Notification to customer for Canada duties / taxes?

[spyderrobotics]

An issue I come across is that people who order from our US site are surprised when the package is delivered and have to pay the GST or duty tax. Even more so now that we are offering UPS Standard and they apparently charge more. While we have this noted in our shipping terms on the site there the customers never look at that info. We do not want to be responsible for figuring out their duties and taxes and adding it to our order but would like to have some message during checkout that if their country is canada show a message about the duties/taxes. Anyone done this? Any idea which zencart file would be most appropriate to edit that in? I appreciate any advice.

-Dion

[lat9]

What version of Zen Cart does your store run on? Are you using the standard 3-page checkout?

[spyderrobotics]

I'm running 1.5.4. I have the standard checkout but I also have the paypal express checkout enabled so I am guessing it would have to be on the final summary screen before finalizing the order?

[spyderrobotics]

I am using the doverfine template and on step 3 of 4 is the order confirmation screen. Looks like it has to do with checkout_confirmation.php for that template. I will take a look at it. I am just not sure how to write the code so that it checks the ship to country.

[spyderrobotics]

Looks like I already edit that page and did put a statement that says "By placing your order you agree to our Conditions Of Use and our Shipping and Returns policies." Those are linked back to my shipping terms page which does state info about duties and taxes. Ideally though if it was Canada I would have a bold red statement about that so people don't just click through.

[DrByte]

You could put something like this in the bottom of /includes/init_includes/init_header.php:

// Export Alert Regarding Duties/Taxes ... only shows if a shipping address has been selected, and is not in the USA
if (!empty($_SESSION['sendto'])) {
    $sql = "SELECT address_book_id, entry_country_id as country_id, countries_name, countries_iso_code_2, countries_iso_code_3
            FROM   " . TABLE_ADDRESS_BOOK . " a
            INNER JOIN " . TABLE_COUNTRIES . " c ON (a.entry_country_id=c.countries_id)
            WHERE  address_book_id = " . (int)$_SESSION['sendto'];
    $result = $db->Execute($sql, 1);
    if (!$result->EOF) {
        if ($result->fields['countries_iso_code_3'] != 'USA') {  // optionally, to be more generic, could check whether the country id matches the store's country zone id
            // 'checkout' shows on payment/confirmation screens:
            $messageStack->add('checkout', 'REMINDER: You are shipping outside the United States. You are responsible for any duties/taxes assessed at the border.', 'warning');
            // 'checkout_shipping' shows on shipping-choice screen:
            $messageStack->add('checkout_shipping', 'REMINDER: You are shipping outside the United States. You are responsible for any duties/taxes assessed at the border.', 'warning');
            // 'shopping_cart' shows on shopping_cart screen:
            $messageStack->add('shopping_cart', 'REMINDER: You are shipping outside the United States. You are responsible for any duties/taxes assessed at the border.', 'warning');
        }
    }
}

For older Zen Cart versions, the generic 'checkout' key might not be available. In this case, you might need to change it to 'checkout_payment' and then duplicate it again for 'checkout_confirmation'.

[spyderrobotics]

This worked great with 1.5.4 !! Thank you very much. How do I send you a some $ for your time?