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Problem getting quotes for small weights in the shipping quote system.

Submitted by k5nwa on Mon, 05/26/2008 - 12:55
k5nwa

Posts: 23
 Joined: 05/25/2008

I'm a rank beginner with Ubercart so please be patient.

I'm trying to build a store and one of the features of the store will be charging close to the actual postage cost. I will be mostly shipping via the USPS system since the packages will be very light. The biggest package so far is 7 oz.

The problem I have are several and hopefully they are due to a misunderstanding on how to make the software work the right way but they are as follows;

1. I can not enter weights on products that are fractional in nature, ie; anything less than 1 is rounded to 0. The problem is that most of my items are way less than one gram, but many may be ordered so it could add to several ounces. ie; some parts are .02 oz or less in weight. Right now I do it all manually and use a spreadsheet and it calculates the postage very accurately but I'm increasing the number of items and that will not work too well.

2. My most common way of shipping is "First Class Parcel" which has two ranges of weights 1 through 13 ounces, and anything after 13 ounces which is calculated in pounds. The problem is that it doesn't seem to know about the 1 to 13 oz class and calculates all postage at a 1 lb rate which is way too much postage.

3. There is a method of entering a base price + additional amount per ounce and that would work but there is only one set of entries and I would need at least two one for national shipping and another for international shipping.

4. The customer pays the PayPal Fees, I have not seen a mechanism to do that, although that might be a minor programming tweak.

The first problem to be addresses is item #1 if the system can not have the correct weights to begin with there is no way to properly calculate the postage, the second big issue is that even if the correct weight is available the USPS quote system is not taking low weights into consideration. Multiple tables would be a round about solution if they could be used according to weight categories.

As first step in this project I loaded a sub-domain with Joomla and VirtueMart and after a couple of minor tweaks it's figuring out the postage and PayPal fees correctly so that program will work well, my only problem is with Joomla, it's nowhere as friendly to setup and expand as Drupal is so I was hoping for a Drupal solution and that is why I'm here.
< http://parts.dspradio.org/ >

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks

Cecil
k5nwa
Blessed are the cracked, since they shall let the light in.

--

Cecil
k5nwa
Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let the light in.
permalink #1 Tue, 05/27/2008 - 14:02
Lyle

Posts: 2243
 Joined: 08/07/2007
AdministratoreLiTe!

I don't think I've ever seen a problem with less-than-unit weights on products. Can you determine where exactly the rounding happens? I know that USPS allows for fractional ounces, but packages have to be at least 6 ounces to be machinable. I don't remember reading anything about First Class parcels having a separate pricing structure, but I assumed the webservice would give the correct rate.

For problem 3, you can add more than one "Flat rate" shipping method. You can use Workflow-ng to differentiate between the two, similar to the way the domestic and international USPS methods are set up.

It's possible to write a custom module to add a surcharge for orders paid with PayPal, but there isn't anything written that will do something like that automatically.

permalink #2 Tue, 05/27/2008 - 16:35
Alaska
Posts: 364
 Joined: 10/16/2007

Keep in mind the following statement from PayPal regarding a surcharge.....

"No Surcharges. Under Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express regulations and the laws of several states, including California, merchants may not charge a fee to the buyer for accepting credit card payments (often called a "surcharge"). You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as payment. This restriction does not prevent you from imposing a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services, as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge (in other words, the handling fee for transactions paid through PayPal may not be higher than the handling fee for transactions paid through other payment methods). Nor does this restriction apply to Pound-denominated transactions by sellers residing in the United Kingdom listing items for sale on a UK-based website."

http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/terms-outside

permalink #3 Tue, 05/27/2008 - 23:29
k5nwa

Posts: 23
 Joined: 05/25/2008

I went ahead and setup different flat rates for 1 through 8 ounces, I then setup Workflow-ng and it worked well with several test orders so that part will work. With the same orders the USPS module complained that there was no weight to the order, but the flat order module calculated correctly based on the weight of the items in ounces.

