small items in all categories... There is also lot of manufacturers and even amongs them there is small and big items. Honestly, I don't think there is one trait that I could pick for different size items.

I was hoping that there would be module like this I could have added. For some reason this one didn't work at my site.

I don't mind if I have to go through all items and mark them big or small one by one.

[CosmosK]

I'm fairly new, and what I have done to keep things simple, is base everything off weight. My items weight is just a number for me to use in a calculation. The calculation was weird at first. I think I had to change this:

Package Tare Small to Medium - added percentage:weight 0:3

I think I set this to be 0:0 and the calculations came out right.

[Miru]

^The trouble is that the difference between shipping cost can be 1-4 dollars if items weights 50 grams. :/
I can't just quess which one it will be as items are rather cheap.

[mc12345678]

They are not arranged like that. There is big and small items in all categories... There is also lot of manufacturers and even amongs them there is small and big items. Honestly, I don't think there is one trait that I could pick for different size items.

I was hoping that there would be module like this I could have added. For some reason this one didn't work at my site.

I don't mind if I have to go through all items and mark them big or small one by one.

So there *are* ways to put items in a category to then link them to some other category. As to the above plugin, I haven't used it, but it appears that the requirements to install include file merging (which means can't just upload the files for it to work). When you say "it didn't work" more information is needed in order to offer suggestions on a way forward...

[Miru]

According to my friend there was no tare group that could have been modified at taxes/area menu.

[mc12345678]

According to my friend there was no tare group that could have been modified at taxes/area menu.

Well, not having used the plugin, I'm not sure how that all plays into it. I don't see a specific forum on the program, but maybe either of the two that have worked on it could help if you reached out by PM. Perhaps with some more searching a thread or two would pop up about it, but beyond that I don't see what other way(s) to help on making the plugin functional for your store without going through the process of installation myself.

As to other options related to the issue at hand, either an additional plugin could be installed (numinix additional products fields for example) that would offer a toggle switch that could be used as a "big/small" item indicator and then you would want to clone one of the shipping modules that offer shipping by weight such that if no big items in the cart, then the small shipping module is active and the big is inactive, and vice versa perhaps...

[bislewl]

According to my friend there was no tare group that could have been modified at taxes/area menu.

What are the configuration values set at?

[bislewl]

Well, not having used the plugin, I'm not sure how that all plays into it. I don't see a specific forum on the program, but maybe either of the two that have worked on it could help if you reached out by PM. Perhaps with some more searching a thread or two would pop up about it, but beyond that I don't see what other way(s) to help on making the plugin functional for your store without going through the process of installation myself.

As to other options related to the issue at hand, either an additional plugin could be installed (numinix additional products fields for example) that would offer a toggle switch that could be used as a "big/small" item indicator and then you would want to clone one of the shipping modules that offer shipping by weight such that if no big items in the cart, then the small shipping module is active and the big is inactive, and vice versa perhaps...

Fairly simple it uses an observer:

    $zco_notifier->attach($this, array('NOTIFY_SHIPPING_MODULE_PRE_CALCULATE_BOXES_AND_TARE','NOTIFY_SHIPPING_MODULE_CALCULATE_BOXES_AND_TARE')); 

then it takes the product's weight and adds the tare value for that group.

Example:

Group 1: has a tare weight of 1.5
Group 2: has a tare weight of 2

Widget: Weighs 2.2
Whatsit: Weights 1.8

So if you have:
2 Wigets and 3 Whatsits.


Detailed Math:
2(Wiget) + 3 (Whatsit)
2(1.5 + 2.2) + 3(2+1.8)
2(3.7) + 3(3.8)
7.4 + 11.4

the Weight would be: 18.8

then:

$shipping_weight = 18.8

Hopefully that makes it slightly more clear