1 / 7
Dec 2007

How can I allow a customer to choose whether they prefer priority over standard (parcel post) shipping? Your FAQs say that I can add customized shipping methods - but as far as I can see, it looks like e-Junkie decides what shipping cost is cheapest based on weight and zip code. What if someone specifically wanted to have something shipped

priority? What would I do then?

  • created

    Dec '07
  • last reply

    Apr '09
  • 6

    replies

  • 1.1k

    views

  • 7

    users

There is no way to handle that. We say that you can add custom rates to override USPS, but buyer can not choose from various options.

11 months later

Has there been any progress in the last 11 months made on allowing such a feature?



A choice of type of shipping with different prices for each is what we need.



Thank you.

There has been progress but nothing which can be made live just yet. Sorry.

4 months later

I'm glad I searched the forum and found this thread.



I guess this is the deal-breaker for my using E-junkie.



My customers currently choose between standard flat shipping or priority/rush shipping for domestic shipments, or international for overseas shipping. All differently priced. About 20% of my customers choose to pay more for rush delivery, so I must continue to provide that.

At the moment, we're still working on shipping enhancements, so until those are finished, we currently have no way to allow a selection for particular levels of shipping service. About all we can suggest is creating a "product" that the buyer could Add to Cart, to add a flat surcharge to their order for upgrading to rush delivery.

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