Additonal item shipping cost

Here is what I am trying to accomplish.

I am a small press publisher and I sell the books I publish on my website. I do not keep many copies of the books in stock.

If someone orders up to 3 books I will have them in stock and ship them myself. If they order more than 3 I have them drop shipped directly by the printer. For the drop shipped orders I need to recreate my printer's shipping charges.

Here is what I need to set up for shipping:

1 - 3 book: flat rate $4.05
4 + books : $6.43 (for 4 books)
plus each additional book add $0.12.

So shipping 1-3 books would cost $4.05.
4 books would cost $6.43.
5 books $6.55
6 books $6.65
....

Is there anyway to set this up without a huge table rate? I get bulk orders that can be a few hundred books at a time. I would hate to have to build a table rate with hundreds of lines and calculations.

Also, is there a way to assign different table rates to different products?

1 - 3 book: flat rate $4.05
4 + books : $6.43 (for 4 books)
plus each additional book add $0.12.

What I would do to keep this simple is to strike a balance and do a per item shipping rate of some value - you have indacated $0.12 with a handling fee up front of some $ value.

You are indicating a fair jump from 3 to 4 and then a small incremental for each additional.

You might use $5.90 as a handling fee and $0.15 per item or another combination along this line

Thanks for that idea.

I set it up so the handling fee is $4.00 and .25 per item.

It roughly comes out about the same as what the printer charges. Slighlty less at lower quanities and slightly higher at larger quanities but close enough. For instance 200 books shipping comes out to 53.07 from the printer and 54.00 in my cart. 5 books through printer is 6.55 and 5.25 through my cart.

Maybe I will adjust by keeping a couple more in stock since I can ship lesser quanities at lower prices than the printer. The shop is mainly for the larger bulk orders anyways so as long as those prices are pretty close I am good.

Thanks again.

Hi, I am trying to assign an additional handling fee on certain products. Is this possible?

In other words, I'd like to charge an extra $10 for products that are larger/heavier so the flat (table rate) shipping fees are boosted.

I am not storing product weight.

Can I assign individual (extra) handling fees? Any ideas? Thanks in advance!!

In other words, I'd like to charge an extra $10 for products that are larger/heavier so the flat (table rate) shipping fees are boosted.

I am not storing product weight.
How do you want Zen Cart to tell without the weight????

kobra:

How do you want Zen Cart to tell without the weight????

I read somewhere (on this board), of course I can't find it, that someone specified weight on certain products to "flag" them as needing a different shipping rate / module ... but using the "weight" feature was not to tell shipping weight -- it was just to flag products.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

I solved this by:

1. creating an Attribute Option Name called "Shipping" (radio button)

2. creating an Attribute Option Value called "extra shipping required"

3. assigning the Name & Value to a product with a price of $10 and "Default Attribute to be Marked Selected" marked as "yes"

Unfortunately if the buyer is charged tax, they will be taxed on this additional $10, but it's just a matter of a few cents so my client isn't really worried.

If anyone has new suggestions, please post them.
Thanks!