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APPEAL TO CC OWNERS: "All in one shipping" is Horrible. Very very horrible.


cubicsquare

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Hi there, regarding the "All in one shipping" extension, aka AIOS:

 

- I am unable to comment on it on the extension forum, l get an error

- It's just plain horrible. I cannot add continents or recognised wider regions (e.g. Europe, European Union - the European Union is a column heading for the "Countries / Zones" section of the admin control panel).

- I have many different weight categories --> divided into many different courier options --> divided into different countries and continents / wider regions. Some of the geographic destinations are simpler put as continents or European Union or "an outlying regions" affixed to a country. AIOS doesn't recognise any of these 3 things. Must l select every nation in Asia individually? Must l treat the Azores the same as Portugal even thought there's a huge price difference?

- I want the customer to see only the courier options for their geographical location. I will hand select the applicable courier(s) for the applicable weight. Then leave it for the customer to choose, if there is a choice of multiple couriers. Think of how courier tariffs are done on eBay.

 

Here's how it should be done. Example row on my postage spreadsheet:

POLICY NICKNAME SUMMARISING THE WEIGHTS & TARIFFS & EXCLUSIONS-- UK Option 1 inc Additional Items Price Increment (Outlying Regions Surcharge?) -- UK Option 2  inc Additional Items Price Increment (Outlying Regions Surcharge?) -- UK Option 3 (Outlying Regions Surcharge?)

Then continuing along the policy:

-- Global Option 1 inc Additional Items Price Increment - Countries Covered - Continents / Wider Region Covered (can leave this blank and just give countries, or leave countries blank and just give continents / wider region e.g. EU, or even fill in both a few countries plus maybe a continent or EU)

-- Global Option 2  inc Additional Items Price Increment - Countries Covered - Continents / Wider Region Covered (can leave this blank and just give countries, or leave countries blank and just give continents / wider region e.g. EU, or even fill in both a few countries plus maybe a continent or EU)

and so on.

- Then a little caveat showing the nations l don't wish to cover at all for this policy

 

 

The entire policy will be based on weight. I will manually input all policies into the admin control panel (preferably via spreadsheet upload) then select the relevant policy for each shop item going by my estimation of the item's weight (should be mentioned somewhere in the policy nickname). [This would require updating CubeCart l think, to allow shopping policy name or number to be part of each item record during upload / to be affixed per item ad hoc, plus CubeCart will have to learn what all the different continents, best known outlying regions, and the European Union are, and allow people to duplicate / copy and paste tariff data to make a spectrum of minute variations]

I want the software to then focus on the geographical region the customer is in.

And from that, show the courier options l have made available. THAT is the only thing the customer will see.

 

Maybe also add - via pulldown menus - an overarching multiple mixed purchase deal system e.g. quantity / price / weight of items over X --> get Y percent or absolute amount off.

 

It does not get simpler. AIOS is very strange, and l'm hoping l misjudged that it wants me to select countries one by one e.g. for an Asia policy regarding a 450g 21 x 16 x 11cm parcel? It won't even let me duplicate a policy so Asia on an express tariff = re-select every country, and bump the prices up from economy tariff. LOL!

 

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Dear CubeCart owners: If you want to create a true all-in-one ready-made national & global multi-courier extension, based on my well-wrought spreadsheet of courier data, let me know.

We could overlay the type of GUI mentioned in my OP.

We could use my spreadsheet as an upload template too, if the customer just doesn't like the given "managed" prices and would prefer to enter their own prices.

It should make things VERY easy. Seriously l'd pay £20 for the ability to do this.

 

Otherwise I feel like l'm being forced to offer UPS or FedEx via their own managed extensions, which absolutely willl make my shop more expensive than many online marketplaces for my stock, and thus defeat my shop's raison d'etre plus bring me back to locked-in syndrome. As for FedEx .. l feel insane just viewing their quick quote page. They refuse to tell me the cost of sending a 2kg parcel from UK to UK via their quick quote tool. They absolutely refuse. I then get channelled into downloading a rates PDF and am told about zone K in Andorra and being good for business and get there by AM and whatnot. I'm not even convinced they deal in post. Too scared to see what UPS's own website will do to me. I'm a simple Hermes and Royal Mail kind of guy, and l sometimes do use UPS and others but only the sane / sanitised versions of their tariffs a la aggregators like Parcel2Go. It shouldn't be like this. It's better if l set the prices as catch-all figures that give me flexibility whilst having a spectrum of specific courier deals in mind. Postage is one of a shopping cart's basic premises and it looks like l'm forced to abandon the entire project.

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OK upon re-reading my posts, they seem very confused.

Let me rehash what l'm trying to say.

First let me explain: it seems all shopping carts are copying each other and oversimplifying shipping (by letting the owner create weight-indexed policies, which the cart then calls up at checkout, based on total weight).

Sure that sounds good but it's not.

What if you sell anything and everything? What if you don't mind customers just buying one thing at a time, and even anticipate that? What if you want to offer a spread of courier options that you've learnt give really good value for money, including Asendia super economy 3+ days, UPS express 24, Royal Mail special delivery 1pm,  plus obscure stuff like delivery via dolphins only for Bahamas or even hiring your best friend to deliver at a rate of £0.60 / km both ways based on, say, RAC routeplanner? All these options are good for 10kg, 50kg, but for a £2000 diamond solitaire ring that weighs 0.1kg you only want to send by Royail Mail Special Delivery 1pm  (UK only). For 5kg there's no point offering own courier delivery at £0.60 / km both ways for an empty flight case.

 

This is what l suggest: Make it about the item. No, not its weight. The item itself, its qualitative aspect, its weight, its dimensions, all rolled up together.

