How do I set up postage rates for different countries?

[Impact-Flies]

Hi, I have a UK based store and currently use table rate postage based on order value.
This works fine for my orders within the UK but recently I have been getting orders from further afield and consequently lose out on postage.

Can I set up rates for postage to areas outside the UK using the same order value system?
I only want two more - Europe and rest of the world with different rates for each.

[fairestcape]

What shipping module(s) are you using?

You can either:

1. invoke an additional module (if you are using table rates for UK, then use zone shipping for rest-of-world)

2. CLONE (copy) a module, and configure the cloned module to work for rest-of-world only

See the following thread for pointers on how to clone:

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=115687

While this thread talks about the FLAT RATE shipping module, the same principle applies to TABLE RATES and/or ZONE RATES.

[Impact-Flies]

I am only using table rate shipping.

If I clone the table rate shipping module (twice) will it enable me to have table rates for UK, Europe and rest of world?
Would the cart automatically know what rates to charge from the address supplied or would the customer have to choose from the three options?

[fairestcape]

You can configure your shipping to be "zone sensitive". The customer will then only be offered a shipping option if his/her shipping address meets the geographical limiters of a specific zone.

I set up a UK site (that ships ONLY to UK addresses), but had the additional requirement of configuring Royal Mail and ParcelForce options for UK island zones, mainland zones, Scottish Highlands and Channel Islands.

Royal Mail and Parcelforce24 fees differ widely on these complicated regions, and an added parameter is shipping weight.

So we had to create shipping modules that handled a combination of:

Total Consignment Weight, Shipping Address, and Cost.

If you go to www . edutrade . co . uk and put something in the shopping cart, then play around with quantities and the shipping estimator, you will see how the shipping cost changes when the zone changes, AND when the total weight changes.

If the weight exceeds 2kg in any circumstance, then ONLY Parcelforce24 will show (with the appropriate cost for the zone).

If the weight is under 2kg, then ONLY Royal Mail will show (again, with prices appropriate for the selected UK zone).

This involved cloning the table rate module three times, and putting in a conditional that enabled the modules if the consignment weight was over or under 2kg.

A bit complicated (as we had to build the zones too), but it works a treat.

Customers are offered the exact shipping according to the WEIGHT, PRICE and REGION they want the goods sent to.

[Impact-Flies]

That sounds superb.
I have found that your original suggestion of using zone shipping will suffice for my needs, time will tell of course.
The heaviest item I currently have is 1.3kg when packed so it was a simple matter of using zone 1 for Gb with my current rates and using 00 in zone 2 with a suitable handling charge to cover the extra cost of International signed for mail, I have given it a good testing (locally before implementing) and it works well with my test addresses for the most likely countries I will ship to.
Thanks for your help.