Show total weight in shopping cart

Stragus

I know BrickOwl's magical shipping calculations are supposed to make this superfluous... but would it be possible to show the total weight of our cart before placing an order?

Some of us know the shipping rates by heart and seeing the cart's weight would greatly help to know where we are headed, especially when we are about to request a quote (in some cases, an extra 50 grams can mean an extra $10 in shipping).

Thanks for considering this suggestion.

Lawrence

The only thing stopping me from doing this is a styling issue, of not being sure where to put it on the page that won't look out of place.

Jaywhit73

It would also help the buyers who don't know the rates by heart. If the shipping jumps $5 (for example) because I added that one extra 2X2 plate, then I'd like to know that, either to drop the plate or make sure I add more parts to be worth it.

Stragus

Wow... I just went through about 10 messages while trying to optimize the shipping rate with a buyer.

Can the buyer please see the total weight in his cart somewhere? Please? Seriously, I'm sure a lot of people would appreciate.

walstib

here is my suggestion for location

Markyd7

Beat me to it @Walstib
Was going to suggest there as well.

Also thought the main page could have a small weight indicator so you wouldn't have to keep clicking view cart to see the weight.

Lawrence

Both locations seem very overt for something that isn't "important" for the user to see to proceed with the checkout. Compared to the order subtotals for example. I would mention we can't do "you can add x more weight" because rates have dimensions/subtotal limits. Or, we could, but it would be, "you can add x more weight as long as the volume is less than x and the subtotal doesn't go over x" but that's not very user friendly.

walstib

I though about the volume and had not come up with quick wording either. My first thought was to just not include volumes and have it only weight related. True that some sort of disclaimer for that is difficult to fit in that space suggested.

Maybe a button that takes you to a detailed page for those who want to see it. Somewhere in both locations and the quote page as well.

Just dreaming on that if the second window updated in real time it would be really neat.

Stragus

The cart now shows the total weight (in a very discreet location), thanks Admin!

DadsAfol

Was just going to suggest a "drill-down" page as well. The cart page could have an "optimize shipping weight" button.

To connect this with today's other site enhancement, I realized that we publish our weight bands to the buyers on pages/delivery. Maybe that page can show a "you are here" locator visually on top of the bands, and a calculation of the remaining weight in the band.

I would be fine with a disclaimer that said something like: "Adding large or bulky items to your cart can trigger additional postage requirements."

Any buyer sophisticated enough to dig to this level understands that they may be adding/removing items from the cart multiple times to get the postage where they want to be.

Markyd7

Thanks admin
This will help me with quotes from abroad. I often send a message after quoting saying they could add x more weight without the postage going up!

Hoddie

One possibility might be to do it as British Corner Shop (www.britishcornershop.co.uk/shop.asp) - they include a progress bar which takes into account weight and volume. Perhaps if an order qualifies for several shipping options a bar for each could be shown.

Stragus

That's neat, Hoddie, though I think that may be a little overkill, too complex for the casual buyer browsing around.

It would still be interesting to have access to such detailed information on a separate page, or from the shopping cart after clicking a link to show detailed shipping calculations, similarly to what DadsAFOL suggested.