Shipping methods

Pantzman

I'm really getting in a mess with these shipping methods and the automatic checkout. At the moment I have about 6 failed shipping methods ( which for some reason you can't delete once you've made them) and 1 that after getting into trouble with I've now kept in case I get even more muddled.
Problem is there are three main areas to contend with ( UK, Europe, and everywhere else) plus there are the weights( under 100g, 100- 250g etc) plus to add to the difficulty if its over 25mm in depth then it goes into parcel category which is much more expensive. I could over charge everyone and refund them but I don't want to put people off. At the moment I'm charging £1.50 which is fine for UK and most parcels but if they are thick pieces I'm losing out big time. Spent hours on this tonight and getting really annoyed by it all. Anyone have advice please?

Lawrence

There are some default shipping method you can use for the UK, they already have the correct prices and countries etc. You can use them as the basis for your shipping method but reduce the dimensions account for your packaging and also update the prices to what you want.

Pantzman

I've messed them all up now, there is no restore to original settings option. Plus why can't I delete all my failed attempts?

Lawrence

You can still create new shipping methods based on the templates, there is no limit to the amount of them. Just click add new shipping method then pick it from the drop down.

Currently you can only disable shipping methods which has the same effect. Deletion of shipping methods will be built in due course.

Graham

Problem is there are three main areas to contend with ( UK, Europe, and everywhere else) plus there are the weights( under 100g, 100- 250g etc) plus to add to the difficulty if its over 25mm in depth then it goes into parcel category which is much more expensive. I could over charge everyone and refund them but I don't want to put people off. At the moment I'm charging £1.50 which is fine for UK and most parcels but if they are thick pieces I'm losing out big time. Spent hours on this tonight and getting really annoyed by it all. Anyone have advice please?

You have no idea how fortunate you are!

In the USA there are 8 price zones for domestic mail

4 Price groups (of 9 zones) for 1st class international

17 Price Groups for Priority (and the same 17 for Priority Express)

When I was in England, I found a flat rate worked well within the UK ($3) and then seperate the world into EU and WW and create 4 or 5 price bands - OH boy life was simple back then!!

Only once did I have a small order under $10 that had to go packet rather than Large Letter = 2nd class at £2.30

Graham

Pantzman

Lol.Well yes, fair enough. I think I'm getting the hang of it now but need some orders to come in from outside UK to test my theories. Post Office prices have jumped BIG time in the last two years. If a letter is over 25mm now it jumps from 69p to £2.60. Most bricks can be fitted within a 25mm box but when they cant the price hike is a big step.

MinifigMan

Just an idea: it might be nice to be able to copy shipping methods from others. Then only one person will have to do this (for every country or every preferred shipping firm)

Lawrence

This is possible, but I would need someone to volunteer accurate unmodifed methods.

Pantzman

So you need to have about 10 different postal systems all in place at the same time then and the program works out where the buyer is from and how much to charge. Think I must have overlapped mine somewhere as for a while my page stated ' does not ship to UK ' and I couldn't shift it or figure out what I'd done.
Then I had a US buyer who kept getting stuck at the checkout because of my error in postal settings.

Plastic-Paradise

I am just curious but isn't there a way to import USPS rates, zones, etc... like other ecommerce websites do? I am not sure if it is an API or some other way of doing it but I do know many websites have it built in.

Lawrence

There is, I haven't got round to it yet, there is the complication that they can't be used as is as the weight and dimensions would have to be adjusted for packaging and the prices would need to be adjusted based on what the seller wants to charge.