Bulk item pricing via attributes

Hello all! This zen cart is a phenomenal piece of software. Thank you to the dev team.

I'm having some difficulty getting the effect I am looking for with pricing bulk items using attributes to determine the actual quantity to be purchased.

For instance, let's say that I want to sell bulk nails, as you could once buy at your neighborhood Ace hardware store. I want to base my price by the pound for most nails, so I put in the per pound price as the product price, and 1 lb for the shipping weight.

The sticky part is that I added a dropdown attribute for different weights: 1/2, 1 (default), 2, 5 pounds. The most obvious way to set the adjusted prices and weights would be to use the "price factor" field, and put in the appropriate factor. However, this does not yield the expected result. Instead of a true factor, the following formula is applied:

base price + (base price * factor).

Something similar seems to happen for weight. Additionally, the dropdown attribute displays as follows:
1/2 lb (-0.20)
1 lb
2 lb (+0.40)
5 lb (+1.60)

instead of just listing the price:
1/2 lb ($0.20)
1 lb ($0.40)
2 lb ($0.80)
5 lb ($2.00)

I can kind of get around the problem by putting an "=" in the first field of the price column, but then the display has an "=" in front of the price -- 1/2 lb (=$0.20) -- and still adds the attribute price to the base price instead of replacing the base price with the attribute price.

I can work around the base price issue by making the base price $0 and setting absolute prices in the attribute listing, but I would rather set a standard base price for (for instance) 1 pound and then copy the attributes with factors from other products that are set up similarly.

Drop by the store and have a peek around if you are confused by the issue. It will become apparent if you add a product to the cart with a few different weights and compare that to the base price listed on the product page.

This first URL is set up how I would want the product to look, but the pricing doesn't add up properly:
http://kerstin.phpwebhosting.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_75&products_id=192

This second URL has pricing that is working, but is difficult to tell from the product page what you're being asked to pay:
http://kerstin.phpwebhosting.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_74&products_id=185

All other products have their attributes set up as a direct copy of the product in the second link -- but the pricing didn't always work out properly. Nothing is active yet, and no sales will be made.

I appreciate any and all offers of assistance!

This is a true factor but inverse.....

For your issue you have a product @ 6.25/oz.
Next step is 4oz @ 18.75 but when added to the cart 25 is calculated

you probably have a factor of 3 entered and an offset of 1

change this to a factor of 3 and an offset of -1

this should take care of this

Stated differently: the factor is the multiple of the base price tht you want charged 3x6.25=18.75 in this case and the -1 keeps the base from being added again. You could use a factor of 1 less or 2 and an offset of 1 and acheive the same result

The website changed -- the hosting company added the domain. It's now:

http://www.kerstinstea.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=185:312e424b2c062dc7be164cb9b85a2111

Kobra,

No juice. No matter what I try, the parenthetical value in the dropdown is ALWAYS added to the base price, never replacing the base price.

For instance - main price = 6.25

4oz: factor=3 offset=-1

dropdown parenthetical price: $25.00 (???), price when added to cart: $31.25

4oz: factor=3 offset=1

dropdown parenthetical price: $12.50, price when added to cart: $18.75
(right price, wrong dropdown value).

FWIW, the previous configuration was with factor=3 offset=0, which shows the right parenthetical, but the adds the wrong value in the cart.

Continued Thanks,
~ Paul

Do you have these products marked as Priced by Attribute?

If you turn that off, does this work better?

Hi Ajeh,

I hadn't thought of that one yet. Unfortunately, the priced by attribute option has no effect on the result of the pricing.

It had been set to "No". Setting this value to "Yes" appears to only insert the following message on the "edit product" page only:

"*Display price will include lowest group attributes prices plus price".

I have also set several combinations of "Base Price" options in the attribute controller. As far as I can tell the "Base Price" settings are also nonoperative.

I'll keep digging, but any suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks,
~ Paul

paulprogrammer:

I have also set several combinations of "Base Price" options in the attribute controller. As far as I can tell the "Base Price" settings are also nonoperative.

"Nonoperative" is probably too strong -- maybe "not obvious" would be more accurate.

There are no ugly babies in this cart... ;)

I have found out how to configure this feature (yay!)

I have found that I must set the product basic price on the product edit page to 0. I have to mark the product as "priced by attributes". I have to set one of the attributes with an absolute price under the "prices and weights", and mark this attribute as the "base price" (and default, as this makes sense). Other attributes are priced using the factor, which is based on the attribute marked as "base price".

The price in the dropdown is what is displayed in the cart when the product is added, and the text on the product view page says: "Starting at: $6.25". Perfect.

Thanks to Kobra and Ajeh, and anyone else who pondered the problem.

~ Paul