I have a bit of a quandry regarding international shipping, specifically to Canada from the US. I have mulled over this for quite some time and have not been able to come up with a satisfactory solution. My example may be a bit lengthy, but I will try to simplify it as much as possible. If anyone has a suggestion or idea I would appreciate the input.

I realize that I can simply turn on Canadian shipping in my UPS shipping module but here is the problem.....

The nature of my business is commercial fire protection and life safety equipment. Most of the items on my site can be shipped across international borders by simply placing it in a box and addressing it, however, there are certain items which are difficult at best to do this with. For example, Fire Extinguishers. Fire Extinguishers are a pressurized vessel and the amount of restrictions on shipping these makes it somewhat impractical to even attempt. Also, Ionization Smoke Detectors contain and operate on a radioactive isotope and the restrictions regarding that are pretty extreme.

I guess what I am looking for, is a way to restrict shipping based on either product category or even by item. That way, if a persons shopping cart contains any items which would be considered as a restricted item, they would get a message that this item cannot be shipped to their address but would allow the balance of the cart to procede to checkout.

For example, customer "A" has 3 fire hoses and and a hose rack in their cart, they can proceed to checkout.

However....

If customer "A" has 3 fire hoses and an ABC fire extinguisher, they would get a message stating that the pressurized vessel cannot be shipped internationally, and they would have the opportunity to remove that item before proceeding to checkout.

I realize this sounds horribly complex, but it is what I am stumbling upon, any ideas or input is appreciated. I have a lot of customers from Canada abandoning carts because I currently do not offer any shipping to Canada as I have not yet figured out a satisfactory solution.....

Thanks in advance,

Nelson