Shipping Module or bust

[Gary Tayman]

This is VERY frustrating! I've tried several other commerce programs, hated them all, then found OS-Commerce and I love it . . .

 

. . . EXCEPT for one little problem. Shipping. EVERY order has had a shipping screwup, and everything I try makes it worse.

 

The UPS Module I have is beta, and it has never worked for me at all. Flat rates, table rates, etc., don't cut it.

 

Here's what I want to do: My site sells car stereo products, most of which are drop shipped from the factory. The criteria is this: very small parts, USPS Priority Mail. All other products, UPS for the 48 states, USPS Priority Mail for Alaska, Hawaii, and international. Sound familiar? Sound like what MOST merchants would want to do?

 

I cannot find a suitable means of calculating shipping. EVERY online store has shipping; I can't believe OS-Commerce can't handle it. Is there a WORKING UPS module out there? Is there a Table Rate, or individual rate, that applies only to domestic shipping and not international? I never DREAMED that shipping modules would be this impossible. How do OTHERS do it? Suggestions?

[Guest]

Gary,

 

Have you considered the Enhanced Multi Vendor Shipping contribution ?

 

 

I never DREAMED that shipping modules would be this impossible. How do OTHERS do it?

 

I just wanted to reply to this one line. MOST others ship from their store location. NOT from other vendors locations. That means there would SHOULD be only one zip code location for shipping and therefore USPS, UPS shipping calculations would be correct. Your circumstances are not considered how average store owners operate.

 

 

 

Chris

[Gary Tayman]

Gary,

 

Have you considered the Enhanced Multi Vendor Shipping contribution ?

 

 

 

 

I just wanted to reply to this one line. MOST others ship from their store location. NOT from other vendors locations. That means there would SHOULD be only one zip code location for shipping and therefore USPS, UPS shipping calculations would be correct. Your circumstances are not considered how average store owners operate.

 

 

 

Chris

Actually the problem I have, and the concern that has me scratching my head, is not the origination location. Almost all the online orders originate from a place in California, and I can use that ZIP code for shipping purposes -- the few others would be close enough with their calculations.

 

The problem is the ability, rather the inability, to ship via USPS for small items, UPS for most products in the US, and USPS for international. The only "Zone" arguments I see are within Florida vs. outside Florida. This is fine for sales tax but not shipping.

 

With UPS and USPS modules working, I figure I should be somewhat close. If the software picks the cheaper of the two it's most likely correct. But the only UPS module I've found is written by a third party, and is a beta version, and is giving me all sorts of errors. Is it me? When setting this up, I'm asked to input my "XML Access Key" provided by UPS. My WHAT? I haven't the foggiest. For lack of anything better I put in my account number, but I guess it's not right. I spent some 45 minutes on the phone with UPS, and finally they told me they have no idea. So I've given up on the UPS calculation, which is not OS-Commerce anyway. BUT -- out of the OTHER modules which come with the program, how do I configure it so the shipping is something close to accurate, for UPS domestic and USPS international? Forget my own specific products, let's just talk big boxes and little boxes that EVERY online business ships out. How do I set it up? I've already tried the flat rate; it charged a customer $8.50 to send a HUGE box to Germany! No can do.

 

I could live with a "table rate" for domestic, and USPS for international, but I see no way of disabling the table rates for international shipping. Answers?

Edited January 10, 2012 by Gary Tayman

[♥kymation]

That was the development version of MVS -- you're going to want this one.

 

Use the UPS XML Addon for your UPS shipping. Yes, you need an Access Key, and you get that from UPS. See the instructions included with the Addon for how to get that.

 

In the MVS setup, set one "vendor" for your small items that go USPS, and another for the stuff that goes UPS/USPS international. You then need to set up zones for the Lower 48 (used by UPS) and one for the rest of the world. I believer there is a "rest of the world" Addon available. The Florida zone is only an example; you need to set up your won zones to handle your shipping and tax requirements.

 

Regards

Jim

[Gary Tayman]

Jim,

 

Thank you VERY much for your response!

I am going to try out this module, and try again to get something from UPS.

 

I really like OS-Commerce, and it seems to be fitting my needs, but this is one of just a few bugaboos that I'm trying to tackle. It's still under construction but customers have been finding it and placing orders -- the good news here is that I'm FINDING the bugs before I lose too much money.

 

If I run into more problems with the shipping modules, I'll ask in a new thread. Thanks again!

[Guest]

Gary. You create your zones from your admin panel. You can do anything from worldwide, down to a specific state, a group of countries/states, or whatever you want. It's like categories and products. You create a zone category and then inside that category, you create each location that you want to include in that zone. For International, that does mean adding every country EXCEPT the United States. But, for simplicity sake, if you don't want to ship outside of the US with UPS, then you set up a zone for US, and then set UPS only to the US zone.

 

I hope that gets you a start on your way to where you want to be.

 

Then, with the shipping methods, I'm not sure about UPS, but I know with USPS, you can choose your methods, and you can choose weight limits for those methods, which will help you with your small/large item dilemma. I may not be the total solution, but it will lessen any extra customizations you'll need.

 

And no matter what you might think, any website is going to require some personal touches. The contributions are a great start, but it never one size fits all. The good news though, if you can get it pinpointed to some simplicity using the contribs that are available, finding that last fix usually isn't all that tough.