Australian cart using auspost - Any success?

Posts: 53
Joined: 10/07/2007

I know there are a few people on this site who have successfully implemented Ubercart for Australian websites.

I am really trying to get multiple locations (United Kingdom, Australia, and soon Japan), but for now am considering just to go with Australia.

The problem is shipping/postage. One of the guys here has almost finished the Auspost module (brilliant work), so i am keen to see who has actually made this happen successfully, to give me inspiration so that we can finally launch our site soon too.

Now, if there is anyone reading this who is happy to share some knowledge, brilliant, or, if you want something in return, I am a web designer, and my wifey is a print designer, so i can trade, or, perhaps this may become a monetary thing.

Anyhow, I believe (apart from multiple country/location stores, that there are MANY aussies out there who could use this.

Any thoughts, cosniderations or comments are appreciated on this one...

Cheers =)

Posts: 59
Joined: 08/08/2007
Early adopter... addicted to alphas.Getting busy with the Ubercode.

I've taken that Australia Post module that was created and made the updates suggested and it seems to be working. What I'm not happy with at the moment is the whole tax situation. Because Ubercart doesn't really work well with GST, I might add in another calculation that removes GST from the shipping. I'm almost 100% that Australia Post would return back a shipping cost including GST. I'm first trying to decide how to handle GST, so I can make a decision on what to do with GST in the Australia Post module. Anyway, when I get home, I will post it here so you can at least start having a look at it. I will make any updates you find, though I won't take credit for any of the code because it was all done by someone else. Though, as you said above, that person seems to have disappeared for awhile, and I need the module, so I'm willing to fix any bugs that come up.

Cheers,
Steph

Posts: 53
Joined: 10/07/2007

Thanks for the reply Steph,
I will ask my mate to have a look also if needed. GST is definitely a hard one, glad you are really considering it.

ZGood luck, let's keep this thread alive, please let me know if I can contribute in any way.....

Cheers!

www.archetoy.com

Posts: 40
Joined: 10/10/2007

ssherriff wrote:
Though, as you said above, that person seems to have disappeared for awhile, and I need the module, so I'm willing to fix any bugs that come up.

Cheers,
Steph

Sorry guys. I was on holidays in Norway.

I've posted an update in the other thread: http://www.ubercart.org/comment/10071/Re-Awesome-work-Daniel

I'd appreciate any suggestions and improvements. Feel free to improve the code yourselves. I'm not a programmer by trade.

Maybe once a few people have tested it we can put it in the contributions area.

Posts: 11
Joined: 11/27/2007

Hi, 300dpi.

That is true that many aussies need this. You have mentioned about some module - I could't find any signs of it. Could you be more specific about the module? Any URL how to get to the module? As if there's some job already done - together we can make it working.

BTW, you could easy use weight quotes to match close enough for Auspost shipping costs. Auspost needs to know item dimention, weight, number of packages and shipping method. Weight quotes could be easily setup to match those parameters

Posts: 53
Joined: 10/07/2007

LOL @ Daniel, mate, you have nothing to say sorry for...
I am really impressed with your work mate, thanks so much for sharing....

Ivan, just follow the post Daniel sent...

Will download & test it. We used Virtuemart for another job, and had some custom work done on that, so will see if it needs to be adapted for this.

Let's keep this discussion going, great work all....!

www.archetoy.com

Posts: 40
Joined: 10/10/2007

ivan.g wrote:
Auspost needs to know item dimention, weight, number of packages and shipping method.

AusPost doesn't do anything with the dimensions. I've tested it. The VirtueMart module does the same as this.

AusPost only uses the dimensions to validate the fact that the package is in fact shippable. The dimensions have no bearing on the cost. When 'don't send dimensions' is selected, I actually send dimensions of 250x250x250, just to retrieve the quote.

Posts: 53
Joined: 10/07/2007

Good point Daniel, yup, VM uses:

Quote:

//The length of the item or parcel in millimetres (mm)
//Auspost returns same value so long as this is valid ie between 100 and 500, so we use a fixed 250 as a placeholder
$Order_Length = '250';

Is there any point of having a minimum weight threshold, rather than just defining 50grams?. I don't know how Ubercart handles things like "subscription" type downloads, and I guess, since we are all keen to sell physical products, that's not really a concern.

Will setup and play when I get home...

Hope your holiday was good Daniel!

Posts: 40
Joined: 10/10/2007

72dpi wrote:

Is there any point of having a minimum weight threshold, rather than just defining 50grams?.

Sorry, my brain must not be working as I don't follow you.

72dpi wrote:
Hope your holiday was good Daniel!

It was. Made it hard to come back to work last week.

Posts: 53
Joined: 10/07/2007

Have been playing with your Auspost module Daniel, it seems to work REALLY well, great work.

Am trying to fix a few more bugs (the Singapore & New Zealand select zone bug, and Australia only GST), and a few more things, but so far, looking good.

