Drop Ship and regualr ship into one setup?

I have a manufacturer (lets refer to him at JAMES) who wants to maintain stock at their office.

If a customer purchases just the items my store that are JAMES only items, there is no issue as I send JAMES the money for that item plus the shipping that was paid. The rest is profit.

The issue that I am having is when a customer gets more than just a "JAMES" item and get some of my items as well. The problem come in with shipping costs as the shipping is not paid out properly since it is being combined and just weighted.

Basically, I need separate shipping charge as JAMES company will be drop shipping their items.

I looked into some of the drop shipping modules, but none that I was able to tell are able to do this...unless I am totally not understanding their descriptions.

I only use USPS shipping module as well.

If anyone knows a way to do this easily, or a module that I can use that will be easy to implement, please let me know.

Thanks in advance for your help and responses.

What happens on a mixed cart?

Are JAMES Products marked as 0 weight?

Or do they have something on the weight and if so, how do you want that used?

If JAMES Products are all 0 weight, you could customize the shipping modules for 1 to manage an order that is ALL JAMES Products and then the USPS would not add any weight to the order ...

However, if you use the SpecialServices (Domestic) or ExtraServices (International) that may need to be adjusted to not affect things like Insurance ...

Ajeh:

What happens on a mixed cart?

Are JAMES Products marked as 0 weight?

Or do they have something on the weight and if so, how do you want that used?

If JAMES Products are all 0 weight, you could customize the shipping modules for 1 to manage an order that is ALL JAMES Products and then the USPS would not add any weight to the order ...

However, if you use the SpecialServices (Domestic) or ExtraServices (International) that may need to be adjusted to not affect things like Insurance ...

JAMES products are just like any other product. If someone just buys one of their products and that is the only item on the order, shipping needs to be calculated via the weight that I have entered.

I don't see putting item weight to 0 would help in any way to achieve what I am looking to accomplish.

The issue is that when a customer wants to buy more then just JAMES products. I need SEPERATE shipping $$ for any and all JAMES products in the cart and the cart needs to also charge for shipping for anything else in the cart (and ignore the added shipping weight of the JAMES products) because they would be already charged separately.

Let's take that a step further ...

When there are JAMES Products only in the cart, how is the shipping calculated?

Also, I am assuming the JAMES Products are distinguished in some manner such as their manufacturers_id value or something, correct?

Ajeh:

Let's take that a step further ...

When there are JAMES Products only in the cart, how is the shipping calculated?

The shipping is calculated based on the weight that I have set for the item and the USPS shipping module.

Ajeh:

Also, I am assuming the JAMES Products are distinguished in some manner such as their manufacturers_id value or something, correct?

JAMES products are in their own category in the store.

Okay, can you spell out how the weight on the JAMES Products differ from the weight on the other Products?

Do the JAMES products also use USPS? If so, what is the difference between their weight and a regular Product's weight?

Ajeh:

Okay, can you spell out how the weight on the JAMES Products differ from the weight on the other Products?
The weight is exactly the same...meaning, the same as in numerical fashion. If a product weights a half a pound, I put in 0.5 in the product weight box in the admin under catagories/products.

Ajeh:

Do the JAMES products also use USPS?

I only use USPS module in the store. There is no other option and no free shipping. There is no pickup either. Only USPS.

Ajeh:

If so, what is the difference between their weight and a regular Product's weight?

I don't understand why there would be a difference...each and every item has a different weight...some are .2, some are 1.2, some are .5, .6. and so on....every item in the store no matter who the manufacturer or what category it is under is weighed on a scale and then recorded into the product page so that an accurate quote on shipping can be determined by the shipping module.

I guess I am just thick here ...

You have normal Products and JAMES Products ...

When you have normal Products in the cart, you want to use USPS, correct?

When you have JAMES Products in the cart, what do you want to do?

When you have both normal Products and JAMES Products in the cart, what do you want to do?

Ajeh:

You have normal Products and JAMES Products ...

Yes, products that I have here at my shop and JAMES products that JAMES company has at their shop.

Ajeh:

When you have normal Products in the cart, you want to use USPS, correct?

yes, usps for both as JAMES company will also ship out their products to my customers via USPS.

Ajeh:

When you have JAMES Products in the cart, what do you want to do?

have the cart calculate shipping for JAMES company products so that I can forward the money to JAMES company so that they can pay to ship the item

Ajeh:

When you have both normal Products and JAMES Products in the cart, what do you want to do?

I would like the cart charge a separate shipping charge for the JAMES products.

I cannot think of a way to split the shipping charges between the JAMES products and the normal Products to distinguish this for you when using USPS for both ...

Ajeh:

I cannot think of a way to split the shipping charges between the JAMES products and the normal Products to distinguish this for you when using USPS for both ...

Yep - difficult one indeed. I think the OP needs to incorporate the shipping for the JAMES products into the cost of the JAMES products if there is a mixed cart and make customers aware of this condition.

Or: do not allow a mixed cart ???

I have several clients that have exactly this situation. I use the CEON Advanced Shipper module to do this. For the products from James you would set up a shipping method with a ship from zip code from James' location. All other products would have a zip set to your location. When the customer checks out with only James' products the shipping is calculated using that shipping method only. If only your products are ordered the same thing happens with that shipping method. If the cart contents are mixed, the shipping charges are both methods combined.

badarac:

I have several clients that have exactly this situation. I use the CEON Advanced Shipper module to do this. For the products from James you would set up a shipping method with a ship from zip code from James' location. All other products would have a zip set to your location. When the customer checks out with only James' products the shipping is calculated using that shipping method only. If only your products are ordered the same thing happens with that shipping method. If the cart contents are mixed, the shipping charges are both methods combined.

Ah, nice. I will test this out later this week.

Much appreciated for all the input from everyone on this thread!