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shipping by weight + options for 1st, 2nd, Recorded and International help

Thread began 5/24/2012 6:27 pm by Christopher West | Last modified 6/06/2012 9:29 am by Jason Byrnes | 4502 views | 27 replies |

Christopher WestCommunity Expert

shipping by weight + options for 1st, 2nd, Recorded and International help

Hi. there I have a new project. Would like to know the best workflow:

Delivery based on weight tiers....then on the checkout page customer would choose:

2nd Class Delivery
1st Class Delivery
Recorded Delivery
International (Europe)
Rest of the World

The client would like the option to update the delivery pricing in their Admin.

Here are the weight tiers:

2nd Class postage tiers (UK)
0 - 99g = £1.20
100 - 750g = £2.30
751 - 1000g = £3.50

1st Class postage tiers (UK)
0 - 99g = £1.60
100 - 750g = £2.75
751 - 1000g = £4.30

After 1000g Royal Mail will only send 1st class :-
1001 - 1250g = £5.60
1251 - 1500g = £6.50
1501 - 1750g = £7.40
1751 - 2000g = £8.30
2001 - 4000g = £10.30

Recorded delivery postage tiers (UK)

0 - 750g = £3.75
751 - 2000g = £5.30
2001 - 4000g = £8.80
4001 - 6000g = £12.30
6001 - 8000g = £15.80
8001 - 10,000g = £18.80
10,001 - 20,000g = £21.90

International postage tiers

Europe

0 - 99g = £2.90
100 - 200g = £3.20
201 - 300g = £3.70
301 - 400g = £4.30
401 - 600g = £5.50
700 - 900g = £7.30
901 - 1100g = £8.50
1101 - 1500g = £10.90
1501 - 2000g = £14.00

Rest of the World

0 - 99g = £3.50
100 - 200g = £4.70
201 - 300g = £5.80
301 - 400g = £7.00
401 - 600g = £9.60
700 - 900g = £13.40
901 - 1100g = £16.00
1101 - 1500g = £21.00
1501 - 2000g = £28.00

European and International customers can only be offered those postage tiers and UK customers can be offered 1st Class Royal Mail, 2nd Class Royal Mail and Recorded Delivery

So from the above information how would i go about this?

is there a way on the checkout page to have the delivery options displayed in a simple radio button selection then in () display the total-weight cost for that particular delivery option:

eg.

if the total weight was 600g for the cart the delivery options would display:

2nd Class Delivery (£2.30)
1st Class Delivery (£2.75)
Recorded Delivery (3.75)
International (£5.50)
Rest of the World (£9.60)

the above pricing is taken from the price list above for all weight variations.

if this isnt possible, then what would be the best work flow for this type of delivery pricing structure?

total regards

Chris

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Jason ByrnesWebAssist

This is posible to do, but is going to be tricky


I would create a database table to store the combinations and weight tiers in

Then you could use a query that will filter based on the selected shipping type, shipping country and total weight for the cart.

Store the returned shipping rate in a session variable, and use the session variable in your shipping calculation.


you will need to hand code functions to make sure that the shipping types that don't apply to the shipping country aren't selected.

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Christopher WestCommunity Expert

I was thinking of trying to simplify things. and have seperate database tables for each option. And the main way to greatly simplify things would be to force the customer to select the right delivery option (so that I wouldnt need to work out code to calculate the costs depending upon which country they are in).

So for example if they live in France...they would simply select "Europe" as their shipping options...if they live in the USA they would select "Rest of the World" shipping option.

Would you think the above concept would be far easier to code then the one you suggested? I think what I need to get to grasp with is where to place this code. IE I wanted these options (together with displaying the costs) on the checkout page) but then again the website wouldnt be setting any sessions for the delivery until a post is made on the checkout page - the only alternative is to put those options on the cart page so it creates the required sessions on the post to checkout. or the other option is to create the sessions on checkout post and then those delivery options would be displayed on the confirm page. (but i would still require the customer knowing what delivery costs they are selecting on the checkout page. could you give further suggestion the best way to impliment this as my head is fuzzy.