Thanks again mate, will keep playing =)

Posts: 40
Joined: 10/10/2007

72dpi wrote:
Have been playing with your Auspost module Daniel, it seems to work REALLY well, great work.

That's good to hear.

I've still got 3 main additions that I want to make to it:
1. Disclaimer pane, to hold disclaimer as required by Australia Post
2. Option to remove GST from the quote received from the eDRC. That's assuming that they are including GST. That way GST won't be added to the shipping portion of the sale twice.
3. Add in a check to determine if the product is shippable or not.

Posts: 53
Joined: 10/07/2007

Aaah, brilliant Daniel...

The GST bit is annoying me a bit (IE, don't add GST to the total if the user is from another country), but this is another matter....

BTW, I really like your error checking. i tried to break/fool it, ie by getting price reference for a local delivery, then modifying my location to the UK & reviewing my order (glad to see this works sweet =)

Daniel, if I can offer you any design, in any way, please let me know, to say thanks for this. I am also going to Japan for a well earnt break in two weeks time (time to also meet some toy company reps =), so, when I get back, I'll PM u for your address, so I can send a little thank you as well =)

All the best mate!

Posts: 40
Joined: 10/10/2007

72dpi wrote:
BTW, I really like your error checking. i tried to break/fool it, ie by getting price reference for a local delivery, then modifying my location to the UK & reviewing my order (glad to see this works sweet =)

I'd say the credit for that goes to the good guys who developed Ubercart. They've written it very thoroughly.

Have a good trip.

Posts: 59
Joined: 08/08/2007
Early adopter... addicted to alphas.Getting busy with the Ubercode.

I haven't played too much with the module, but I haven't had any issues so far. I originally started using your other module and made a couple updates myself, but have now gone back to the one you did because you had all the updates I put in.

GST has really been a sticking point for me for all my Australian projects. I think there does have to be an option to remove the GST from the shipping. I believe that AusPost does return the entire amount including GST. Luckily for the current project I'm working on, they don't want GST included in the price, so the tax system of Ubercart works fine, but for another project, I really have to figure out a good way of dealing with GST. How are you guys dealing with it? I am trying to come up with a module that allows the price in the database to be without tax so that it will work with any discount modules, etc. But, everywhere else the tax should show in the price, and then in the checkout, as a line item, it should just show the GST already included in the price. I keep getting stuck no matter what direction I look to get it to work. I am reaching a point where it looks like I'll have to go and almost completely copy parts of the current tax module into a new module to allow the tax to be calculated, but not actually added (again) to the price, but also be able to set using workflow ng when the tax should be shown or subtracted from the amount.

Anyway, any ideas, suggestions, etc?

Cheers,
Steph

Posts: 40
Joined: 10/10/2007

I haven't started looking at all the tax stuff yet, but i'm not looking forward to it. Those VAT and related modules are no good to use as a base?

Once i've made some changes to the current state of the AusPost module (including the "remove GST" option), i'll post it up as a proper contribution and let you guys know.

Posts: 53
Joined: 10/07/2007

Looking forward to it Daniel. it certainly is a hurdle...

Posts: 53
Joined: 10/07/2007

Just wondering if anyone had made any progress with this?

really keen to see if the Auspost is finished, and Tax only for Australians has been addressed.

Hope to hear.....

<-- dit..

Actuall, i just played with workflow_ng,
anmd added the rule of applying the GST if the user is from Australia, andn that seemed to work..
Sweet =)

Would love to hear if Auspost module is working yet.....
I would be happy to help in any way...

Posts: 59
Joined: 08/08/2007
Early adopter... addicted to alphas.Getting busy with the Ubercode.

I'm using the last posted AusPost module and it seems to be working ok, though the store hasn't gone live yet, so it hasn't been tested to heavily.

GST is still a sticking point for me. In reading other posts it seems like the only way to make it work 100% how it should be, core has to be modified and I'm not sure that's something the Ubercart team wants to do. The system just isn't built so that prices can be shown including tax and that the tax just shows as a value showing the tax included. I think there are a couple people who have looked at this and have modified core to be able to do it. Luckily with the store I'm using, they want to calculate the tax as it is done in the US, with the prices being without tax, and the tax being included in the end. That makes it easy for the tax to only be included if the person is in Australia, but if someone comes to me and wants the GST to show as included in the price, I'm going to be in trouble, haha.

Cheers,
Steph

Posts: 53
Joined: 10/07/2007

Thanks for the Feedback Steph.

Well, this shop is just for me, so I don't really have an issue adding GST at the end.
Really love the way it updates too, when you change your county location, same as the Auspost module (big thanks to Daniel for that one, Big shame he no longer is interested in it...). I don't honestly understand the difference between adding GST to single, or @ the end, so I guess my ignorance will come in handy =)

I did have some issues with the Stock control bit, but it all (Fingers crossed) seems to be playing nicely now.

I am filling in the Wholesaler account requests now, and hope to be stocked within 4 weeks, so, fingers crossed =)

best wishes with your site mate, hope it goes well!