Shipping Setting for Multiple Dropshippers

[bettysue]

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

How would a system like this work with the suppliers who do not base their shipping price on weight or carrier? A clients main supplier has shipping prices assigned to each item on the inventory list. It's not by cateogry, type of item, weight, etc. It is different for every item. The total item list is 10,000+ different products.

betty

[tvadpro]

That's a conundrum, Betty. If my store had a different flat rate for every product, I'd be tempted to add each product's shipping charge as an option/attribute and then change the description for flat rate shipping to something generic like "shipping calculated with product price" -- so the shipping module doesn't charge for shipping, but the attribute does. This way, you get to assign product-specific shipping rates without totally reinventing the cart and checkout.

Are there a lot of stores whose shipping model resembles yours in that shipping rates are different for every product?

Sean

How would a system like this work with the suppliers who do not base their shipping price on weight or carrier? A clients main supplier has shipping prices assigned to each item on the inventory list. It's not by cateogry, type of item, weight, etc. It is different for every item. The total item list is 10,000+ different products.

betty

[Ajeh]

That is why this has to be coded custom ...

Some sites need to have it based on a manufactuer's table for zones and others need it based on the manufactuer's zip code to obtain rates for modules like UPS or USPS and compute the totals for the quote ...

And the computation has to take into account mixed manufactuer's and what to do with products that are not managed by the manufactuer but rather the shop zip code and product weight ...

It is not a simple one to write but it can be written ...

[tvadpro]

That makes sense. Our site is relatively simple shipping-wise -- big products ship via common carrier, medium products ship via UPS, big/medium combinations via common carrier -- and even we needed to tweak a few lines of code. But our shipping model probably bears no resemblance to any of the other ZC stores out there.

When developing cart/checkout for Zen-Cart, I suppose one must aim for something that meets the needs of the greatest number of stores -- knowing all the while that many stores will still find it necessary to invest substantial programming resources in order to satisfy their special shipping needs.

That is why this has to be coded custom ...

Some sites need to have it based on a manufactuer's table for zones and others need it based on the manufactuer's zip code to obtain rates for modules like UPS or USPS and compute the totals for the quote ...

And the computation has to take into account mixed manufactuer's and what to do with products that are not managed by the manufactuer but rather the shop zip code and product weight ...

It is not a simple one to write but it can be written ...

[bettysue]

Let us not forget the dropshippers that charge actual shipping prices, but add a surcharge either per item, or if the order is under a certain amount, etc. There are also a few who sell individual drop ship items, but may have a few small items that you need to buy a dozen of at a time even if you only sold one.

There are so many variables that could be used in shipping, it makes a girl dizzy! <at least this girl>

<btw tvadpro - VERY nice looking site!>

betty

[tvadpro]

Thanks for the compliment, Betty -- always nice to get one from someone who isn't trying to sell me something.

Yeah, it sounds like your project mandates a fair amount of custom coding. Contracting the tailor-made programming could be the difference between a productive site and a bunch of abandoned carts.

Let us not forget the dropshippers that charge actual shipping prices, but add a surcharge either per item, or if the order is under a certain amount, etc. There are also a few who sell individual drop ship items, but may have a few small items that you need to buy a dozen of at a time even if you only sold one.

There are so many variables that could be used in shipping, it makes a girl dizzy! <at least this girl>

<btw tvadpro - VERY nice looking site!>

betty

[cropinstop]

I have been fighting the multiple dropshipper problem for a while also, and had a idea on how it could be implemented (assuming somebody else did the coding because I am a systems engineer and know absolutely nothing about PHP coding)

Could each "Product Type" be assigned a different shipping module using the same concept currently used for changing the site layout with custom layout templates?

The Product Types would be pseudonames associated with the warehouse or manufacturer that is shipping the item, and the Product Type would be assigned when the item added to the database, as currently done.

The shipping module would either be implicitly assigned as the Product Type, or assigned as an attribute as part of the Product Type Layout.

I suspect this would also effect the shopping cart if each Product Type has a minimum shipping cost

Just a thought... Sorry if I am rehashing an old idea

[tvadpro]

Could each "Product Type" be assigned a different shipping module using the same concept currently used for changing the site layout with custom layout templates?

Do not interpret this as a recommendation, as I have no experience with the mod whatsoever -- but earlier today I glanced at the description of Wally's contribution Drop Shipping Supplier Interface, and your post made me wonder if you had looked into it yet. Scanning that mod's support thread, I think it might have problems on servers running PHP 4 -- so Caveat developor!

[bhunted]

Too bad you couldn't add a zip code to the Manufacturers settings and have the shipping module look at that when a product is set up. I don't know squat about PHP, so if sounds dumb... lemme know.. but it makes sense to me. I've used online shopping cart companies that allow you to enter a zip code in similar methods.

[issy]

This is something I found regarding this thread.
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/archiv...p/t-35358.html

Hope something is resolved soon.

Thanks...