[PS_1OA]

Hi,

I have the newest version that includes the shipping wizard, but I am still confused about the best approach for what I'm trying to achieve and would appreciate some feedback:

My store is not online yet, so I'm checking it via Preview in Yola.

Quite simply, I want to assign a flat shipping rate per item.

I have designated "North America" and "The World".

Preliminarily, I've entered $5 for America and $10 for anywhere else in the world.

I have tried both "Fixed Rate" and "Global + Fixed Rate".

Should I just choose "Fixed Rate" only?

However, when I go to checkout, it does not show the shipping rate in the checkout box, but rather, it requires the purchaser to fill in their address.

Am I correct that the reason it does not show is because at that point, Ecwid has no way of knowing the location of the buyer?

If so, I totally understand that.

But when I add a weight to the item, it does show the shipping in the checkout box, but I guess, by default, it shows the lesser amount, which may not be accurate for a buyer outside North America.

Could you explain the purpose of doing that? By showing the lesser amount, I'm thinking that will be misleading to buyers who are not in that region, but are in a higher-rate region.

But even at that, I do not want to assign a weight to each item because (a) the weight has no bearing on the shipping and (b) once you assign a weight, that amount is displayed by the item that the purchaser sees and that could also be misleading because if an item only weighs a few small ounces, but it shows 1 pound, (which is the least it will allow you to enter), I would not want a buyer to think I was not being honest about the weight of the parcel.

So, if I understand all this correctly, it seems to me the only way a store owner can have an accurate shipping rate showing in the Checkout box, is to designate the same flat, fixed shipping rate to all items.

Is that right?

As I really cannot do that, I'm thinking perhaps a semi-solution for this would be to add the two different shipping rates into the written description of each and every item in the store. That way, when a potential buyer is reading the description, they will see clearly what the rates are, so they'll know before ever entering any information what shipping rates will be applied for their particular region.

I would appreciate your confirming if my interpretation about all this is correct and if it's not, please clarify for me.

Thanks!

[PS_1OA]

No one has yet replied, thought I'd add the following:

I worked more with the shipping wizard and have these comments:

I decided that I want to assign a shipping rate for each individual item, not just the same $5 or $10 rate as planned.

And the only way to do this is to enter a weight amount, and choose "Fixed Rate".

When you do that, the shipping amount displays at checkout. That way, a buyer knows exactly what they're being charged.

But that is a solution ONLY for sellers who want to assign a flat rate for shipping anywhere.

Doing that, you can set any shipping amount you choose for each and every item, which is good. But again, that's only for shipping anywhere.

But if you're trying to set one rate for America and another for everywhere else in the world, you must choose "Global + Fixed Rate", choose two amounts, and then when a customer hits the checkout button, it displays by default the lesser amount. Therefore, some customers will be given a higher total after they enter their shipping information.

I wonder if that will be frustrating for those customers because the amount will change. I believe most customers want to know the exact amount charged BEFORE they enter any shipping address and credit card information.

Also, as this method requires entering a weight, as I posted earlier, I think buyers might view that as misleading, because a parcel that may weigh only a few ounces would display a weight of "1 pound".

I hope someone with Ecwid will reply soon.

If my questions and comments are not detailed enough, please let me know and I'll try to provide whatever clarity is needed to resolve this issue.

Thanks!

[Makfruit]

Hi,

In Ecwid, shipping rates can be configured in many different ways. It allows to set simple rules to calculate order shipping cost basing on the customer's location, on the order weight, on the number of items and on the order total cost. Moreover, it is also possible to set an extra fixed shipping rate, which can either replace the global rates for the particular product or be added to them. If the cart contains products with different fixed rates, they all will be summed up and added to the resulting shipping cost. Such fixed rates can be set per product on the product management pages. More details about fixed shipping rates:
http://kb.ecwid.com/w/page/15853310/...

Please pay attention to the fact that if the 'Fixed' rate is set for some particular product, the shipping cost for that product won't depend on anything - it will be constant, that's why it is 'fixed'. In your case, since you're going to set the global shipping rates for the whole store, I'd recommend you to select the 'Use global settings' option for each product in your store so that the global shipping methods (the ones set on the 'Shipping' page in System settings) will apply to them. This way you won't need to set individual shipping rates for each product.

