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johnroen
Starting Member

7 Posts

Posted - August 23 2007 :  03:09:17  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hi,

I want to calculate shipping after the checkout process and send an email to the customer with the total.

I read somewhere this can be done, but I have not been able to find out how to do it. (been searching for hours)

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

thanks

Steve2507
VP-CART Expert

590 Posts

Posted - August 23 2007 :  04:07:58  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hi,

I don't know how to do what you are asking, but my question is why are you calculating shipping after checkout?

Customers generally want to know a total cost before the hand over their credit card details.

Also depending where you are based you may be acting on the verge of the law. I am sure I read somewhere that in the UK you have to give a total cost including shipping before a customer confirms the order (i.e. checkouts). If you don't and the cost increases then the customer ca argue that the goods should be sent at the original cost agreed in the checkout.

My advice is to make sure you calculate shipping before the customer checkout. To be honest you will probably get more customers this way.



Steve
www.clixgalore.co.uk/AffSelectProgram.aspx?AdvProgID=7911
www.temptationsdirect.co.uk
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johnroen
Starting Member

7 Posts

Posted - August 23 2007 :  04:54:51  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Sorry, I didnt explain it very well.

What I mean is I would like a message to be displayed to the customer that informs them that they will be informed of shipping cost via email. They can then click a link in the email to be taken to the checkout process that has the shipping included.

In short, shipping will be calculated manually after the customer has clicked order, but before processing payment.

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Steve2507
VP-CART Expert

590 Posts

Posted - August 23 2007 :  05:30:13  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hi,

Sorry I didn't mean to cause offence. I just mean that for your benefit and your customers benefit you would be better off calculating the shipping as part of the basket in the way most other websites do.

My reasons for this are twofold.

1 - I have not come across any websites that calculate shipping prices after the customer checks out. I order most of my things online including food (I have an allergy to gluten and so most of my food is brought online). Customers expect this and so if your website does not offer this will they stay with you. Customers now expect all the information in front of them and so the end price they see is the price they expect to pay. This then ensures your customers are happy with the order they have placed.

2 - Do you really want the hastle of contacting your customers again after they have placed the order. Doing this will mean you spend more time chasing customers (who don't always anser the phone or respond to emails) when you should be packing their order to get it shipped to them. You may find you get customers cancelling orders when they find out that the figure they have been given does not include postage. You say they will be shown a message telling them that they will be informed of postage but the majority of your customers will probably not read the message.

In my opinion you are going to be creating a problem for yourself in the long term by going down the route you are planning. Stick with the method of calculating shipping prices before the customer gices you their card details. It may mean more work now but the benefits will be worth it in the future.

What do others on the forum think?

If you can tell us what you are selling we may be able to help more and/or give you other ideas.



Steve
www.clixgalore.co.uk/AffSelectProgram.aspx?AdvProgID=7911
www.temptationsdirect.co.uk

Edited by - Steve2507 on August 23 2007 05:33:00
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devshb
Senior Member

United Kingdom
1904 Posts

Posted - August 23 2007 :  05:41:56  Show Profile  Visit devshb's Homepage  Reply with Quote
yep; depends on what you're selling; for some items/addresses there might be no option but to quote separately/afterwards. best to avoid that situation if possible, but in some instances it might need to be done, and then if the customer ends up saying that the shipping is too much then you'd just refund their purchase and cancel the order. obviously you'd need to have quite tight terms/conditions explained on the site about it, and a note on the order about that aspect, but I can see how it'd be needed in some instances.

another way of doing it would be to put the prices/products into the customer's wishlist and then send them a link to purchase it once you've flagged how much the shipping would be.

whichever way you do it I'm fairly sure it'd need customisation to get it all working properly across the board though, but it depends on how much you'd want to automate the process.

Simon Barnaby
Developer
[email protected]
www.BigYellowZone.com
Web Design, Online Marketing and VPASP addons

Edited by - devshb on August 23 2007 05:43:46
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johnroen
Starting Member

7 Posts

Posted - August 23 2007 :  06:16:47  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Thanks Guys,

You have given me some things to think about.

The reason I was considering this option is I am developing a shop for a client who acts as an intermediate between customers and suppliers/producers (commision based).

Suppliers/Producers will be able to add theyre own products to the shop, and sorting out the shipping for my client will be a pain.

I take on board that you would not want to make the customer have to wait for an email to complete the purchase when they are ready to buy now.

thanks for your thoughts
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Steve2507
VP-CART Expert

590 Posts

Posted - August 23 2007 :  06:34:14  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hi,

Is your client a dropshipper then?

Yours


Steve
www.clixgalore.co.uk/AffSelectProgram.aspx?AdvProgID=7911
www.temptationsdirect.co.uk
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johnroen
Starting Member

7 Posts

Posted - August 23 2007 :  07:02:11  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Dropshipper - I had to look it up to find out what it means.

I believe that would work for my client.

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Steve2507
VP-CART Expert

590 Posts

Posted - August 23 2007 :  07:12:23  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hi,

In my industry there are loads of dropshippers so I can give you some more help.

What I have seen (only seen as we hold stock and so don't actually use a dropshipper) normally happens is one of two options:

1 - the supplier charges the wholesale value of the goods plus a flat rate percentage on top to account for shipping and handling etc. So if the cost of the item is £20 the supplier may charge £20 plus postage (lets say £5 for this example) for customers who buy the stock themselves to send on, or £20 plus 10% (£22 total) for dropshipping. So if you ordered 10 of the above items to keep in stock it would cost you £20 x 10 plus £5 shipping = £205. But if you had to dropship 10 of them it would cost 10 x £22 = £220.

2 - the supplier charges the wholesale value of the goods plus a fixed monetary amount on top for each single item, to account for shipping and handling etc.

Hope this helps.




Steve
www.clixgalore.co.uk/AffSelectProgram.aspx?AdvProgID=7911
www.temptationsdirect.co.uk
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johnroen
Starting Member

7 Posts

Posted - August 23 2007 :  08:19:26  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
With your help I worked it out.

I will turn shipping off and use "Product Features" to handle shipping. (Will give instruction sheet to suppliers on how to do it.)

Thanks heaps for the help. It had me stumped for a while.
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