My unique Shipping and Handling scenario

I am setting up a zencart shopping cart for the first time, and I think i'm stuck because of the unique set of shipping fees my site will need. I've tried searching through the forums, but have only been able to find bits and pieces of what I need, but am not sure I know which pieces to use and in what order.

Here is the scenario. My site will be selling products where the prices are going to be pretty much set in stone. The shipping is a different matter. Shipping will be done through something like UPS, FedEx, or DHL (It doesnt matter to me which one).

The cost of shipping will depend on both weight, dimensions, and location shiped to. There will also be a 5% handlind fee added to the cost of shipping. But if a customer lives in a certain zone based on location (lets say CA for instance or area code) That 5 percent needs to increase to 20%. In addition to all of this, there will also be items that will need to be shipped via freight.

Since i'm new to zencart I would love to have someone just give me a step by step talk to me like a child explanation. Every time I think I got an idea of how to set this up, I keep thinking of problems with my ideas.

I'm running v 3.8 if that is important.

I appreciate any help you can give.

Thanks,
Mike

You've installed the UPS shipping module from the admin panel and it is not sufficient for your needs?

I installed the UPS module, but I can't figure out how to set it up for the requirements I need.

Is there any walk through or FAQ, or documentation for the UPS module, because all I can find is a bunch of random questions on the forum relating to very specific scenarios, but I would like something that gives a more basic overview of using the module incase i'm missing something.

I bought the ZenCart Book, but they don't cover the UPS module.

Which one of the ten basic questions the module asked are you unable to answer?

Ok the fist part i'm having problems with is the handling fee which i think is only set up as a specific price and not a percentage. Plus I dont see anyway of setting up multiple handling fees based off of mailing address.

Is there something on the UPS side that allows me to set up some of the features I mentioned in the original message.

Can someone please help me with this?

I really need some help with this. I've looked and it doesn't look like there is any way for me to set this up with any of the existing modules as they exist. Does anyone know how I could modify the Fed-Ex or UPS modules so that I could do some of the things mentioned above.

Maybe someone can point me towards some documentation on how to modify modules in Zen.

How about this since no one seems overly excited to help me so far.

If I design a database (mysql) that stores all of the information needed to figure out my shipping and handling charges, is it possible to create something that can query the database and pull in the right information.

Would something like this be done through php, xml, or some combination of both?

I really really would appreciate any help anyone could provide.

Sorry, but what you're really asking for is some serious custom coding of a new shipping module. You'll probably have better luck posting in Commercial Help Wanted.

Is there no way you can modify your requirements to fit what's possible with Zencart's capabilities?

biglazy:

How about this since no one seems overly excited to help me so far.

I think a more accurate description would be: "Those that volunteer their time may not fully understand the full depth of changes I need to make."

I've been wracking my brain (took a small rack:yes:) trying to figure both how AND why you are needing this setup.

I guess I'd need to know more about what system is currently being used to perform this task. For example, why would one zone be charged more than another?

As stevsh said, you've gone beyond the realm of the volunteer help to serious coding.

Thanks dbltoe and Stevesh for the feedback. I'm working with two different companies (on two different sites) that want an online shopping cart. Both businesses are distributors and both companies work with multiple maufacturers.

The problem arises in that customers to each of these sites will be able to order products that will ship out from one or more different manufacturers located throughout the country. So a customer might order three products while visiting, and product one would be shipped from CA, product two would be shipped from florida, and product three would be shipped from Texas.

Unfortunatly these products run a very wide spectrum from small items weighing less than 5 lbs (and could probably be set up with a flat country wide shipping price) to equipment weighing several hundred pounds requiring delivery via freight transport. Because of the price difference for shipping a freight item from one side of the country to the other can be pretty signifigant, the customers of the website, are not going to be ok with over paying on shipping costs if I automatically set it for the most expensive option, or even the average.

i see what you guys mean about this being too complex for the volunteer community since it seems there are a lot of people out there looking for something similar (drop ship module) although not exactly the same.

i dont know if I want to spend a bunch of money hiring a programer, so i think i'm going to try and figure out how to program this on my own. Any suggestions on where to get started would be appreciated though.

thanks,
mike

AHHHHHHH.....

Looks like the answer would be to look at shipping by product or manufacturer to establish the zone or zip for its origination. Then the system could use any standard shipping module to establish the shipping item by item.

You'd probably need to set up a loop to go through each item in the cart, check the fee from ITS origin, and ultimately add all the charges together to get the final figure.

I.e. Look at cartItem1, establish its origin, use origin and shipping address to get rate, add to rateTotal, got to cartItem2 .....

Shipping and handling might get interesting but could be covered in, say, the UPS mod. It would just add fees per item versus the overall shipping.

Would make a good mod. Hope you can get it done or find a taker.

Yup, there is a lot of interest here in dropshipping.

You could ask the current Zenners with dropshipping sites how they're handling shipping. A search for dropship in the forums will reveal plenty of posts, no real answers that I can see.

I suppose it would be possible to work out a scheme that sort of averaged the shipping costs over a large number of orders, but I'm no programmer.

I actually found something that might work for what I want to do, at least for the moment. It's called XUPS (part of a package called XDrop Ship) and the company that makes it also offers custom coding if you need something specific and it looks like the price is reasonable enough that I can just buy this module and not have to worry about all that fancy book learnin I was going to do.

I don't know if i'm supposed to post links to commercial companies, or not but if you do a search for zencartconsulting you should be able to find the company.

From my conversation with the sales person this will take care of assigning zip codes to different manufacturers which then will feed into the API for UPS. I'll still need to get some custom coding for the freight shipping, and dimensions however, but it sounds like they wouldn't have a problem programing that in, provided I pay their per hour programing charge.

I need the same module as everyone here has stated. I am in the process of converting an osc shipping module that does exactly as "biglazy" is recomending, however, I fell into a couple of cliches.

first I got the mod to install and be altered, but on customer side, when they go to checkout or estimate shipping the screen is blank.

If someone can help in this area then there would be alot of happy people here.