Speaking of weight, products without weight are considered virtual (downloadable) in Ecwid and do not require shipping. So you'll need to set weight for all products you want to be included in the shipping cost calculation (even if an order shipping cost isn't going to depend on weight). If weight of the most of your products is under 1 pound, you can use ounces as a weight unit. In order to set it this way, open the 'System settings → General → Formats and Units' section in your control panel and make necessary changes there. Also, of course you can set fractional values for weight, just use '.' in weight values, e.g. '0.05' or '1.2' .

By the way, if you do not want your customers to see the weight values, you can hide them as described in this article:
http://kb.ecwid.com/w/page/21500165/...

With regards to your setup, as far as I understand, you want to set flat rates for two destination zones: $5 for America and $10 for anywhere else in the world. If so, open the 'Shipping' page in your control panel (System settings → Shipping) and do the following:
1) Create a flat-rate shipping method, set the 'North America' as a destination zone and set $5 as amount
2) Create another flat-rate shipping method for the 'World' zone and set $10 as amount.
That's all. NOTE: the 'Use global settings' option should be selected for each product in your store.

Also, you can consider using carrier-calculated shipping methods for providing your customer with automatically calculated real-time rates from online shipping carriers such as USPS, UPS, Fedex and other. This way, you will only need to properly set product weights - shipping cost will be calculated for particular customer locations automatically. If you have any question, please feel free to ask.

[PS_1OA]

Hi,

First of all, thanks for replying!

Ok, I changed the weight setting to ounces from pounds - I didn't realize that option was there, so thanks! for directing me to that. That definitely helps and I wouldn't mind the weight displaying if it's more accurate. However, I did click the link you provided for the custom CSS code to hide the weight display. I may go ahead and do that, but I don't know where to add that code. I went to System Settings and Design, but it shows that the theme is not editable.

Would appreciate your telling me how and where to add that CSS code.

As for the shipping, yes, I do understand that when you choose "Fixed", that rate is constant.

And you are correct in that if I just wanted to set $5 for America and $10 for everywhere else, those are the settings I would use. In fact, that's what I choose initially and it worked ok. (Although please note, as I said, the lesser amount is displayed by default, so buyers outside America will not know their actually shipping rate until after they enter their address and payment information - and I wonder if that could be annoying to some buyers.) (?)

So yes, as far as setting a simple fixed, flat rate, that's easily accomplished.

But here's where it gets so confusing -

Previously I thought I would just set a fixed rate for "North America" and a fixed rate for "The World", but then I realized that would not be fair as some items will be shipped in various sizes of padded envelopes and others in boxes, so the shipping cost actually will vary from item to item.

I prefer to just set the rates myself per item, and if they are lower than the actual cost, that's ok, because I want to be fair and I don't want customers to think I'm trying to make a profit on shipping.

Here is a random example of what I want to do:

Store Item A -
Shipping for North America: $3
Shipping for The World: $5

Store Item B -
Shipping for North America: $7
Shipping for The World: $12

Store Item C -
Shipping for North America: $5
Shipping for The World: $10


Is there any way to accomplish that?

I do not want to use the carrier-calculated method because you have to have an account with the carrier and because various types of packaging will be used and I have no idea how the post office will figure those until the time of actual shipping. Plus, you still have to configure those settings for different regions of the world.

What I want to do is very simple:
Just apply two different rates to each item, and those rates will sometimes vary from item to item.

But based on my experimenting with the settings, it appears there's just no way to do that.

Is there something I'm not understanding about this or am I correct that it cannot be done that way?

If I'm correct, can you guys consider implementing a streamlined feature that allows every user to simply set their own shipping rates for each listed item, without having to configure any carrier-calculations, etc.?

Thanks! and please advise.

[Makfruit]

Hi,

Ok, I changed the weight setting to ounces from pounds - I didn't realize that option was there, so thanks! for directing me to that. That definitely helps and I wouldn't mind the weight displaying if it's more accurate. However, I did click the link you provided for the custom CSS code to hide the weight display. I may go ahead and do that, but I don't know where to add that code. I went to System Settings and Design, but it shows that the theme is not editable.
Would appreciate your telling me how and where to add that CSS code.

