Do those "shipping enhancements" include a fix for the bug where mixing tangibles and downloadables in the same cart b0rks the shipping calculator? This bug is driving me bananas, and you guys haven't been updating me on its status since the last time I filed a support request. :P
Also, I hope these enhancements include an improvement over the current "poll USPS and return the cheaper of 2 rates" method, because as it stands, the cheaper of the 2 rates is NOT always the best solution. In my case, I usually find that either the customer is getting screwed on shipping, or I am getting screwed on shipping. Here are two scenarios that illustrate both:
1. Customer adds enough stuff to their cart to bring shipping over $10.35. In this case, if the customer's order can fit in a standard flat rate box, then it should ship in a flat rate box rather than the standard packaging. If I don't refund the difference, the customer gets screwed on shipping. If I partially refund too many transactions, PayPal might get sore at me.
2. International customers usually get the First Class Mail International rate of $10.30. Unfortunately, FCMI is a bloody stupid shipping method for any sort of commercial transaction--it takes forever to show up and is way less reliable than Priority Mail International. Guess what the Priority Mail International rate is? Over 2x-4x the FCMI rate, which means I eat the shipping differential. No, invoicing the customers for the excess is not an option because that's not customer-friendly.
3. If domestic customers choose First Class Mail for parcels of 13oz or less, I eat 18 cents because the rate returned doesn't include the cost of Delivery Confirmation, which costs extra for First Class Mail. Carts are supposed to help me make money, not lose it. :)
You wanna make me deliriously happy? I want to pick the shipping methods myself in the admin area. I want to be able to unselect First Class Mail for international orders and domestic orders, and I'd like to be able to set up simple rules like "If shipping exceeds X amount, cap it at X", where X is a Priority Mail flat rate, so I can offer flat rate shipping that doesn't require me to manually intervene in the process or issue refunds. This means, at minimum:
1. Checkboxes somewhere in Admin so I can make unappealing or impractical shipping options go away.
2. I want all the package types to be just like the Tubes in their versatility. That's one feature I like a lot about the current setup. I'd like to be able to specify the variables for a standard mailer, a standard flat rate box, and a large flat rate box, then when I add products, I'd like to be able to specify how many fit into each individual box type, rather than just selecting one package type and specifying how many fit into that one package type.
3. The reason for #2 is twofold: first, if the quantity ordered spills over the smallest box capacity, the cart upgrades to the next larger box size. Second, if the next largest box is a flat rate box, it'll cap the shipping until that capacity is exceeded, then it'll upgrade to the next larger box size/flat rate pricing. (This is where the rules I asked for come in.)
4. Extend the logic of the package handling a bit--so if you know 4 of Product A can fit in Box 1 and 8 of Product B can fit in Box 1, and the customer adds 2 of Product A to the cart, the cart knows there's still room for up to 4 copies of Product B or 2 more copies of Product A. I'm under the impression the current cart does that, but I'm not 100% certain that it actually behaves that way yet because I'm still struggling with the bugs I reported weeks ago.
The stuff above is just what came to me while I was testing the cart's ability to deal with tangible products recently.
-Mel
