Is there a way to vary shipping by item?

I offer free shipping on everything in my store except one particular category of items because they are heavier and more expensive to ship. I have not found a way to automatically charge shipping when people select this option so I offer choices and inevitably, people choose the wrong (free) one, leaving me in a position to go back and invoice for shipping charges.

Is there a way to make the cart detect that when this category of items is included in an order, the only choice for shipping should be the non-free one?

Thank you!
Jennifer

You could do it by weight ...

Are your products 0 weight means Free Shipping or marked as Always Free Shipping?

Ajeh:

You could do it by weight ...

Are your products 0 weight means Free Shipping or marked as Always Free Shipping?

Hi Ajeh,
I did not enter any weight for any products because when I first started, I offered free shipping on everything so it didn't matter

That could be your trigger ...

If there is weight, then it is the heavy items ...

Either this could mean turn on one shipping module and off another shipping module or a way to customize a shipping module to add charges etc.

I don't quite understand this. I tried turning off and on every combination of shipping modules that I had and couldn't get it to work. I tried assigning weight to the category of items that I want the fee to be assessed to but that didn't work either...is that because there is no weight for other items?

Is there a way to update the weight of all items simultaneously without modifying each and every one?

Right now I use flat rate and table rate. I've modified their descriptions/titles to be a bandaid. Right now Table Rate is configured to give free shipping on orders over $X, and assess a $3 fee for orders under that amount. I've renamed it and re described it to basically say "[Free Shipping Categories] Shipping"

I've modified Flat Rate to be "[Non Free Shipping Category] Items"

Then I have to rely on the customer to select the correct one, which doesn't always work

If you have the Shipping modules working and displaying the right amounts ...

And the only issue is when do you display which one ... then you need a trigger or a flag, as in custom code to know what to do ...

Do you have the Shipping Modules showing the right amount?

Hi Ajeh-sorry it took me so long to reply. We got a ton of new product in and this had to go by the wayside.

Yes, the current shipping amounts are correct amounts--customers just pick the wrong one... (one is free and the other is a flat fee). I think some just check out without reading, and others are trying to be sneaky.

All of your Free shipping products are marked as either Always Free Shipping or have 0 weight ...

On these heavier products, do you have a weight on them? Or are they Not marked as Always Free Shipping?

What happens if I buy 1 of the Heave Items?

What happens if I buy 2 of the Heave Items?

What happens if I buy 1 of the Heave Items and 1 Always Free Shipping?

Hi,
Don't know if you found a solution to this, but I had the same issue and I solved it by making additional shipping a required attribute. I did this on a toy kitchen on my site which would have been a free shipping item otherwise, but instead it required a flat $80 to ship. I set this number high because I didn't really want to ship it, but wanted my local customers to know I stocked this item. However, I have since added the extra shipping attribute to several items on my site and it is working fine.