Designating Shipping Carrier

[paulssports]

We offer limited UPS and USPS shipping methods. Is it possible to force an item to only go with one or the other? Some of your shipping costs are coming out too low because it's shipping a heavier item via USPS which we'd rather send only via UPS.

[tvadpro]

Dunno if this helps, but with a little help from Linda, I just implemented a weight maximum on UPS. You might want to do this or something similar as a means to eliminate UPS on your heavier items.

Check the thread here.

Good luck!
Sean

We offer limited UPS and USPS shipping methods. Is it possible to force an item to only go with one or the other? Some of your shipping costs are coming out too low because it's shipping a heavier item via USPS which we'd rather send only via UPS.

[paulssports]

Dunno if this helps, but with a little help from Linda, I just implemented a weight maximum on UPS. You might want to do this or something similar as a means to eliminate UPS on your heavier items.

That's close- setting a maximum weight for USPS would help (so heavier items or combinations of items will ONLY go via UPS in our case). At the same time though, (and hence the request for designating a carrier per item) is that one of our most sold items (bats) we prefer to ship only UPS, yet they're only 2 lbs each.

[tvadpro]

On some level, I understood your need to eliminate USPS for heavier orders, but my brain gets a little sticky after 1 a.m.

Since an order with just one bat wouldn't weigh enough to remove USPS from checkout in my weight-conditional shipping scenario, it sounds like you really do need the ability to assign shipping classes on a per-product or per-category basis.

That's way out of my league, but you might unleash your best programmer on the project, or try listing it in the Zen-Cart help-wanted forum. I'm sure yours isn't the only store that would utilize a shipping class contribution, so maybe someone else would share the development costs with you.

[japanophyle]

On similar, but slightly different line. We have some products that we ship via UPS (rather than EMS) because of their size. They are long and thin, so are among the lightest items we sell but can be the most expensive to ship.

1) Can I designate a different shipping table/method when one of these special items is chosen? (we will still pack other items with these long items, so shipping by weight is still desirable)

2) I have a few items that can't be shipped to the US. Can I have a warning or disallow when someone in the US tries to order one of these items?

[tvadpro]

The per-product shipping idea has been bouncing around here for some time. Seems it always hits the wall when one product in the cart is incompatible with the shipping method of another product in the cart.

I'd try stating a shipping restriction in the product description and let customer relations handle the occasional buyer who checks out with the wrong shipping method. Better to to smooth out the wrinkles on a few new orders than sacrifice sales.

Store owners aren't always receptive to the notion of passing the buck to customer relations. I'm from the school of thought that says a little person-to-person goes a long way.

For those who favor the hands-free approach, some custom programming might be the answer. A while back, I had a store where shipping method was conditioned on product type, and the cart warned the customer when it contained more than one product type. (Checkout button was replaced with a can't-checkout icon.) Before committing programming dollars for something as counter-intuitive as that, bear in mind how few shoppers will appreciate getting their cart stuck when shipping methods collide.

As for limiting the destination of a product, that's another head-scratcher. Shipping method can already be restricted to a zone, but restricting a product to a zone? What happens when a domestic-only product slips into the cart with other products on an international order?

All things considered, the cleanest, most productive solution could be a second site. One site serves your domestic market, and the other serves the world.

So much to think about.

On similar, but slightly different line. We have some products that we ship via UPS (rather than EMS) because of their size. They are long and thin, so are among the lightest items we sell but can be the most expensive to ship.

1) Can I designate a different shipping table/method when one of these special items is chosen? (we will still pack other items with these long items, so shipping by weight is still desirable)

2) I have a few items that can't be shipped to the US. Can I have a warning or disallow when someone in the US tries to order one of these items?