Please refer to this article for the instructions:
http://kb.ecwid.com/w/page/15853257/...

As for the shipping, yes, I do understand that when you choose "Fixed", that rate is constant.

And you are correct in that if I just wanted to set $5 for America and $10 for everywhere else, those are the settings I would use. In fact, that's what I choose initially and it worked ok. (Although please note, as I said, the lesser amount is displayed by default, so buyers outside America will not know their actually shipping rate until after they enter their address and payment information - and I wonder if that could be annoying to some buyers.) (?)

Sorry, I forgot to reply to this in my previous message. Actually, it works this way:
- if a customer is from North America, they will see the shipping methods/rates available for the World and for North America
- if a customer is outside America, they won't see the rates for America - only the ones for the World zone will be offered. So they won't be confused by small rates.

By the way, the customer's destination zone is determined before they log in or enter their address - Ecwid do it based on the customer's IP address. Please refer to this article for the details:
http://kb.ecwid.com/w/page/15853256/...

So yes, as far as setting a simple fixed, flat rate, that's easily accomplished.

But here's where it gets so confusing -

Previously I thought I would just set a fixed rate for "North America" and a fixed rate for "The World", but then I realized that would not be fair as some items will be shipped in various sizes of padded envelopes and others in boxes, so the shipping cost actually will vary from item to item.

I prefer to just set the rates myself per item, and if they are lower than the actual cost, that's ok, because I want to be fair and I don't want customers to think I'm trying to make a profit on shipping.

Here is a random example of what I want to do:

Store Item A -
Shipping for North America: $3
Shipping for The World: $5

Store Item B -
Shipping for North America: $7
Shipping for The World: $12

Store Item C -
Shipping for North America: $5
Shipping for The World: $10


Is there any way to accomplish that?

I do not want to use the carrier-calculated method because you have to have an account with the carrier and because various types of packaging will be used and I have no idea how the post office will figure those until the time of actual shipping. Plus, you still have to configure those settings for different regions of the world.

What I want to do is very simple:
Just apply two different rates to each item, and those rates will sometimes vary from item to item.

But based on my experimenting with the settings, it appears there's just no way to do that.

Is there something I'm not understanding about this or am I correct that it cannot be done that way?

If I'm correct, can you guys consider implementing a streamlined feature that allows every user to simply set their own shipping rates for each listed item, without having to configure any carrier-calculations, etc.?

Thanks! and please advise.

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I see what you mean.

In Ecwid, selected shipping method at checkout is applied to the whole order, it is currently not possible to set different destination-based shipping rates per product. However, as you mentioned, additoinal charges may be required for some items in the cart, for example, if the shipping cost should include a packing price for one of the items. In such cases, you can consider using one of the following approaches:
1. Create shipping rates based on the order weight and set bigger weight for the products that need an extra charge.
If the rates you've set for a shipping method depend on an order weight, it is possible to increase weight of particular products in order to make shipping cost bigger when such products are purchased.

2. Use an additional fixed rate for some products.
As mentioned above in this thread, in addition to carrier-calculated and user-defined shipping methods in Ecwid, it is also possible to set an extra fixed shipping rate, which can either replace the global rates for the particular product or be added to them. Thus, in your case, you can define such a special rate with the option 'Global + Fixed' for particular products and an extra fixed rate will be added to an order total when such a product is purchased. If the cart contains products with different fixed rates, they all will be summed up and added to the resulting shipping cost. In order to set it up in this way please do the following:
- open the 'Tax and Shipping' tab on the product management page in your control panel,
- select 'Global+Fixed rate' option in the Shipping freight selector,
- set fixed rate that should be added to the shipping cost for that product.

This way a customer destination will be taken in account during the shipping calculation (as usually), an extra rate will just add a specified amount to the shipping cost. On the other hand, the fixed rate itself won't depend on zones/weights - it will always remain the same.

Doest it meet your requirements?

