Ups shipping value to high

Greetings Webassit gang!

My new website is in beta test mode live on a 1and1.com server. After running the checkout wizard and putting all of my credentials correctly, I am having a serious problem with the UPS shopping calculation. For whatever reason, an overnight package with a weight set to 0.74 ounces costs $127! The weight value is stores as a Float in my database. Can you please advise me as to what might be the problem?

Regards,
Robert Crespo

I'd have to test it to see... can I get the url of the site to see the problem and FTP access? I'd need that to debug why it is so high.

Please see my private message for FTP credentials.

You had your shipping set to "Next Day AM"... which is the most expensive service. I updated it to ground and you will get a much lower rate.

Ray, I thought that might have been the problem with the AM shipping service selected. As long as the ground rate shipping calculation can cover the cost of next day delivery then that will be fine. I appreciate your help and will be in touch in the near future with some advise on some subscription based products that this website will be offering.

While I am on the subject of offering subscriptions, do you see any advantage of having a separate eCart systems? One eCart system to handle all the non-subscription products and one to handle the subscription products? I am envisioning some problems with just one eCart system on the website when it comes to shipping calculations. Any advice in this area will be very helpful.

Thank you,
Robert Crespo

I updated it to use "Next Day Air Saver" service.... shipping things overnight is expensive. The rate it is returning is the rate UPS is returning.

Sometimes you can get lower negotiated rates based on shipping volume, but the system is working as it should, just the prices are expensive when you rush a delivery like that.

I don't see any advantage of separate carts for subscriptions... I'd do it all in one.

Ray, changing the shipping to "Next Day Air Saver" service did the trick by charging the correct shipping amount. Thank you.

As for the advantage of separate carts for subscriptions, I will have to think the whole concept through more thoroughly. The reason that I brought up separate carts is because in doing some research on websites that sell both subscription and non-subscription type products, some websites "wipeout" the contents of subscription products when a customer adds a subscription product to their shopping cart. You can checkout harrys.com to see how they approach subscriptions during checkout. I think that this was done to avoid problems with shipping charges.

In retrospect, I probably think that anyone who would want to purchase a subscription on my website would most likely not be mixing subscription and non-subscription products during the same checkout period but I cannot be 100% certain of that for every customer. I am still a little ways off from finishing my website, including the subscription service. I am sure that I will be in touch when I inevitably get stuck during the subscription programming process. I may even need a premium ticket if I get really stuck. Once again, thank you for all of your continued help.

Regards,
Robert