Different Flat Rate shipping for each item, then discount.

I have studied, and even tried several of the shipping steps found here within the forum. But I am stumped.

My client ships at a flat rate, but each item has a different rate?
Shipping rates are stored in a database table. Oh, and this is for a PayPal Standard shopping cart.

The client wants to discount the flat rate by 50% for each item after the first one. AND not start over on a different unique item.

So for example.

Widget 1 = $10 shipping for the first one.
Then the second, third, fourth would be $5 shipping each

Widget 2= $3 shipping
Then the second, third, fourth would be $1.50 shipping each.

So if they order 2 of Widget 1, shipping would be $15 total.

But, if they order 1 each of Widget 1 Widget 2, then the higher shipping of $10 should be applied first, and a discounted shipping of $1.50 would be added for widget 2.

I'm confused about where I bring this shipping into the calculation and what the rules would be.
Should I use a hidden input and populate it with the shipping amount in the recordset to start with? If so, then what?

Thanks,
TroyD

FYI. Some progress, but still falling short of completion.

I have the individual shipping rates for each item being added successfully from the recordset into the shopping cart at full shipping amount for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, of each item.

Now I just need to discount the 2nd, 3rd, etc., shipping amount by 50% for each after the first item's full amount for the first.

So far this is where I am at.
Created a new eCart Column called Shipping (binding it in the "eCart add from recordset", to the table column for the shipping amount).

eCart Object:
Calculation tab. New Calculation called "FlatRate" [Quantity] * [Shipping].

Shipping tab.
New rule:
Trigger is-
SubTotal of Quantity > 0
AND Subtotal for any column
If the subtotal of column Quantity is > a value of 0

Calculation-
Based on column subtotal
Subtotal of column FlatRate plus 0

Thanks,
Troy

this is a tough one because of the requirement of using the highest shipping rate as the base.

you are on the right track with creating the Shipping column and the Flat rate calculation.

to complete this we will need to create code that will determine which is the highest shipping rate and store it in a session variable.

On the cart display page, add the following code just before the doctype tag to do this:

<?php
@session_start();
$_SESSION['highestShipping'] = "0";
while (!$eCart2->EOF())      {
    if($eCart2->DisplayInfo("Shipping") > $_SESSION['highestShipping']) $_SESSION['highestShipping'] = $eCart2->DisplayInfo("Shipping");
    $eCart2->MoveNext();
}
$eCart2->MoveFirst();
?>

this code is using an eCart object named "eCart2" if your eCart object uses a different name, the code will need to be adjusted accordingly.

Next, we will need to create 2 shipping rules:
1) Base shipping:

Trigger:
"Subtotal For Any Column"
If the subtotal of column "Quantity" is ">" a value of "0"

Calculation:
"Falt rate"

$_SESSION['highestShipping']

2) Incremental shipping:
Trigger:
"Subtotal For Any Column"
If the subtotal of column "Quantity" is ">" a value of "1"

Calculation:
"Falt rate"

($this->TotalColumn("FlatRate") - $_SESSION['highestShipping']) * 0.5

Jason,

Wow, that works perfectly. I would have never figured that out. This solves so many problems I was facing.

Thank you so much.

TroyD

Glad to hear it is working.