Shipping Class kicking in at certain weight

[Peter S]

I want to create shipping classes that come into operation at a certain weight rather than the 'up to weight' that Actinic provides. This leads to many possibilites for more accurate carriage including additional choices of services if desired. Particularly if like me you have an extremely varied range of products while shipping is concerned.

As a simple example of what I mean, you may have postage rates for various weights up to 2Kgs. A pallet rate for 25Kgs. You do not want to give the customer ordering 1Kg of goods a choice of the pallet rate. You may have additional classes for the pallet rate with varying speeds of delivery. None of these should be shown as a shipping choice below 25Kgs.

Peter

[leehack]

Well for that you'd have normal shipping and pallet shipping setup and have it very expensive to ship 1kg via the pallet service, but it then comes down when they get up to what is considered a pallet weight. The cheapest choice will be shown and selected, if anyone still chooses the pallet service and pays a fortune, good luck to them.

[Mike Hughes]

I can see what you're after but the simple answer is this isn't built into Actinic.

Which leaves you with a couple of options with Actinic:

1. Ignore it as a problem. As Lee says, customers will choose the most sensible shipping option and it's not as if they'll be offered a cheap delivery option that isn't valid.

2. The other option is to modify the checkout to make this work. As I see it there are two parts to this; first ask Norman to modify the scripts to add the shipping weight to the cart summary cookie (I belive he's done this for earlier versions so it shouldn't be too expensive). Second, modify the checkout page to rewrite the shipping options and remove the unwanted ones if the shipping weight is over 25Kg.

So it can be done if you want it. It's just a question of whether you think it's worth the effort or not.

Mike

PS. You can also add a request for this to the wish list if you like. It is a logical request but whether it will be seen as important to enough people to make it into development is something I couldn't say.

[Peter S]

[QUOTE=leehack;328694]The cheapest choice will be shown and selected, if anyone still chooses the pallet service and pays a fortune, good luck to them.

Thanks Lee for your reply. I am aware of this but looking for further flexibility which I believe can only be achieved with a certain carriage method(s) starting at a certain weight.

Peter

[Peter S]

Thanks Mike. When I contacted Actinic (as I knew this option is not currently possible) they thought it was a good idea and then found that 'someone had added it to the wish list recently'.

What I want to do is to go much further than my example which can easily be achieved with using multiple classes if they appear at a certain weight.

I might just as well add it to the wish list though as you suggest as I did not find it posted.

Peter

[leehack]

Care to divulge the further requirements? I'm yet to come across a shipping requirement not possible with actinic. You may need to reverse your logic and have pallets as light in weight and normal products as heavy and then set appropriate excess rules so pallet not offered on certain purchases.

[Mike Hughes]

I like your thinking. But wouldn't this mean that customers for heavy items would be offered the opportunity of postage as well as pallet freight?

Mike

[Peter S]

A combination of my other products does not come near half a ton! I would keep the weights well separated. Currently it is ideal to have a ceiling on the shipping class such as 'Don't allow excess'. As you know I want to do similar from the other end with it starting at a weight.

Peter

[Peter S]

It looks as if I need to divulge all. It's a bit tricky and lengthy putting it all into words! So make a coffee first.

Apart from my own despatch which doesn't come into it as it uses the existing rates, I utilise the despatch from many suppliers which takes the strain off me and they are much cheaper for heavier weights and extreme parts of the UK. While the shipping is concerned weight does not come into it as I have negotiated set prices irrespective of weight. It is more of a question of which products are ordered.

Currently category based shipping is used which is quite good. If a customer orders a combination of products the dearest category charge is used for the whole order. I have placed a wish to have a 'tick box' against a category so it acts as separate shipping. So category A : £2.00, B : £4.00 C : £6.00, D : £12.00 (with tick). Customers ordering between A and C will get the dearest charged. (If they order A & B then B will only be charged). If the same customer orders from D then that one is charged but plus the cost of B. Unfortunately as an alternative solution Actinic has an oversight in the Discounts and Surcharges settings where you cannot create a product group and have one surcharge added to that. They did everything for discounts but forgot about surcharges. (The solution that 80% sorts this is another story).

I was advised that shipping would be more flexible if I reverted back to by weight rather than category. The idea is to separate the product groups and shipping by weight. The first product group has the cheapest carriage and each product carries the same weight. The second product group (or pricing band as I call it) comes in at a weight up. The weight of the first group only can be made so if a certain number of items are ordered the shipping is the cheapest and beyond that the next price/weight is charged. Allowances are made in the weights entered in the shipping for the maximum number of products likely to be ordered before the next charge comes in. On test this works OK and it can easily be tweaked if necessary.

When I am on to a good thing I like to milk it and aim to achieve the ultimate (at least as far as I can reach).
This is where my request and query comes in:
I have these shipping weights (price bands) all set up as Standard Delivery although the delivery speed varies within these. Now I want to create Economy Delivery to be more exacting on price and to give the customer a choice and see delivery speed. To try and explain it: Say, on the third line of shipping weight (as in the Zone/Class tables) I want to create an economy rate; if I do this it will be visible in the shipping charges list at checkout for items that are nothing to do with this. If it 'kicks in' at my set weight rather than up to it would solve this and I can be as flexible as I like. I am sure other Actinic users would find this option useful.

Well you did ask for it Lee.

Peter

[mikhelee]

At the moment, all that can be done is to look up a customers address with the 'Shopped before' link. You then have to search for the previous products from the order.