As far as fractional rounding of the parts weight, when I enter a part, and save it, when afterwards I look at it, the code already rounded the values entered to an integer so I'm assuming the rounding problem is occurring in the routines that are use to enter products.

Under "Store Settings" and the sub-heading "Weight Formats" there is the following;

ounce format string !value oz

Could that be part of the rounding problem? There are other entries for each of the four weight units. I have no clue what that produces, the help file at the web site does not explain what it means and what are the possible values.

Thanks

Cecil
k5nwa
Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let the light in.

--

Cecil
k5nwa
Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let the light in.

permalink #4 Tue, 05/27/2008 - 23:33
k5nwa

Posts: 23
 Joined: 05/25/2008

Alaska wrote:
Keep in mind the following statement from PayPal regarding a surcharge.....

"No Surcharges. Under Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express regulations and the laws of several states, including California, merchants may not charge a fee to the buyer for accepting credit card payments (often called a "surcharge"). You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as payment. This restriction does not prevent you from imposing a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services, as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge (in other words, the handling fee for transactions paid through PayPal may not be higher than the handling fee for transactions paid through other payment methods). Nor does this restriction apply to Pound-denominated transactions by sellers residing in the United Kingdom listing items for sale on a UK-based website."

http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/terms-outside

That stinks, I will have to look at it, I bet that was put in there and also made into law at the request of the credit card companies, they could care less if I have to sell the product at a higher price to make up for their fees, as long as they don't look bad to the consumer.

Cecil
k5nwa
Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let the light in.

--

Cecil
k5nwa
Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let the light in.

permalink #5 Wed, 05/28/2008 - 03:51
Alaska
Posts: 364
 Joined: 10/16/2007

Guess that if there is a need to use PayPal, then one must play by their rules or go elsewhere. The good part is that PayPal expenses can be used as tax deductions on your schedule C tax form.

Looks like the bottom line is to just charge more overall to cover the expenses. Keeping the price the same no matter what form of payment is used. One negative part of PayPay is that if someone notices and reports you, PayPal can remove your account.

permalink #6 Wed, 05/28/2008 - 09:37
Lyle

Posts: 2243
 Joined: 08/07/2007
AdministratoreLiTe!

I'm not sure what the problem is. I was able to put a weight of 0.02 ounces on a product just fine. Just how small are you talking about? I would expect PHP's and SQL's float values to handle microscopic quantities.

The Weight formats are just there to give you options on how to style the units. !value is whatever the value is, and anything else is just displayed along with it.

permalink #7 Wed, 05/28/2008 - 10:46
k5nwa

Posts: 23
 Joined: 05/25/2008

.02 oz is what the test part weighs, I enter it, click on save, lookup the part and for a weight it has 0 oz as it's weight.

I just tried an experiment and entered a weight of 1.234 grams, after saving the product and then looking at it, the weight was 1 gram so it's rounding to an integer somewhere, is there a setting somewhere to turn rounding on? I have looked for it but I have not found it.

Tonight I will enter another product and see if it has the same problem.

I have on the sub-domain the following;
PHP 5.2.x
MySQL 5.0.24a-standard-log

Thanks

Cecil
k5nwa
Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let the light in.

--

Cecil
k5nwa
Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let the light in.

permalink #8 Wed, 05/28/2008 - 12:00
k5nwa

Posts: 23
 Joined: 05/25/2008

I created a second part, and the problem is not there, I could enter fractional weights and it kept them. I tried the original part and it has the problem. Later I will delete it and put it back in and see if works

--

Cecil
k5nwa
Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let the light in.

permalink #9 Fri, 10/03/2008 - 17:44
soapcrafters
Posts: 11
 Joined: 09/17/2008

Most people get around this by using 'cash discounts'. Basically give out discounts for paying the way you want them too. Have a 'mastercard' day. LOL