I want to charge "based on weight + shipping/handling costs" up to 3 pounds; I want to charge flat rates beyond that based on weight thresholds, minimums and maximums. In other words, buy any combination of widgets weighing 4 oz and pay actual postal service charges plus x-dollars. Buy 4 pounds of widgets A, B and C, and pay a flat $10.95 plus a shipping fee.



I don't want a dropdown to appear offering any choices, it should simply default to these simple "rules" I've outlined: Buy any number of products weighing in under 4 pounds and pay based on weight plus a fee. Buy any number of products weighing over 4 pounds, pay based on flat rates plus a fee. Buying any number or combination of widgets weighing between 7 and 10 pounds brings about another flat rate plus fee - and so on.



I don't want to have to go back in 6 months from now when the postal service raises their rates and have to figure out some spider web of illogical logic - which is exactly what I'm seeing any time I've been lucky enough to gerrymander something to "work."

Okay, a walk to clear my head and a cup of coffee later - and I think I've got this figured out.



I'll take a pass at it for those in the same boat:

1) Enter weight for each of your products on their respective product settings page. Ignore the other settings on this page (for this set up I'm describing at least). Package type and quantity can be set to anything. Just make sure you've got the weight in there.

2) Go to Seller Admin > Cart Shipping Settings and set all packaging costs and weights to 0.

3) Enter any additional handling fee you'll want added to each order.

3) Hit "next" and establish a few rules. (First, delete anything that's there now - they'll mess you up.)

The first rule: Choose "shipping method "USPS Priority," (NOT CHEAPEST!), set min weight to 0 and max to 35oz. The price will be figured automatically then for these products weighing in less than 3 #.

The second: Choose "flat rate," set min weight to 36 and max to 143, set price to $10.95.

The third: Choose "flat rate," set min weight to 144 and leave max set at 0, set price to $14.95.



Earlier I had toyed with the "USPS - Cheapest available" setting - and I think that was the cause of the issues because it was continually overriding what I wanted to see offered.



Doing what I describe here causes the system to simply offer the correct cost (in my mind) on the product order page and bi-passes the confusing dropdown shipping choices I was getting earlier. Obviously, you can build from what I've got here to add intricacies to your heart's content.



Make sure that - between them - the rules cover all possible combinations. That is, if you have a rule that covers 1-3 oz and another that covers 5-6 oz, your customer will get an error if there product weighs 4 oz.



It's also a simple thing to update costs later because costs for products weighing in under 3lbs is/has been figured out automatically - while changing the flat rates is as simple as changing those two numbers I list above ($10.95 and $14.95).

Does choosing the "cheapest" method automatically cause the handling fee I've added (on the prior page) to be ignored? It seems to be factored in if I select "priority" and ignored if I choose "cheapest." Is this accurate?

How is it possible that - if I have a $3 flat handling fee, that I can be given a total shipping cost of, say, $3.21? It's obviously not adding a postal fee of 21 cents plus the $3 - so where does that come from - and how do I prevent that?



I just did a test where I removed the rule that was bringing up that wayward fee - I got an "error" message in the shipping field when it was added - so I know I removed the rule that was driving that fee. I then added in a new fee, set to "cheapest" - and the cost to ship came in at $2.64 - which is under the flat handling fee. How is that possible if the flat fee is being added on top of each order? I've cleared my cache - I've waited - I've hit reload several times... and still get that price that is less than the handling fee.

I deleted all but one rule, the one that should be applying for this test - and I still get a cost to ship that is less than the flat handling fee alone.



Although, even if a rule did conflict, I don't understand how it is possible that if the flat fee is $7 (currently set for testing purposes) - and it's added to every order that the total can ever, under any circumstances, be under $7? I'm looking at one for $6.48 right now.



In each of my rules I have the min quantities and cumulative prices left at 0 - do they have minimum settings? I'm grasping at straws now....



Currently, this test product does have "shipping/buyer's address" checked.

Its weight is set to 4.00 oz, packaging type "box large" and pack cap is set to 1.



The flat shipping fee is set to $7.



Under "Define packaging" all costs and weights are set to 0.00.



I have one rule: Country: US, states: all, currency: all, units 1-1, weight 4.00-4.00, order total: 0.00 or more



Use shipping method: 5 FLAT.



I add that single product to the cart - and I get shipping: 6.48. Should that not say 12? I thought this might be some strange caching - but that's not it either, as I've tried several browsers with the same result.

Please give me the following single rule:



Adding one or more products weighing between 4oz and 4oz should create a flat shipping charge of (for conversation's sake) $5 plus a flat $7 handling fee, making the total shipping charge $12, regardless of where it goes in the US.