Different shipping methods for different categories

[fxn2]

Ajeh and everyone in here,
This is an excellent thread. I have been looking for solutions to my shipping problem. Let's just jump straight to my questions:

1. Is there a way to differentiate a shipping method by items instead of using category? And this should be entered done in one of fields for the item. And if there are mix of shipping methods in shopping cart pick request for quote shipping method (this is one of the shipping module in download area).

2. Is there a way to differentiate a shipping method by the higher category container than the one next to the item for example, I have the following nested category: Car->Year->Maker->BMW
Now under BMW you have several cars (which is the actual item). The method that has been discussed in this thread is to filter on "master_category_id" which is BMW, is there anyway to filter based on Maker or Year and so on?

Of course there is always a question what happen if you have a mix category in the cart. My solution to this is to force a to a shipping method "Request for quote" which is one of the shipping method in download area.

This topic probably has been discussed somewhere in the thread, I might have missed it. Can someone help me out?

Thanks

[spid3r1987]

hi there, sorry about this
i have 3 categories
cat A
cat B
cat C

Category A has a flat fee of 6.95
Category B has a flat fee of 12.50 + vat
Category C has a flat fee of <value>(unknown price as of yet)

if somebody orders from cat a and cat b, then option of PLEASE CALL for shipping quote

how would i sort this, please please help me

[Ajeh]

You are looking at totally customized shipping modules to manage shipping based on these Category issues ...

[spid3r1987]

so it requires alot of customisation?

[Ajeh]

It would need to check the categories_id based on the master_categories_id of the products table to determine all of the categories in the cart and then something to build the flat rate cost for each one ...

Not impossible to do, but definitely a custom job ...

[jolla]

Thank you for the great info!

I managed to set up a shipping module that only works with a specific category and I also managed to "hide" all other shipping options when a product from such category is selected.

I ran into a small "glitch" when it comes to the default shipping selection. In general the cheapest shipping option is selected but when applying this mod some funky things happen.

Lets say that there are 2 categories and one product in each category.
Category 1 can only use shipping 1 and 2.
Category 2 can only use shipping 3.

If you begin shopping and add a product from category 1, you will have one of shipping 1 or 2 by default and you can easily checkout.

Lets say you decide to change your mind on a product and go and replace it with product with Category 2, then when checking out you will have no shipping option selected by default. You will have to manually click the radio button for shopping 3.

This is a small annoyance but the same occurs with payment options too. So if I customize payment options too... it could be quite a problem. I have COD on some shipping options but not on others so it might apply COD fees even if they shouldnt be there...

any help is appreciated!!!

Thanks!!

[cliffvt]

Linda (or anyone else of course..)

While you're in the mood for answering questions about shipping... :)

We sell event tickets and customers can choose between shipping method "By Mail" or "Store Pickup", however, about 3 days before the actual event, I want to be able to disable the "By Mail" shipping option only for this particular product (event) as tickets will obviously not get there in time if they choose this method - so they should only be able to choose "Store Pickup" (or as we call it "Box Office Collection")

Is there a way to make this happen that you can think of?

Thanks

Cliff

[cliffvt]

I found an interim solution for your information:

As I am not using "weight" in the store, until I hear from you for a more elegant solution, what I've done is, that when a product (event) reaches 3 days before it's end date, then I assign a weight of "1" to it. In the "By Mail" shipping module I added the following code:

global $cart;
    if (IS_ADMIN_FLAG === true || $_SESSION['cart']->show_weight() > 1) {
        $this->enabled = false;
    } 

immediately after this code:

$check->MoveNext();
      }

      if ($check_flag == false) {
        $this->enabled = false;
      }
    } 

which then disables the shipping method for the cart if the weight is "1" or more.

Of course if the customer has more than one event in the cart then the method will be disabled for both. Now need to scratch my head to get around that one!!

Cheers

Cliff

[cliffvt]

I should add that I used the same code very successfully as well in the PAYMENT MODULE, so that customers are precluded from paying by Check/Money Order or Direct Bank Transfer if the event (Product) is 3 days away (i.e. weight =1 or more). So they will only get presented with the PayPal or Credit Card payment methods.

Linda, as you always say - a whole new world of possibilities....

[Ajeh]

Good use of the code on that ...

Creativity does help a lot on customization ...