Is it a ring? Is it one tiny grub screw? Is it a giant roll of bubble wrap? Is it an empty flightcase? Is it a flightcase containing a delicate 8-track recorder?

So, the solution: Add a shop inventory field called "Shipping Policy Name / Code".

Just like item category, you can designate via using exact name of the auto-generated code (01, 02, 03, 04).

 

THEN, separately, you create a load of shipping policies that are good for a few years yet. Example columns:

Number: auto generated, based on order of being added to your control panel, e.g. "04"

Nickname: this is the Shipping Policy Name. Name it how you wish but ideally it would tell you what it represents e.g. "0.5kg NONDELICATE hence Economy FREEPOST UK inc. £25 insurance (costs you £2.90 all inc)"

Description: "Max size 35cm x 25cm x 16cm" <-- this is just for your eyes only

Processing Time: 1 Business Day <--- VISIBLE TO CUSTOMER AT CHECKOUT

Order Cut-Off Time: 08:00hrs

National Tariff #1: "Hermes Economy (2-3 Business Days)" <--- VISIBLE TO CUSTOMER AT CHECKOUT

Cost: £0.00 <--- VISIBLE TO CUSTOMER AT CHECKOUT

Additional Items: £1.50

National Tariff #2: "UPS 24 (1 Business Day)" <--- VISIBLE TO CUSTOMER AT CHECKOUT

Cost: £5.25 <--- VISIBLE TO CUSTOMER AT CHECKOUT

Additional Items: £1.85

WorldWide Tariff #1: "Royal Mail International Tracked (7-14 Business Days)" <--- VISIBLE TO CUSTOMER AT CHECKOUT

Countries: Norway, Russian Federation <--- CUBECART MUST MATCH POLICY ID WITH THIS FIELD IF LOCATION IS NOT UK, & THEREBY GIVE READOUT OF VISIBLE INFO

Regions: European Union, Asia, Oceania <--- CUBECART MUST MATCH POLICY ID WITH THIS FIELD IF LOCATION IS NOT UK, & THEREBY GIVE READOUT OF VISIBLE INFO

Cost: £14.50  <--- VISIBLE TO CUSTOMER AT CHECKOUT

Additional Items: £6

Outlying Regions: Sicily <--- CUBECART MUST MATCH POLICY ID WITH THIS FIELD IF LOCATION IS NOT UK, & THEREBY GIVE READOUT OF VISIBLE INFO

Surcharge for Outlying Regions: £4 <--- VISIBLE TO CUSTOMER AT CHECKOUT

Outlying Regions: Balearic Islands <--- CUBECART MUST MATCH POLICY ID WITH THIS FIELD IF LOCATION IS NOT UK, & THEREBY GIVE READOUT OF VISIBLE INFO

Surcharge for Outlying Regions: £6 <--- VISIBLE TO CUSTOMER AT CHECKOUT

 

WorldWide Tariff #2: "Royal Mail International Tracked (10-21 Business Days)" <--- VISIBLE TO CUSTOMER AT CHECKOUT

Countries: 

Regions: North & South America <--- CUBECART MUST MATCH POLICY ID WITH THIS FIELD IF LOCATION IS NOT UK, & THEREBY GIVE READOUT OF VISIBLE INFO

Cost: £12  <--- VISIBLE TO CUSTOMER AT CHECKOUT

Additional Items: £4.85

Outlying Regions: Puerot Rico, Alaska, Hawaii <--- CUBECART MUST MATCH POLICY ID WITH THIS FIELD IF LOCATION IS NOT UK, & THEREBY GIVE READOUT OF VISIBLE INFO

Surcharge for Outlying Regions: £4 <--- VISIBLE TO CUSTOMER AT CHECKOUT

Outlying Regions: Easter Island <--- CUBECART MUST MATCH POLICY ID WITH THIS FIELD IF LOCATION IS NOT UK, & THEREBY GIVE READOUT OF VISIBLE INFO

Surcharge for Outlying Regions: £8 <--- VISIBLE TO CUSTOMER AT CHECKOUT

 

Excluded Locations:

Countries:

Regions: Antarctica <--- CUBECART MUST MATCH POLICY ID WITH THIS FIELD IF LOCATION IS NOT UK, & THEREBY GIVE READOUT OF VISIBLE INFO

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Anything missing from this system can be amended by putting the order on hold, and clarifying with the customer. If necessary, amending the specific policy in question, or duplicating the nearest policy and finetuning the duplicate to the specific situation.

Then you get the Policy Number, and replace the old one for that advert, with this new Policy Number, et voila the new revised ad hoc policy kicks in.

Refund customer, politely ask them to repurchase under new policy.

 

 

 

Imagine doing all this based on "0.5kg"? In the name of simplicity, we're really limiting ourselves and making life harder in the long term, for our business, our customers.

Better to start off with about 10 policies, expand the list of policies as you add new stock, before the new stock has even gone live you can just anticipate slight deviations from existing policies e.g. a new policy to deal with Jewellery that might just weigh 100g but can be worth £2000, so you copy your 100g policy and delete all values, amend visible descriptions to explain to the customer you're adding a heap of insurance to the cost, etc. etc.

 

No need to be locked down to one courier either, you can shop around, you can go pricier if you think you just need a higher tier of service etc. etc. you're free at last. And as l keep saying: it is actually simpler this way, if you sell a lot of different stuff. This can be done fairly easily in a spreadsheet, so can it really be very hard to translate the entire method to PHP code? I need this so badly. No carts seem to offer it, only eBay.

 

 

Oh and l forgot, you can also add an overarching multi-item rule assembled via drop-down menu:

Quantity / price / weight of total items in basket over X value --> get Y percent or absolute amount off of entire basket / cheapest item.

 

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