Shipping Setting for Multiple Dropshippers

[tvadpro]

Just wondering -- you probably already examined this, Betty, but what about using the Attributes Controller to assign a unique shipping cost to each product? Option name = Shipping, Value = "Drop-shipping for this item," etc.

This way, orders may contain multiple products without complicating the selection of a singular shipping method. During Checkout, buyer gets an "Itemized shipping: see product detail" for the default Shipping Method, and the cost for this is 0 (because the shipping charges are already itemized in the product detail).

Just a thought. :)

Sean

[Ajeh]

Adding the shipping as an attribute loses the functionality of products without attributes where listings and such can quickly be added with the multiple input box ...

Adding products can only be done from the product _info page ...

If all products are a fixed shipping price then you could use the Per Unit perweightunit Shipping Module which uses the products_weight as the actual shipping cost * unit cost * qty on a per product basis ...

[tvadpro]

Good point, Linda. I take this compromise for granted since my head's been buried in my own site, where most of my products require selecting options, e.g. "number of windows," when adding to cart. These, of course, cannot be added from anywhere other than the product info page. Not a big deal when base price for every product is a couple thousand dollars, but for small-ticket items, I can see where one would need the ability to add multiple products simultaneously from index/listing.

To clarify my initial note, the shipping adjustment I need differs from the product-specific drop-shipping rate scenario. I have two product categories -- each in its own product type -- one of which ships flat rate or in-store pickup, but never UPS. The other category/type always ships UPS (never in-store or flat rate).

Seems hard to imagine until you realize every UPS-only product weighs less than 50 lbs, while every non-UPS product weighs over 1,000 lbs.

Given its weight, every non-UPS product disables UPS during checkout -- that is, UPS does not appear as an available shipping method. (Good.)

My problem is with those light-weight UPS-only products. Though the UPS module employs a maximum weight, neither the flat rate module nor the in-store pickup module employs a minimum weight. So, when purchasing what should be an UPS-only product, the buyer may select UPS (okay), flat rate (bad) or in-store pickup (even worse).

I suppose (thinking out loud here) I could frankenstein some minimum-weight requirements for in-store pickup and flat rate shipping modules, mimicking the maximum-weight requirement of the UPS module. I guess the deal falls apart if a buyer tries to simultaneously purchase a UPS-only product and a non-UPS product -- but this doesn't happen in the real world.*

One solution I haven't yet explored: set a minimum weight for the entire order which enables flat rate and in-store pickup when true, else flat rate and in-store pickup are disabled. This way, even if non-UPS and UPS-only products are in the same cart, in-store pickup and flat rate are enabled while UPS is disabled ... because the sum of the product weights is greater than the flat rate/in-store pickup minimum, and the weight of one of the products is greater than the UPS maximum.

Conceivable? Or is everyone thoroughly confused now?

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* To understand why it doesn't happen in the real world, you'd have to know something about the products and the people who buy them -- superfluous info in the context of this thread. Those who simply must see for themselves can visit shedkitz.com -- but time is money, so the wise will just take my word for it.

[bettysue]

Adding the shipping as an attribute loses the functionality of products without attributes where listings and such can quickly be added with the multiple input box ...

Adding products can only be done from the product _info page ...

If all products are a fixed shipping price then you could use the Per Unit perweightunit Shipping Module which uses the products_weight as the actual shipping cost * unit cost * qty on a per product basis ...

This clients main source for dropshipping doesn't use any standard shipping fees or rates. Each item has it's own amount for shipping. It doesn't follow any category or product type scheme. Trying to use the regular shipping methods he has actually lost money on each item.

So the only way I can see the shipping working as it should would be for each item from this dropshipper having it's shipping set at the per item level with items that are shipped direct using the standard shipping methods.

I don't even know if giving each item it's own proper shipping amount would work right if a customer ordered a dropshipper item and a direct ship item in the same order.

betty

[Keepsake]

Heh, nice to hear my module is helping some people out. Here's a link to the most recent version

www.sexycrochetlingerie.com/purchaseorders.zip

[tvadpro]

By the way, I managed to remedy my shipping dilemma by cloning freeoptions (renaming it flatoptions) and setting a minimum weight in flatoptions exceeding the UPS maximum. This way, flat rate and free pickup-at-shipper-terminal don't appear on orders that are small enough to ship UPS. Meanwhile, orders that only ship on a palette (e.g. 800+ lbs) invoke pickup-at-shipper (freeoptions) and flat rate curbside (flatoptions).

Any luck yet with that different-drop-ship-rate-for-every-product problem?

Sean

[sparrish]

Heh, nice to hear my module is helping some people out. Here's a link to the most recent version

www.sexycrochetlingerie.com/purchaseorders.zip

I've not seen that one before. Looks great though! I may have to install that to check it out. Does it do anything with custom shipping for each supplier, though? That is the primary reason that I've been working on this new module, as I need something that can give quotes based on each supplier's location and preferred shipping carrier. I didn't see anything about it in the readme file, but everything else sounds really nice.

[mafiasam]

I know that when shopping on Amazon this multi-vendor shipping is handled very well.

It's hard to believe that this CAN'T be accomplished with zencart. I mean it seems that each product SHOULD have a vendor specification (if only for admin purposes). There is a manufacturer specification.

Would it be possible to use that manufacturer identity (hiding it from catalog view) and use it to designate vendors? Using that, something could be written to first identify each product by its vendor in the cart and if multiple vendors are present it could add an additional fee or somehow figure the additional shipping.

I have multiple vendors and I'm basically playing roulette with my profits by not having this type of modification present. Luckily it has only been an issue a few times.

I'm in the process of learning PHP and mySQL myself right now. i also know a php programmer but he's extremely busy of course. I would like to see this happen.

[tvadpro]

Interesting idea, Sam. Maybe the cart/checkout could be modified to first check shipping limitations of each product in the cart, and then disable all related shipping methods except the costliest one. So if the cart contains a mix of, say, FedEx-only products, UPS-only products and USPS products, the only shipping method offered would be FedEx.

Does anyone else like this approach? How could it better serve the needs of the greatest number of stores?

Just thinking, talking, re-thinking ...
Sean

[Ajeh]

It's hard to believe that this CAN'T be accomplished with zencart. I mean it seems that each product SHOULD have a vendor specification (if only for admin purposes). There is a manufacturer specification.

It isn't that it *can't* be done with Zen Cart ... it is a matter of it *hasn't* been done with Zen Cart ...

This would require quite a bit of custom coding to allow for multiple drop shipping on a per product per order basis ...

All it takes is a lot of time and possibly $$$ to get the code written to handle this method ...