Setting different shipping rates (UK, EU and ROW) for different items

[jean]

Hi,



I've looked through the 'help' section, but I'm still having trouble setting up flat rate shipping for different items to different areas.

I have 3 kinds of products, each with 3 shipping options, and I can't figure out how to add this to e-junkie.

If it helps, the products are:

Item one - all postage free

Item two - UK P&P (£3.50), EU P&P (£6), ROW P&P (£10 )

Item three - UK P&P (£3.80), EU P&P (£6.80), ROW P&P (£8.50)



How do I set this up?

Also, how do I do it without having to maybe set up a different rule for each item for each country around the world?

Any help would realy be appreciated.



J

[E-junkie_Guru]

Hm, while we do have ways you can set up flat-rate shipping based on either the destination or the product, we don't really have a way to define flat shipping rates that vary according to both the destination and the product.



To set up destination-based Shipping Rules, bear in mind that Rules for more specific destinations would override rules for more general locations. Thus, you would create a Rule for your own country, then a series of Rules for each EU country, and then just one more Rule for All Countries (rest of world, not otherwise specified).

[jean]

Thank you- that is what I did.

However, I am confused as to what to do with I add subsequent items?

I have added the rules as you say for items which weight over 1000g and said that this items weights 1001g. But how do I add different rates of postage for a different item?



I am guessing that if I add a set of rules which start when an item is over 500g and say my next item weights 501g this rule will kick in first and the 1000g rule only when I say the item weights that much?

[E-junkie_Guru]

I don't quite follow what you mean? If you're referring to first-unit/each-additional-unit rules, that could be done by setting rates for each unit (including the first), then "boosting" the shipping amount for the first unit by setting a cost and/or weight for the packaging type you're using for that product. Just make sure you give each product its own packaging type (Boxes or Envelopes should work fine for this, but Tubes would be unsuitable due to technicalities I won't go into here), and set their packing capacity to some absurdly high number like 9999.



You might consider using "Price per unit weight" Rules, to game the (rate X weight) formula in approximation of the per-unit rates you want. First, you would set the shipping weight of each product to equal your domestic rate for that product (e.g., set Item Two's weight to 3.50). Then you would create a Rule setting your domestic "Price per unit weight" to 1.0, and then create other Rules to multiply that for EU and Int'l destinations (e.g. an EU rate of 1.75 would multiply the domestic rate by 1.75, i.e. 75% higher).

[jean]

At the moment I have one item which I do not want to charge shipping on- I have set this to zero weight, in small tube and capacity zero



The item I do want to charge postage on I have set to large envelope, 1001g and 1 capacity



I have set up all the relevant rules for different countries which works fine as long as someone only buys the item I want to charge a postage fee for.



If they buy the item with free post they get one of two problems:



1- if they only buy this item the cart shows a "shipping error" and they cannot check out. They receive a message saying "please select country, enter a valid zip/ postal code and then press the update cart button"

this happens no matter what country they choose and even when the information is valid



2- if they also buy the item which I do want to charge shipping on the error disappears, but they are then charged double the shipping.



all help appreciated as I'm having this problem live on my site right now

[E-junkie_Guru]

For problem 1, you'd need to create a shipping rule to cover 0g-1000g for All Countries; however, this doesn't solve problem 2 if your 1001g-up rules apply a Price Per Unit rate. You could make these instead a Flat rate per order, but then shipping would not change for larger orders. That is why I suggested this approach:

E-junkieGuruYou might consider using "Price per unit weight" Rules, to game the (rate X weight) formula in approximation of the per-unit rates you want. First, you would set the shipping weight of each product to equal your domestic rate for that product (e.g., set Item Two's weight to 3.50). Then you would create a Rule setting your domestic "Price per unit weight" to 1.0, and then create other Rules to multiply that for EU and Int'l destinations (e.g. an EU rate of 1.75 would multiply the domestic rate by 1.75, i.e. 75% higher).

[blip]

I'm shipping from the UK and have decided on flat rate pricing. However, according to the Royal Mail, there are 32 countries that qualify for the EU rate which means I have to set up 34 different postage rates for each product (UK, EU and ROW).



List of qualifying EU countries here http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content3?catId=400036&mediaId=53600700



Is it possible for e-junkie to have one EU country category that corresponds with the Royal Mail's EU rate? It would certainly save a huge amount of data entry.

[E-junkie_Guru]

Unfortunately, a Shipping Rule that could cover all EU countries as a group is really not technically feasible; we're well aware of the demand for such a feature and will keep it in mind for further consideration in case a workable solution may be discovered, but at present it's just a real can of worms to even contemplate. :^(

[blip]

I can certainly see that it's a can of worms - especially as the rates are subject to change and depend on banding by weight, type of package and destination. However, I'm sure I'm not the only e-junkie user who's using Royal Mail from the UK - perhaps we can crowdsource this? Once we have set our Shipping Origin field, perhaps we could get a list of Shipping Rules that others are using from that origin and apply that to specific products? I know it's a long way from perfect, but it might be better than the current option.



I'm going to see if I can find the time to set up a set of rules for a 200g book (including packaging) using this table: http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=400036&mediaId=53800712 - I'd be happy for other users to have access to those rules.

[crm]

I've just come back to e-junkie (on behalf of a client) after 3 years, and the shipping rules are just as ridiculously lousy as ever. Jeez.

[E-junkie_Guru]

This help page explains our shipping calculation settings:

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/help.shipping.htm



If you could explain in full the shipping charges you wish to calculate, we'd be glad to provide detailed instructions for setting that up.

[crm]

I want to set up 1 set of shipping rates for Norther America for 3 diff packages sizes and 1 set of shipping rate for the rest of the world.



Thanks for your help.

[E-junkie_Guru]

That sounds like you'd essentially follow the procedure outlined on this page:

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/tips.shipping.item-specific-flat-rate.htm



However, rather than setting a rate-equivalent Weight on individual products as we describe there, you'd set a rate-equivalent Weight for the 3 package sizes you want (e.g. Small/Regular/Large Box) in Cart Shipping Settings. Then in individual product settings, you'd leave their Weight at 0.00, choose which Package Type they each ship in, and enter a Capacity stating how many units of that product can fit in that package type. Items that ship in the same package type can share unused Capacity in each others' packages -- e.g., if Product A and B both ship in a Regular Box with Capacity of 2, then an order for 1 unit each of A and B would ship together in just 1 Regular Box.