Shipping by state

[Jeffg23]

I sell large items that weigh 680-1000 lbs. I have shipping rates by state and currently use an attribute to add the shipping cost to the product cost. A couple of problems with that, some people just take the default setting (Alabama), or others select their state, then when they go to the cart, they complain that the sales price is different, duh... it added the shipping cost

I would like to just have a shipping option that asks them their state and it then adds the shipping cost.

Any idea's ???

www.HorseWalkersByProwalk.com

[mc12345678]

I sell large items that weigh 680-1000 lbs. I have shipping rates by state and currently use an attribute to add the shipping cost to the product cost. A couple of problems with that, some people just take the default setting (Alabama), or others select their state, then when they go to the cart, they complain that the sales price is different, duh... it added the shipping cost

I would like to just have a shipping option that asks them their state and it then adds the shipping cost.

Any idea's ???

www.HorseWalkersByProwalk.com

What shipping methods do you use? UPS? FedEx? These types of shipping methods have shipping modules that can provide shipping by cost, otherwise, there are ways to apply zone costs to the shipping method... These costs are then calculated during checkout based on the location to which the item(s) are being shipped.

Another way to look at it, why ask the customer in one location where they are shipping the item to, when they have to provide the address to which they are shipping... Double entry basically.

The other thing is that if you are going to keep with the attribute option of selecting a destination state (or for any attribute for that matter) a default option value that is for display only should be assigned to the option name so that this type of "selecting AL" doesn't occur right out the gate...

Go into Option Values controller, add an Option Value to the Option Name "Ship To:" that states something like: 'Please select a ship to state'
Then in the attributes controller, add that option value to the product(s) with a sort order of say 0 (less than the lowest sort order currently provided). Then select the radio buttons for Display Only and Default.

Now, when someone tries to add the product immediately without changing the attribute, the customer should receive a notification (template dependent) that an option of Please select a ship to state (or whatever text is in the option value) will be presented until the customer chooses an alternate non Display only option value.

[Jeffg23]

What shipping methods do you use? UPS? FedEx? These types of shipping methods have shipping modules that can provide shipping by cost, otherwise, there are ways to apply zone costs to the shipping method... These costs are then calculated during checkout based on the location to which the item(s) are being shipped.

Another way to look at it, why ask the customer in one location where they are shipping the item to, when they have to provide the address to which they are shipping... Double entry basically.

The other thing is that if you are going to keep with the attribute option of selecting a destination state (or for any attribute for that matter) a default option value that is for display only should be assigned to the option name so that this type of "selecting AL" doesn't occur right out the gate...

Go into Option Values controller, add an Option Value to the Option Name "Ship To:" that states something like: 'Please select a ship to state'
Then in the attributes controller, add that option value to the product(s) with a sort order of say 0 (less than the lowest sort order currently provided). Then select the radio buttons for Display Only and Default.

Now, when someone tries to add the product immediately without changing the attribute, the customer should receive a notification (template dependent) that an option of Please select a ship to state (or whatever text is in the option value) will be presented until the customer chooses an alternate non Display only option value.

The shipping modules I have enabled are "Free Shipping", "Flat Rate" and "Motor Freight". But I have them set to 0.00. I could not figure out how any of the existing modules could work with my needs.

Maybe the attribute option is the best anyway, since it allows the customer to see the shipping rates when they add the item to the cart instead of them having to wait until they enter their personal data to get it.

Thanks for the help on the attribute! I know there was a way to do that, but I didn't think about adding an option to "Select The State" to force them to make the correct selection.

[Jeffg23]

What I am trying to do is set up a flat rate for each state (like MN = $760.00). Can't figure out how to do that. Also, if I can do that, will the customer be able to do a shipping estimate in the shopping cart, or will they have to create an account and login before they can see the shipping cost?