Geetings Numinix,
I know it has been a long time, hopefully you are still around. I am sorry but I am not fully getting the exact function of your Add-On. I am wondering if it will help me solve a problem.
I am the owner of a Zen on-line store, not the webmaster, so I am not a computer tech. I do know my way around the Admin.
Zen Cart 1.3.8a
Database Patch Level: 1.3.8
v1.3.8 [2008-07-03 08:42:34] (Version Update 1.3.7->1.3.8)
v1.3.7 [2008-07-03 08:40:21] (Version Update 1.3.6->1.3.7)
v1.3.6 [2008-07-03 08:39:00] (Version Update 1.3.5->1.3.6)
v1.3.5 [2008-07-03 08:37:29] (Version Update 1.3.0.2->1.3.5)
v1.3.0.2 [2006-07-01 12:27:21] (Version Update 1.3.0.1->1.3.0.2)
v1.3.0.1 [2006-04-25 09:34:29] (Version Update 1.3.0->1.3.0.1)
v1.3.0 [2006-03-31 13:12:29] (Version Update 1.2.7->1.3.0)
v1.2.7 [2006-02-19 10:08:18] (Fresh Installation)
I am running into some trouble with shipping calculations now that we offer so many diverse products. When we only had a few items and most orders were for one or two products at a time, shipping calculations were very accurate. Now that customers are placing orders for many items at a time the calculations are not accurate. Indeed, in some cases too much and not competitive at all.
I use the USPS shipping mod. I have 70 cents as “handling” to cover the Delivery Confirmation tag (tacking #) and offer most of the postal services; Priority Mail, 1st Class, Express and international.
Each product has a shipping weight based on the weight of the item and a very modest extra to cover the weight of the packaging need for that item. The shipping weight has been figured for each and every product by placing the product in an appropriate package, weighing it, rounding down, and then adjusted, if necessary, based on the real shipping cost at the post office.
I opted not to use the Package Tare config because of our diversity of product, as it seems to apply the same ratio, universally to all items.
For example; We sell anchors that have a package weight to product ratio of about 1:10 and sponges that have a package weight to product ratio of about 10:1. I could split the difference down the middle, but I have so many products of all kinds of densities, and an ever-changing popularity from one product to another, that it is hard to come up with a ratio that is durable and not arbitrary. According to my best “calculations” average packaging weight is about 91% of product weight and this cannot be true. My average shipping cost is about 10% of purchase price, and this I know to be true and accurate. If I were to base shipping rates on this % it will make sponge customers pay extra and anchor customers pay less for shipping.
If I were to use the use the Package Tare config I believe I would have the same results, but less accuracy, due to a universal ratio, applied to products of diverse density and different packaging needs.
When a customer orders one item from our shop the shipping is highly accurate. When a customer orders a dozen or so different items the shipping rate climbs much higher than it actually cost to mail, the more items, same or different, the less accurate. I also sell rope and have had to find the average length purchased to base the shipping weight on that, but it penalizes any buyer who wishes to purchase more than the average amount, and rewards those who purchase less than average.
Then there is the fairly new dimensional weight charges for USPS parcels over one cubic foot. If I have a bulky product, even a light weight one, like a life vest, with the correct shipping weight, the cost to mail it will be more than the customer has paid to have it shipped. I have added to the shipping weight of some of those bulky products, but this makes 2 life vests cost much more than is actually paid for at the post office.
I am also considering a “free shipping” break at some purchase price level, but that would simply be a “bad-aide”, as I may want to charge shipping for a single that is over the threashold cost.
What I would like is some way to reward customers for buying many items, rather than punish them, as it stands now. I do not really want to totally drop shipping charges, but I have to figure some way to control exorbitant shipping calculations made by the Zen cart and USPS, based only on what I can enter into the product info.
