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flickeralley
Apr '12

We want to update our international shipping procedures, and therefore, want to customize some of our shopping cart functionality.



Basically, we are doing away with USPS International First Class Mail as the default selection for international customers. We've been having many issues with package delivery outside of the U.S. when customers pay for USPS International First-Class because it is not trackable or insured. We'd like to have International Priority as the default shipping method once customers outside of the U.S. add an item to the shopping cart.



We do want to offer international customers the option to choose International First Class mail, but have this option in a different pop-window with a warning message saying that it is not trackable and insured. We'd like the customers who choose the International First-Class option to sign a digital “release of reliability” waiver. The customers would check a box and type in their initials on this waiver, which they would have to click through in order to place an order. Any order outside the US therefore should go through a “click-through” set-up.



so we need advise in helping to set up the best customized solution. How can we initiate these changes? Do we need to change our shipping rules first? We welcome any suggestions.



Thanks for your help!

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    Apr '12

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    Nov '12
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E-junkie_GuruWebmaster & Support Guru
Apr '12

If you want to just remove First Class as a shipping option for non-US orders, you should add a Shipping Rule applying the USPS Cheapest method for Country:United States, add another Rule applying the USPS Priority method for Country:All Countries, then delete your Rule applying the USPS Cheapest method for Country:All.



Unfortunately, we don't really have any way to implement the the sort of warning/waiver approach you described for Int'l First Class, and our cart always defaults to the cheapest shipping option available, so we have no way to make Priority the default when you also offer a cheaper First Class rate for the buyer's shipping destination.



Since E-junkie is a centrally-managed solution shared in common among all merchants using our service, it's not possible for us to alter how the cart works for one merchant without also applying that same modification to all other merchants' carts. The only cart customizations we can officially support are those documented here:

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



That said, there's a chance it might be possible for a freelance developer to program some custom javascript to accomplish your objective; we can recommend the competent, E-junkie-experienced developers listed at the "developer directory" link at the very top of this page.

6 months later
flickeralley
Nov '12

Hi, I am a new employee here at Flicker Alley running into the same issue, and plenty more using this shopping cart. It seems like a lot of things which are basic functionality of other shopping cart programs are not supported by e-junkie.



Is there a reason for the lack of updates and support for development?

E-junkie_GuruWebmaster & Support Guru
Nov '12

For some time now, we've been hard at work rebuilding our Seller Admin interface from scratch in DHTML (HTML+CSS+JS), as our current, Flash-based Admin has become too complex and crufty to modify readily without breaking it in unexpected ways. Thus, most major new features and functionality have been "backed up behind the dam" of launching a new, modifiable and extensible Admin that will allow us to add new settings and controls for our clientele to manage such features.



Between that project, providing tech support to our clientele, and maintaining and improving our existing system to keep up with our growth and improve performance, we've got our hands quite full, so we simply don't have the spare resources to provide more direct, hands-on assistance with custom development needs, for which (as mentioned above) we refer clients to our Developer Directory listing numerous independent developers available for hire (many of whom have done rather impressive things with frontend/client-side customization).



Most other, fuller-featured ecommerce systems out there are "licensed" solutions, meaning they provide a copy of their software to install and operate on the merchant's own server, making it possible to modify and extend just your own copy of the software if/as needed. These solutions can be rather technically challenging to set up, which is a daunting task for business proprietors to undertake on their own, and there's so many of these solutions already competing with each other, all doing much of the same things, that we decided not to compete with them at all, and instead focus on an under-served niche.



E-junkie is deliberately positioned as a very simple, basic ecommerce solution to meet most simple, basic ecommerce needs, designed to be easy for DIY'er business proprietors of limited technical inclination to implement in their sites without much trouble or technical hassles. As such, we are a "hosted" solution (sometimes called "software as a service" or SaaS), which is centrally-managed on our servers and shared in common among all merchants who subscribe to use our service in their sites. This removes most of the technical challenges for merchants to start selling online, though it also involves some inherent tradeoffs, such as the inability to significantly modify how our service works for just one merchant without applying the same modification to all other merchants.



Thus, we need to consider any potential modification in terms of being a general feature/functionality enhancement accessible to all our merchants, which cannot break or significantly alter our service's existing behavior as-deployed on thousands of sites; if any settings or controls are necessary for individual merchants to manage their use of the new functionality, that needs be added to our Seller Admin for everyone, which as a practical matter can only be done in the new Admin we're currently still building.



Sometimes a merchant's business grows to the point where E-junkie is no longer the best tool for their particular job, so although we'd be sad to see them go, we'd rather see them move on to another solution that better meets their actual needs. If you're driving a VW bug that suited your basic transportation needs for a while, but you've since come to really need a delivery van, you'd do better to just get that van, rather than try to make your VW more van-like.