shipping rates

Im trying/failing to set up shipping properly.. it seems complicated and difficult.

I want three zones, think I think I have set. UK, Europe, Rest of world.. I set those zones using the shipping modules/zones/zones rates

I want a flat rate for each zone, no matter what size the order is. i thought I had done that in the same area but it dosent work.. when I take it through the test checkout process I get the error message "Zone Rates (The shipping rate cannot be determined at this time)"

can anyone point me to a good tutorial? Ive searched the site.. nothing covers what I want.

thanks
Steve

If you go to the Modules ... Shipping ... and click on Zone Rate zones ... what do you have showing in the right panel?

all the following:

Zone Based Rates

Enable Zones Method
True

Calculation Method
Price

Tax Class
--none--

Tax Basis
Shipping

Sort Order
0

Skip Countries, use a comma separated list of the two character ISO country codes

Zone 1 Countries
GB,

Zone 1 Shipping Table
0:3.00,

Zone 1 Handling Fee
3.00

Handling Per Order or Per Box Zone 1 (when by weight)
Order

Zone 2 Countries
FR, BE, LU, NL, DE, IT, GB, IE, DK, GR, PT, ES, SE, FI, AT, MT, HU, EE, CZ, LV, PL, CY, LT, SI, SK, BG, RO

Zone 2 Shipping Table
0:5.00

Zone 2 Handling Fee
5.00

Handling Per Order or Per Box Zone 2 (when by weight)
Order

Zone 3 Countries
US, CA

Zone 3 Shipping Table
0:10.00

Zone 3 Handling Fee
10.00

Handling Per Order or Per Box Zone 3 (when by weight)
Order

You really do not want any of the settings to be ending with a comma ...

Zone 1 Countries
GB**,**

Zone 1 Shipping Table
0:3.00**,**

Zone 1 Handling Fee
3.00

Also, if you are trying to say $3.00 plus handling of $3.00 for GB, you want to use:
10000:3.00

instead of:
0:3.00

so the amount does not come out as $0.00 + the Handling of $3.00

Same with all the other amounts ... make them:
10000:X.XX

Ajeh:

You really do not want any of the settings to be ending with a comma ...

Also, if you are trying to say $3.00 plus handling of $3.00 for GB, you want to use:
10000:3.00

instead of:
0:3.00

so the amount does not come out as $0.00 + the Handling of $3.00

Same with all the other amounts ... make them:
10000:X.XX

Thanks..

the first bit I understood, so ill get rid of the commas.. the second I didnt.. I dont want a handling fee.. just a flat rate of 3GBP in the above example.. so what do I need to insert to get that to work?

cheers
Steve

Steven Eserin:

Thanks..

the first bit I understood, so ill get rid of the commas.. the second I didnt.. I dont want a handling fee.. just a flat rate of 3GBP in the above example.. so what do I need to insert to get that to work?

cheers
Steve

You also have SPACES after the commas in your ISO country codes:

Steven Eserin:

FR, BE, LU, NL, DE, IT, GB, IE, DK, GR, PT, ES, SE, FI, AT, MT, HU, EE, CZ, LV, PL, CY, LT, SI, SK, BG, RO

Keep the commas here, but get rid of the spaces.

As Linda says... if you want a FLAT RATE PER ZONE, regardless of the WEIGHT or NUMBER OF ITEMS, then put this into the rates field:

100000:3.00

That says "For weights up to 100,000, charge $3.00.

As it is unlikely that someone will ever exceed 100 tons in a purchase, that covers practically every situation.

ah I see.. excellent ;)

thanks guys.. much appreciated :hug:

NOTE: If you do not want Handling Fees you need to set them to 0.00 ... you are showing Handling Fees on your Zones ...

Zone 1 Handling Fee
3.00

Zone 2 Handling Fee
5.00

Zone 3 Handling Fee
10.00

set those to 0.00 otherwise you will add the additional charge to each Zone ...

NOTE: You appear to have GB defined in 2 different Zones ... each Country can only be defined in 1 Zone ...

I don't want to throw any spanners into the works here, but I have found that the PLUGIN called ZONE-TABLES is quite a flexible shipping module - particularly when you have multiple zones.

As you are applying just one rate to each zone, your situation is not that complex, but I have had to change MANY customer's shipping when they find that a flat rate is the most sure-fire way to erode business profits.

While I don't know your business, or your business model, what I do know from 11 years in the eComm business, is that badly configured shipping charges can impact your online business in two ways.

1. If your shipping prices are too "cheap" (too low), it means you are subsidising the cost, and this is a straight hit to the bottom line. If you try to factor in the difference in your product pricing, you risk being uncompetitive.

2. If your shipping costs are too "expensive" (too high), people will abandon the cart before checkout, because the perception is that the business owner is selling product at low prices, but making up the "fat" on higher shipping.

Either way, this can negatively impact on your (online) business. I had a client (back in 2005/2006) who subsidised his shipping to the tune of £275,000 for that financial year. We then applied scaled charges, based on Royal Mail and ParcelForce rates as he was using these delivery services.

Customers felt OK with this, as they were familiar with the Royal Mail and ParcelForce rates, so did not get the feeling that the store owner was trying to rip them off with high shipping. The rates were reasonable and realistic.

More importantly, they were in line with what he was having to pay for these services. In 2006/7 he reduced his subsidisation of shipping by more than 95%, bringing in an extra level of profit that was really a good sweetner...