Free Shipping Within US/Charge for international

[JusMeJim]

Thank you for all the help. I may just try the scenario that you had in the other thread and use the code "21". it would work for everything except HI, AK, and the territories.

[Ajeh]

You could also add Hawaii and Alaska if needed to your Zone Definition and add the Territories if you want them in there ...

[JusMeJim]

I had a thought....but first let me say I have no idea about any of this "coding" stuff....beyond doing basic HTML from about 8 yrs ago.

On ebay when an item is listed you can list weights/shipping details for U.S. shipments and then list it separately for foreign shipments.

I got to thinking....it seems like it would be fairly easy to add a second box for shipping weight for international....so you'd have the original shipping weight box for U.S. weight and a 2nd box for international weight. I'm assuming each would have it's own "variable", and then in the shipping module the U.S rates would use the variable/weight that was entered for U.S., and the international rates would use the variable/weight entered for international.

Possible?

[Ajeh]

Adding an extra weight box is easy ... doing something with it is much more complicated ...

More or less you are totally rewriting how the shipping is managed at this time ...

[JusMeJim]

So does anyone have any ideas about a "3rd party" addon (even if it costs money) that will do this? In searching the forums this seems like a pretty common issue.....so much so, that it seems someone would of found a "fix" for this.

Offering free shipping in your own country but charging for international shipping is not that uncommon.

[Ajeh]

If you just want Free Shipping on ALL Products for the US and regular charges for anywhere not in the US ...

you could created 2 Zone Definitions, one for the US and one for the Rest of the World ...

Now add the Zone Definition for the Rest of the World to USPS and install the Free Shipping Options and add the Zone Definition for the US to that and configure it to Total >= 0.00 ...

Now the US gets Free Shipping on ALL Orders and the Rest of the World gets regular USPS shipping ...

[JusMeJim]

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, the problem is that I only ship first class items for free. There is just no fair and equitable way to ship priority items for free.

I have items that run from 1 oz. (in the envelope/package) to 9 and 10#'s.

[Ajeh]

Are you saying Free Shipping for Products that weight 1oz to 9 - 10 lbs in the same instance as saying you only ship the Free Shipping by First Class, as this does not make any sense as there is not First Class over 13 oz ... or are you saying something else ...

Perhaps you could type really really slowly for us so we grasp what you are saying as you kinda lost me here ...

[JusMeJim]

Sorry to be confusing. I didn't realize that it was. I realize anything over 13 oz. is NOT first class.

Anyhow I have individual items that weigh anywhere from 1 oz., up to 9 or 10 pounds.

For any customer from the United States, the following apply.

I offer FREE SHIPPING on any individual item (plus packaging, envelope, label, etc.) that weighs 13 Oz. or less that can be mailed as a first class item.

Any item (plus packaging, envelope/box, label, etc.) that I have that weighs more than 13 oz., has to ship as priority mail and I charge the appropriate rate to the customer.

As an example, I sell Iphone cases. One Iphone case in an envelope weighs 3 oz., so I ship it for free. If a customer buys 6 IPhone cases they get free shipping since free shipping is offered on each one of the 6 items they bought. The total weight is going to be over 13 oz., so I will ship the package as priority mail. All the customer cares about is the fact they bought 6 items that offered free shipping, so they get free shipping.

Another example. If a customer buys one IPhone case, and another product that weighs 2#, they will be charged for the cost of a 2# package. In that package I'll include the IPhone case. The package will now weight 2# and 3 Oz., so I'll pay priority shipping for a 3# package, although the customer only paid for the shipping on a 2# package.

None of the above applies to international customers. They pay shipping for every item based on the weight of the item, and whatever service they choose.

As mentioned earlier, I only use USPS.

[JusMeJim]

Actually the fact that an item would ship for first class shouldn't be the determining factor in how this is figured. The "trigger" should be if an item is marked as "free (U.S.) shipping". This way if there were ever an item that weighed more than 13 oz. and someone wanted to run it as a promotion and offer "Free Shipping" then they could just by marking it "Free Shipping"....irregardless of the weight of the item.

A couple more examples.....

A customer from the United States buys the following...
3 items that are marked as "free U.S. shipping". Each item weighs 6 Oz. each.
3 items that are NOT marked as free shipping. Each item weighs 1#
Since the 3 items that are 6 Oz. each, are all marked as "free U.S. Shipping" then the weight is ignored for those 3 items, and the shipping module figures the weight as 3#'s (3 items that each weigh 1# each), and charges the customer for a 3# Pkg. I package everything up, and the package weighs 4#, 2 oz. I pay for a 5# priority package, and mail it off.

A customer from Brazil makes the same identical purchase. Since none of the items are offered as free shipping to Brazil the module figures the total weight as 4#, 2 Oz. (3 x 1#, and 3 x 6 oz.). He chooses the way he wants to ship it at the price that the module figures for 4#, 2 oz., and I ship the package with the total postage cost being paid by the customer.