Shipping help needed for a newbie

[aidylad]

Hi. I'm a new PS user that has just realized that PS may be no good for me.

 

Rather than try to explain the exact problem I will just keep my question short and sweet.

 

I would like to know, Is PS capable of calculating the total dimensions (mainly thickness(height)) of all the items a customer has added to the cart?

 

Anyone using Royal Mail as a carrier will hopefully understand why I'm asking. 

 

If it's not possible then I think my only option will be to offer free postage.

 

Thanks.

[aidylad]

Sorry for the bump but I really need to know if it's possible to calculate the combined shipping price based on size and weight, not just weight.

 

 

[tomerg3]

No, Prestashop does not offer this functionality.

 

We use it in the shipping modules we have created for UPS, USPS, FedEx, etc.. ( http://www.presto-changeo.com/en/10-shipping-modules ) to calculate how many products can fit in a given box (you need to add dimensions for the products and the boxes you use).

 

Unfortunately, this currently is only available with those shipping options, we do not have it as an independent shipping module, and we have no module for royal mail.

[aidylad]

Hmm ok.

 

Has anyone heard of these guys or heard anything about this shipping module they offer??

 

http://www.globonetics.com/prestashop-shipping-module/prestashop-shipping-module-uk.html

[stottycabanas]

Following that link, takes you to a page for the product where there is no clue about what it actually does, no prices, no demo and the following fascinating paragraph:

'This prestashop module for UK is used for adding functionality to the shipping module. This prestashop shipping module enhance the functionality of shipping module by adding the UK facility in the shipping process. As UK shipping module is one of the leading shipping service provider, then, it is very neccesary to add this module in your online e-commerce shop. By adding this prestashop shipping module for UK, shipping process becomes quite easy.'.

I wouldn't be tempted myself, but I suspect there aren't many modules out there catering specifically for Royal Mail parcel size definitions. Perhaps they'll do a 'try before you buy' deal.

Cheers, Dave

[mexicoMATT]

Hi Aidylad,   I think I understand where you are coming from as I too use Royal Mail to ship lightweight items of varying sizes, and struggled to get my head round setting it up.

 

How have you got on?  I have managed to get it to add the correct postage for individual items, but my issue is now when I have combinations (listed onto a single product), as these have different sizes to the original product, and the shipping calculator only takes the sizes of the main product item that the combinations are offered alongside.

 

Another issue I find is that in the checkout (1 page & 5 steps), if you have different products of different sizes it offers the lowest cost for items included as a shipping option even though that option is incorrect for other goods in the cart. I have found to stop this only use the 1 page checkout.

 

If I can help at all let me know,  as the current shipping can be configured to work for UK as long as you don't add extra combinations as I want to. You must though put sizes & weight for every product listed in the product category & add the MAX sizes & weight to each shipping method. Hope that may help...?

 

Cheers, Matt.

[aidylad]

Hi Matt. Thanks for your reply.

 

Unfortunately I haven't found a solution and have resorted to offering free postage and just add the cost of shipping into the item price.

 

Not really what I want to do but feel I have no choice at the moment.

 

I really hope that Presto Changeo decide to make a Royal Mail module as I think their current module for UPS, FEDEX etc.. sounds like the perfect solution if adapted for Royal Mail.

[mexicoMATT]

Hi Aidylad,

 

Yep no where your coming from with having to resort to Free shipping, I was considering that also. But the problem is it inflates your customer prices and for me my items are very low cost and the shipping is a big part of that, and would like customers to add multiple products to there cart and see the real shipping cost. I produce BIG celebrity & personalised face masks, so they're quite thin, but big in length & width, which as you know with Royal Mail makes a big difference on cost.

 

What items are you selling? Is there anyway to divide their sizes, so certain products will always fall into one of the categories you have determined within shipping. If they order many items, then the possibility is their total weight will define the correct shipping, and more often than not once the weight gets beyond 5kg the price doesn't alter as much.  Apologies if I'm not understanding your product sales fully & the multiple sizes of items that could be in cart.

 

I have managed to set Royal Mail 1st & 2nd Lrg Letter, Sml Parcels, Special Delivery, and add on Hermes for bigger parcels. Is there anyway you could configure your ranges similar, so that they have a max size & weight, and if you then set the sizes & weight of each product then their max weight or size will trigger the correct shipping?

 

This way you could catch all (or nearly all) the items with the correct shipping fee, and not hit your margins, or inflate your prices when customers purchase multiple items by offering free shipping.

 

Vekia, El Patron, Prestashop & Co  : What are your thoughts?  Could you develop a module, that calculates accumulative volume?

[aidylad]

Interesting.

 

I sell baby clothing. The vast majority of my products are large letter (£1.10) and weigh somewhere between 95g - 150g.

 

My main problem is that I will be constantly adding and removing postage categories whenever I order in brand new stock and the category list will start to become quite large and confusing.

 

For the moment I'm happy offering free postage. 

 

At some point I will probably take another look at setting up these categories and would appreciate any help you may be able to offer.

 

Hopefully there will be a module by then.