Shipping ZONES on a PER CUSTOMER basis?

[Jeff_Mash]

Quick question. Is there anyway to have a shipping restriction on a PER CUSTOMER basis?

For example, let's say you have a customer who you want to only ship via Priority Mail (no first class option for them). You don't want to restrict all customers from his country, only this one particular person.

We have this customer from the Ukraine, and whenever we send him (and only him) First Class Mail International, he claims to not get it. So we want to restrict him to never having that option. We want him to only have the Priority Mail option (which comes with built-in insurance) to protect against loss.

It would be neat if Admin->Customers had the option of assigning a Shipping Zone to them only, so that when they checked out, it would only present certain shipping options to them.

Does anyone know of any existing add-ons to accomplish this? Or is it just easier for me to HARD CODE something in the USPS module which will not display certain shipping options if the customer_id matches this specific guy?

[RodG]

Quick question. Is there anyway to have a shipping restriction on a PER CUSTOMER basis?

For example, let's say you have a customer who you want to only ship via Priority Mail (no first class option for them). You don't want to restrict all customers from his country, only this one particular person.

We have this customer from the Ukraine, and whenever we send him (and only him) First Class Mail International, he claims to not get it. So we want to restrict him to never having that option. We want him to only have the Priority Mail option (which comes with built-in insurance) to protect against loss.

It would be neat if Admin->Customers had the option of assigning a Shipping Zone to them only, so that when they checked out, it would only present certain shipping options to them.

Does anyone know of any existing add-ons to accomplish this? Or is it just easier for me to HARD CODE something in the USPS module which will not display certain shipping options if the customer_id matches this specific guy?

I dont know of any addon/module to do this, and personally I would take the hard coding appoach as this would be the quickest/simplest method since there will be no backend/configuration changes needed, just the minimal code to achieve the desired result. It should actually be quite a trivial task.

Cheers
Rod

[mc12345678]

The only perceivable caveat is if the customer generated a new account with a different email address to skirt the issue. Would just require the "shipping" group to recognize the situation and keep an eye out for that issue to occur.

[twitchtoo]

Yes, I am currently developing Twitch Shipping/Delivery Zone Assignment per Customer which will allow you to assign a customer a shipping zone.

It's based on the logic of Twitch Restrict and Twitch Wholesale without all of the 'restriction' code/integration code as it's not needed within the scope of the shipping zones and order total modules.


Beta Features:
Admin control of Shipping Zone Groups (top level control)
- zone names - unlimited number of zones
- low order fee per zone group (maximize sales per zone)
- shipping cost if low order fee is not met per zone group (order retention)
- new zone groups run independent of all other Zen/Twitch group modules



Admin customer details
- assign one customer one zone (customer level shipping/delivery control)

- option to allow new customer to choose their zone on sign up page
- option to allow zone change in My Account if customer moves

- option to turn the first two options off in admin for admin-only control

- admin/sign up - Google maps integration, static or using the commercial Google Maps API for automatic lookups

- works with stock zones definitions



Zones could be based on:
- order sub-total, order total
- geographical location
- distance to the pin
- radius
- order minimum
- postal code

- integrated - customer groups, stock zen group pricing, twitch wholesale group, twitch restrict group
- independent - regular customer rates/commercial customer rates (unrelated/not connected to customer groups)

- and more...



Uses:
This module has the ability to be implemented in a local-only environment or for regular province/state and country or global shipping method.

Also, the core filters could be applied to anything relative to customer level shipping and delivery control you may need. Once the customer is attached to a 'group' you could access the group code anywhere it would be applicable in your shop.

In theory you could offer local people local things and everyone else could see products and services applicable to their region.

One step further, Twitch Restrict would make those associations secure publicly, Twitch Wholesale would split the cart for guest/wholesale/retail, Zen Group Pricing would allow pricing discounts by zone.

And then you have a shipping/delivery matrix and things start getting complicated ;)


Twitch Codes for Coffees...

[jkenwell]

I'd like to post a note about twitchtoo's work, if I may. I have been a client of twitchtoo since February of last year with my original site nfpx.ca and now the transitioned site which is edmontongrocer.com. My database is quite large, consisting of over 26,000 products. twitchtoo has cleaned up all the little coding errors where modules were not interacting quite correctly, has rebuilt and tweaked my site to show up consistently on the first page of Google's search results, and built me various custom reports and modules. If you're looking for a coder who is going to make your site purr happily along like a kitten, twitchtoo is certainly worth the money for his work. Don't think about how much it costs (it doesn't actually cost so much), but rather think about how much more money you will make by having a professional coder make sure your site works 100%. I found twitchtoo to be just what I needed at a time when nobody seemed to want to touch what I needed my site to do. I was lucky to find him. Zencart is awesome, don't get me wrong, but get a subscription from him and let him tune up your site well beyond what the standard zen package can do for you. Thanks twitch. A happy client hopefully for years to come.

[jkenwell]

After a couple of weeks of hammering out exactly what I needed this module to do, today's the day it's been completed, and it appears to work flawlessly. The subscription to your service is well worth every penny. I strongly recommend twitchtoo to anyone who wants to take their zencart site to the next level. Thank you very much!

[twitchtoo]

After a couple of weeks of hammering out exactly what I needed this module to do, today's the day it's been completed, and it appears to work flawlessly. The subscription to your service is well worth every penny. I strongly recommend twitchtoo to anyone who wants to take their zencart site to the next level. Thank you very much!

My Thanks jkenwell !
... and here's a look at the completed project:

It all starts with installing the CDGroup Low Order Fee module...





Then we setup Twitch Zones...


Then over to the CDGroup Dashboard to update the new Dynamic Customer Delivery Matrix!





As listed previously there are a number of other features and functions built in and this module integrates directly into the existing Zen Cart stock code. Which means by default it will work and upgrade without hassle in the future and any original Zen modules will work without interference.

I also kept the $ value or % percent switch active for each CDGroup Zone. This allows you to assign a percent to one zone and a low order value to another.

As well there's an eG Calculator that can adjust the price within a zone based on other metrics hard coded in - with admin control of the rates $ or %. Like, charging a modified low order fee for anyone that wants to buy below the low order minimum - so they pay a 'fair' price to cover basic shipping costs.


Finally - Tonight I'll be installing 'FREE Shipping when order minimum met' with per customer CDGroup Zone based order minimums - displayed in the checkout process, order confirmation, email and order history.

[twitchtoo]

Select Customer Delivery Group in Admin > Customers > Customers > Edit Customer





Connect the Customer to the CDGroup and to the Delivery Zone.

And remember these zones could be used as any other type of customer/product filter now that the base code is working. Languages, currencies, geo zones, payment, shipping or delivery, even category zones - this matrix has an integrated backbone with no limit on functional control points.

[twitchtoo]

Module runs and displays the current delivery fee based on the customer's CDGroup Zone $100 assignment...



When we change the CDGroup Zone to $125 minimum...



The calculations are directly connected within the CDGroup so the pricing can change to any value or percent you may have set - 2 position switch.
In this example there is a special calculation included - 3 position switch.

The CDGroup Matrix can have per zone metrics (top down). If you follow that means it could also have metrics per customer (bottom up) during the checkout process.