Shopping Cart

"®ed Eye Media - Richard Grove" <info DeleteThis @redeyemedia.co.uk> wrote in message
news:41011d9c$0$116$65c69314@mercury.nildram.net...
 > I am trying to improve the way our shopping cart system works and would
like
 > to get opinions.
 >
 > Postage & Packaging.
 > At the moment, it work like this:
 > You can add, edit and delete zones.
 > In these zones you can add, edit and delete countries
 > You can also add, edit and delete weight ranges. ie: 0-5, 6-10 etc.
 > When you edit the product information, you can add the weight of the
 > product.
 >
 > All of this info is used to calculate the cost of shipping at checkout.
 >
 > Can anyone suggest a better way of handling this?
 > Feedback very welcome.
 >
 > Regards
 > RG
 >
 >

I had a system like this written for a client once and he decided it was too
complicated.
What he now does (And most of my clients for that matter) is have a postage
and packing fee based on price. (maybe 5% or a fixed range like orders 20 or
under = 5 p&p, 50 and under = 9) Sometimes you take a little loss, some
times you make a little proffit. It all seems to work out fine for them.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Shopping Cart 

"Scott Bryce" <sbryce DeleteThis @scottbryce.com> wrote in message
news:10g2bidmtrfbo88@corp.supernews.com...
 > ®ed Eye Media - Richard Grove wrote:
 >
  > > I am trying to improve the way our shopping cart system works and would
like
  > > to get opinions.
  > >
  > > Postage & Packaging.
  > > At the moment, it work like this:
  > > You can add, edit and delete zones.
  > > In these zones you can add, edit and delete countries
  > > You can also add, edit and delete weight ranges. ie: 0-5, 6-10 etc.
  > > When you edit the product information, you can add the weight of the
  > > product.
  > >
  > > All of this info is used to calculate the cost of shipping at checkout.
  > >
  > > Can anyone suggest a better way of handling this?
 >
 > If you are using USPS, pulling the information from their database would
 > be better. USPS provides free access to postal rate database. Then all
 > you need to store is the weight of the product. The buyer provides a zip
 > code or country name.
 >
 > I believe UPS does the same thing, but they charge for access to the
 > database. FedEx probably does something similar as well.
 >
 > Here are a couple of links to get you started:
<font color=purple> > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.usps.com/webtools/rate.htm</font" target="_blank">http://www.usps.com/webtools/rate.htm</font</a>>
 >
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="https://www.ups.com/servlet/registration?loc=en_US_EC&returnto=http://www.ec.ups.com/ecommerce/techdocs/online_tools.html" target="_blank">https://www.ups.com/servlet/registration?loc=en_US_EC&returnto=http://....ec.ups</a>
 >
 > In case that one wrapped:
<font color=purple> > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://tinyurl.com/4fd6q</font" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/4fd6q</font</a>>
 >

Thanks for your input, keep it coming guys.
I forgot to say that this shopping cart system is going to be aimed at
businesses in the UK.
We feel that until we have conquered our own little island, we do not want
to unleash our system on the rest of the world.
Keep those suggestions coming.
TIA
RG<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Shopping Cart 

®ed Eye Media - Richard Grove wrote:

 > "Scott Bryce" <sbryce DeleteThis @scottbryce.com> wrote in message
  >>If you are using USPS, pulling the information from their database would
  >>be better.

 > I forgot to say that this shopping cart system is going to be aimed at
 > businesses in the UK.

So, does the postal service in the UK have an on-line postal rate
database like the USPS has? Not being from the UK, I don't know what the
UK equivalent to UPS or FedEx is, but it would be worth checking to see
if the most popular carriers in the UK have on-line rate databases with
APIs.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Shopping Cart 

®ed Eye Media - Richard Grove wrote:

 > I am trying to improve the way our shopping cart system works and
 > would like to get opinions.
 >
 > Postage & Packaging.
 > At the moment, it work like this:
 > You can add, edit and delete zones.
 > In these zones you can add, edit and delete countries
 > You can also add, edit and delete weight ranges. ie: 0-5, 6-10 etc.
 > When you edit the product information, you can add the weight of the
 > product.
 >
 > All of this info is used to calculate the cost of shipping at
 > checkout.
 >
 > Can anyone suggest a better way of handling this?
 > Feedback very welcome.

The price you see is the price you pay.

Free shipping on all orders!

Build it into the price of the product.

--
Charles Sweeney
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://CharlesSweeney.com" target="_blank">http://CharlesSweeney.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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"Charles Sweeney" <me.TakeThisOut@charlessweeney.com> wrote in
 > ®ed Eye Media - Richard Grove wrote:
 >
  > > I am trying to improve the way our shopping cart system works and
  > > would like to get opinions.
  > >
  > > Postage & Packaging.
  > > At the moment, it work like this:
  > > You can add, edit and delete zones.
  > > In these zones you can add, edit and delete countries
  > > You can also add, edit and delete weight ranges. ie: 0-5, 6-10 etc.
  > > When you edit the product information, you can add the weight of the
  > > product.
  > >
  > > All of this info is used to calculate the cost of shipping at
  > > checkout.
  > >
  > > Can anyone suggest a better way of handling this?
  > > Feedback very welcome.
 >
 > The price you see is the price you pay.
 >
 > Free shipping on all orders!
 >
 > Build it into the price of the product.
 >

then you don't get discount for 10 items instead of 1.

I have a solution, it involves getting a wholesale account on KMart sneakers,
half dozen road maps, a load of backpacks, a palm pilot GPS add on, and negotiating
the release of the abducted Boznian marathon runners.

Herc<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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Richard

It's a big problem - take a look at www.rag-doll.co.uk
Just knocked this up with Cool Page Webmaster.
At $79 plus £100 p.a. for a secure cart system including set up from
http://www.123connect.co.uk I don't know of a cheaper route into
e-commerce.

Note the shipping is kept down to 3 options in the cart. We post
across the site something like "surcharge may apply to heavier items
to overseas addresses - we will always advise you should this be the
case"

This works without problems on our existing sites - our biggst
headache is american customers who can't seem to spot they are buying
from an english site displaying prices in UK£!

As a previous post suggested we do mark up the selling price a little
on heavier items to cover extra postal charges.

Steve
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