Shipping questions please ...

[joyofsoycandle]

I am getting my website set up. And I am trying to decide what to do for shipping. There is a way I can use real time shipping calculators. But im confused. I dont think its calculating it right. I took the weight of a package and calculated the shipping through USPS and it was cheaper than what my website was saying for shipping. I dont know how to set up the shipping. Could someone pleeeeease help me?? I signed up for webhosting through www.wahmshoppes.com and im setting up the e-store. I dont know how to set all that up. If I put a flat rate charge then the shipping could cost more than they paid, or it could be less than they paid. I dont know. Please help someone!

[eugenia]

Laura, I use Wahm. Go to store, configuration, shipping and it's all explained. They have a great forum too, http://wahmservices.com/community/ click on forums and search or post. Very helpful people!

e

[sudsnwicks]

Is your website giving a higher rate to factor in the weight of the box, bubble wrap, and packing peanuts? Because USPS charges by the pound, and the packaging materials, even though just a few ounces, could bump it up to the next pound, resulting in a higher rate. I don't think you can get it to calculate exactly, as the website isn't going to know which box you'll end up using and how many peanuts you're going to need.

[joyofsoycandle]

What in your opinions do you think is the best way to handle the shipping? Flat rate, or let the website thingy calculate it lol? I dont know, I dont want to overcharge or undercharge too much.

[perlgoodies]

As it so happens, I just created a custon USPS shipping calculator. It ties itself within my new shopping cart, however. It does provide real time shipping costs for express, priority and parcel posts along with the estimated time of delivery.

The USPS web site has a shipping calculator. All you need to do is send a bot to fill it out given your dimensions and weight and scrape the results page for actual shipping charges.

I add +$2 onto the shipping charges for the box(es) and packing material.

[joyofsoycandle]

The USPS web site has a shipping calculator. All you need to do is send a bot to fill it out given your dimensions and weight and scrape the results page for actual shipping charges.

Perlgoodies....

That is probably real easy for you to understand, but I dont get any of it LOL. Maybe you could try to explain it more?

[perlgoodies]

Oh, sorry.

In short, you have a script (Perl/CGI, ASP, JSP or cold fusion (NOT PHP) that has the weight of your product in memory already. Then when the user clicks the DISPLAY SHIPPING button, the script relays information over to the USPS web site and fills out the shipping calculator form for you. Then your script turns into a web crawler (also known as web bot or robot) and scrapes (parses) the results page. This means your script is taking all of the HTML from the USPS web site and storing it into your virtual memory.

All that's left is applying a few expressions to it to find the numbers you are looking for and that's it. It might sound like a lot, but it's pretty simple.

Below is the section from my shopping cart (built in Perl/CGI) that sends information over to the USPS web site.

   if ($lbs > 70 || $lbs == 70 && $totalounces == 0)
   {
       print "pounds: $lbs <br>";
       $box_needed = int( $lbs / 70 ) +1;
       $box_weight = ($lbs /$box_needed) x $box_needed;
       $box_weight = numfix($box_weight);
        $mech->submit_form(
        form_name  => "frmMain",
        fields       => {
           P   => "$box_weight",
           O     => "$totalounces",
           MT  => "2",
           OZ  => "$fromzip",
           DZ  => "$zip"
        });
   }
   else
   {
        $mech->submit_form(
        form_name  => "frmMain",
        fields       => {
           P   => "$totalpounds",
           O     => "$totalounces",
           MT  => "2",
           OZ  => "$fromzip",
           DZ  => "$zip"
        });
   }

From here, all I need to do is

my $html = $mech->content;

And I have the HTML of the results page in memory. This is just to show you a sample of it. It's NOT easy for someone who doesn't program or script and the idea might sound a little far fetched, but it really is a basic process that takes a few seconds to accomplish (depending on your server speed and the speed of USPS).

[eugenia]

Laura, did you complete the registration process with USPS?

USPS Registration

United States Postal Service

Registering at USPS to use their shipping rates calculator is a two step process

STEP ONE:

Go to http://www.shippingapis.com

Register:

You will see a link in the right frame page called: click here to REGISTER .click that link and fill out the registration form.

Submit the form. You are now registered and USPS will send you an email with your User ID and Password.

STEP TWO:

After you receive your email with the User ID and Password, enter that information in the stores "Shipping Setup" Link under USPS.

To Complete your registration you will need to Call the USPS at 1-800 344-7779 Select the menu option for "Shipping API's" when a person answers you need to tell them that you are using a third party eStore that was the API's built into it and that you need to have your User name switched from their Test Server to their production Server. They will ask you for your User Name that they assigned you above. And they should switch you over to the production server.

Your registration in complete.

The Internet Customer Care Center (ICCC) is manned from 7:00AM to 11:00PM Eastern Time.

E-mail: icustomercare@usps.com

Telephone: 1-800-344-7779 (7:00AM to 11:00PM ET)

[sudsnwicks]

What in your opinions do you think is the best way to handle the shipping? Flat rate, or let the website thingy calculate it lol? I dont know, I dont want to overcharge or undercharge too much.

I don't think there is a best way, which is why you see so many shipping rate structures - based on dollar amount of purchase, based on weight, flat fee, etc. The only way to get it to come out exactly right is to pack the box, weigh it, then get back to the customer on how much his/her grand total is.

Perhaps the best way to decide is, how do you as a consumer want to have your shipping fees handled when you make an online purchase? What seems fair to you, and how much are you willing to pay if you were to buy from someone else's candle store?

No matter how you end up doing it, do keep track of how much you have actually paid in postage for each package sent out. After a while, a pattern should emerge, and you can use this data to re-consider your shipping calcualtion method at that time.

[joyofsoycandle]

thanks everyone. yes i did complete the registration for usps. I will just try a couple things and see how it works. Thanks for all your help.

[MommaD]

The USPS stuff and UPS always worked pretty well for me.

[eugenia]

thanks everyone. yes i did complete the registration for usps. I will just try a couple things and see how it works. Thanks for all your help.

Laura, if you set it up correctly your cart is calculating directly from the USPS site so the value will be exactly the same, by weight and zip, as USPS. PM me if you need more help.

e

[joyofsoycandle]

Can you all look at my website.......the problem I am having with the shipping also is that on the tarts and votives....I want to sell them in either a 2 pack or a 6-pk. It lets me add on a 6pack as an option and just tells them how much extra $$ it is to add the 6pack. But the weight for that product, wouldnt it still be the weight for the 2 pack, and not a weight of the 6pack? Someone who uses the wahmshoppes.com estore would probably understand this a little more. I dont know if I have to add a duplicate product or the tarts or votives in order to sell them as a 6 pack so that they have there own weight entered? I hope you guys understand what i mean. Please let me know if you dont know what im talking about lol. Thanks in advance for your help. www.scentedsoydelights.com

[eugenia]

Laura, I'dd add the 6 pack as a new item rather than an option so it calculates correctly (2 tarts, 6 tarts, 12 tarts, etc) with 12 being the best buy otherwise, no incentive to buy in quantity.

e