Chris

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Christopher WestCommunity Expert

Any update on what I suggested? I need to k ow if I need separate tables or stick them all into one big table? And then which page to put the selecting of the delivery options on? I'm thinking that it would be more complex to do calculations based on the country from a drop down menu I was thinking it may easier to just force the customer to select Europe, rest of world, and 1st, 2nd, Recorded delivery (as the last 3 are based in the UK and its primary business is in the UK) I guess the tricky part also is when Royal mail only ships to 1st class (in the UK when weight is greater then 1000) just need as much advice as possible as for this project I'm not making any money since its a favour for a friend so can't afford a premier ticket on this one)'

Chris

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Jason ByrnesWebAssist

you could go either way really, I would think it would be much simpler to have them all in one table then to use multiple tables my self.


the reality is, what you are asking is a very very complex scenario. It is going to require a very solid grasp of creating the database, and creating SQL Statements to get the correct data out of the database. I can give basic advice here in the forum, but the specifics of getting this working are beyond what i will be able to do.


I dont think a select list of Europe/ rest of the world etc... would be a good idea, since there is not really a way to match that up to the Shipping Country select list.

I would use the shipping country select list to determine location, then add a second list for shipping type.

the lists would go on the checkout page, the shipping lookup recordset would happen when checkout posts to confirm.

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Christopher WestCommunity Expert

Hi Jason, just qiuickly before I head out. would it change matters if I wasnt using "shipping country" as a basis for checking. Currently, I have all the usual data, address, town, county, postcode and country. But I am treating country like the other parts of the address. Im not using it as a basis of checking. The way im keeping it simple is that the customer would be required to realise that eg. France would be classed as Europe. USA would be classed as "Rest of the world" and the UK would be part of 1st, 2nd or recordered delivery. thats the part im trying to keep simple for my calculations - I do realise that it does make mre sense for the system to determine the condition depending on the country selected from the drop down list - that would be more solid and logical. but im just trying to simplify things for myself in removing the country value in the calculation :)

if the shipping select is happening on the checkout page and if im going to be using sessions to store the selected value - then how can I also display the cost of the shipping (remembering its based on weight of the cart total).

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Jason ByrnesWebAssist

i dont see how it is any more simple to use a second select list for USA , Europe, Rest of the wold that it is to use the shipping country select list....


  then how can I also display the cost of the shipping  



store it in a session

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Christopher WestCommunity Expert

in my mind it seems more simple (but i guess i need to start coding it to realise :)

I know to store it in a session but that session wouldnt be created until the customer selects the appropriate option on the checkout page and then clicks the button that takes them to paypal. so the only way i can think for it to be displayed on the checkout page is to have the options for delivery charges on the cart page which is soemthing i dont want to do as it looks a bit odd. since i was using checkout page to do all the address type stuff :)

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Christopher WestCommunity Expert

i spoke to the client and she stated that she does need the delivery costs showing on the checkout page as well as which option to chose. So could you confirm my workflow in terms of logic.....

1. On the checkout page create a recordset for deliverycosts
2. create 5 on-page-load session variables (5 sessions = 2nd class, 1st class, recorded, international, rest fo world) - the above session variables would contain the value from the ecart shipping rules based on weight calculation.
3. create a 6th session variable that will store what every delivery option the customer choses on the checkout page (this is set on form post).
4. in the ecart shipping rules I would need to create rules for each of the 5 delivery options.

im trying to work out how i would organsise the database structure (this is why i thought it be best to have 5 different tables for each delivery option: as the structure would not only contain the weight differences as fields but also the delivery options.

am i on th eright track at all?

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Jason ByrnesWebAssist

That all sounds like it should work.

You could use the first 5 sessions to show the delivery charge next to the option, and use the 6th session to tell eCart which option was selected.

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