Shipping Zones for UK Postcodes

[martindowling]

Is it possible to set up Sellerdeck so that there are different shipping rates to certain postcodes? I'm thinking particularly of sending to Northern Ireland where carriers already charge more and are likely to increase costs further with the new regulations next year. Could I make a new zone for BT postcodes or possibly even more specifically, say IV15 etc. for Highland addresses where there are also supplements.

At the moment I charge the same throughout the UK and take the occasional hit on NI or Highland orders where my postage charge doesn't cover the cost..

[Josh Barling]

Hi, thank you for the post. We've produced an extension which can help with this, although others may have some alternative ideas.

The 'Shipping By Postcode' extension adds the ability to force addresses from defined postcode ranges into specified delivery regions in the online checkout, to ensure the correct delivery charge is applied. We've found this is the best way to ensure the right amount is charged and also avoid the customer being able to select the wrong but cheaper delivery option.

You can view more here https://www.sellerdeck.co.uk/extensi...ng-by-postcode

If you would like to speak with an Account Manager about this, please feel free to reach out sales@sellerdeck.com

Thanks, Josh.

[zgap111]

We ship by County... took a bit of time setting it up, but it works

[martindowling]

We ship by County... took a bit of time setting it up, but it works

Thank you zgap, presumably that involves making a required field for county. From your comment this does not sound as straightforward to do as it was to write the sentence!

Does it raise problems for customers in London or Manchester for example puzzling over what to write for the county?

Thank you also Josh. That extension looks excellent, but for my fairly small business I think the annual fee would probably exceed the extra shipping costs on the occasional large orders. Most orders are small and light and I send with Royal Mail small parcels where the postage cost is universal.

[zgap111]

I had to find a list of every county in the UK (and some extra to match ones on Paypal - some minor variances) and added them in : Settings > Locations
- attached image of our list (and Paypal's list)
- you can see we have "London", "Greater London" and "Greater Manchester"
- there are duplicates, "Down" and "County Down" - to acocmodate Paypal and some just to accomodate customers... some just don't see it... so I've added extra.
- the UKxxx numbers = you can create whatever your choosing there - mine looks messed up... I think I started with a county list, then added missing ones from Paypal's list then something else...

Then in the shipping, we have multiple zones for UK and then each zone you assign the county - see two images.

So each UK zone will have different prices, UK - England will be different to UK - Northern Ireland

I found that each carrier has different postcodes for Highlands so wiki postcodes was my friend on working out those assignments
- this is the part that took a little more time as had to do a bit of research
- you might find that there are some postcode ranges in both Highlands and non-Highlands...

Downside...
- whenever Royal Mail changes it's prices... I have to update each of the UK Zones... So instead of 1 UK Zone and update 1st class, it's several UK zones for 1st class... etc. :I
- occasionally you might have to ask a customer "is the county selected correct?"
- occasionally customers will put in the wrong County... (so Postcode check is the best way... but costs a bit)

[zgap111]

If you don't use Paypal... it doesn't have to be counties... you could just have them as England / Wales / Scotland / Scottish Highlands etc...

Also we are on v18.02 - I don't know if Paypal's new integration (available from v18.05?) would break our setup.

21/12/20 update : updated to v18.05 (Brexit update) and site functions are ok with existing Paypal Express payment method

[martindowling]

Thank you zgap111 for your detailed replies and apologies for not thanking you properly before now. I'm glad to say that we've had a busy few weeks.

I'll look properly at your suggestions during my mid-winter tier four pause ...

Thanks again and festive greetings!

[zgap111]

No problem

I'm gonna be busy also with entering 1,000's of Tariff codes during this festive period... Joy!

[zgap111]

I didn't enter the tariffs... was too tired.

Anyways, seeing : https://community.sellerdeck.com/for...556#post553556

Since we've already split up UK to do the County based shipping... the Northern Ireland thing will be different (and probably easier since it's already on there as "UK - Northern Ireland" in the Countries)