[PS_1OA]

Originally Posted by Makfruit

Please refer to this article for the instructions:
http://kb.ecwid.com/w/page/15853257/...

Thank you for that link.

Originally Posted by Makfruit

Sorry, I forgot to reply to this in my previous message. Actually, it works this way:
- if a customer is from North America, they will see the shipping methods/rates available for the World and for North America
- if a customer is outside America, they won't see the rates for America - only the ones for the World zone will be offered. So they won't be confused by small rates.

By the way, the customer's destination zone is determined before they log in or enter their address - Ecwid do it based on the customer's IP address. Please refer to this article for the details:
http://kb.ecwid.com/w/page/15853256/...

Thanks for that, too - I thought it, by default, would just show the lesser amount and that buyers had to enter all their information first.

I was not aware that a buyer's location is automatically determined @ checkout by ISP, although when I did a preliminary test on the checkout process, I noticed it showed my general location underneath the checkout box, showing that tax is estimated for that area, and it does show the shipping method.

So I'm glad to know that international buyers will see their shipping rates before having to enter further information.

But please note, I did not see the shipping rate/method for both America and The World when I clicked "Checkout" and got the total price - you say here that American buyers will see both rates.

Originally Posted by Makfruit

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I see what you mean.

In Ecwid, selected shipping method at checkout is applied to the whole order, it is currently not possible to set different destination-based shipping rates per product. However, as you mentioned, additoinal charges may be required for some items in the cart, for example, if the shipping cost should include a packing price for one of the items. In such cases, you can consider using one of the following approaches:
1. Create shipping rates based on the order weight and set bigger weight for the products that need an extra charge.
If the rates you've set for a shipping method depend on an order weight, it is possible to increase weight of particular products in order to make shipping cost bigger when such products are purchased.

2. Use an additional fixed rate for some products.
As mentioned above in this thread, in addition to carrier-calculated and user-defined shipping methods in Ecwid, it is also possible to set an extra fixed shipping rate, which can either replace the global rates for the particular product or be added to them. Thus, in your case, you can define such a special rate with the option 'Global + Fixed' for particular products and an extra fixed rate will be added to an order total when such a product is purchased. If the cart contains products with different fixed rates, they all will be summed up and added to the resulting shipping cost. In order to set it up in this way please do the following:
- open the 'Tax and Shipping' tab on the product management page in your control panel,
- select 'Global+Fixed rate' option in the Shipping freight selector,
- set fixed rate that should be added to the shipping cost for that product.

This way a customer destination will be taken in account during the shipping calculation (as usually), an extra rate will just add a specified amount to the shipping cost. On the other hand, the fixed rate itself won't depend on zones/weights - it will always remain the same.

Doest it meet your requirements?

I don't know why, but I just wasn't understanding the "Global + Fixed Rate" option - now I do! HOORAY!

I think it takes most new users some time to fully understand how all the features work.

Ok, so essentially, you cannot just directly set separate rates for each item, but you can alter the rates based on the Global settings.

In the Shipping Methods section, I set the rates for North America and The World at whatever base rate, and then, when I list each individual item, I choose the Global + Fixed Rate and put in whatever fixed amount I want added to those base rates.

I ran through a few listings, making those changes, and I think that will work! I'll just have to be sure that I set the base rates correctly so that the added fixed rate will apply fairly to both regions.

So, with that, may I offer a suggestion?

The Ecwid team might consider implementing a feature that would allow a separate fixed rate per region.

Example:
In your shipping methods, you've set the Global rate for America @ $3.00 and for the World @ $10.00

One item costs $5 to ship domestic and $15 to ship internationally.

If you add a $2 fixed rate in that listing, it brings the rate to $5 for America, but would increase the international rate to only $12.

As it is right now, the feature does allow a user to more separately define shipping rates per item, but having the option to add two different fixed rates in each listing would be helpful and even more specific.

Does that make sense?

Thanks much for your feedback!

[Makfruit]

But please note, I did not see the shipping rate/method for both America and The World when I clicked "Checkout" and got the total price - you say here that American buyers will see both rates.

Hmm, that's strange. Could you possibly provide a screenshot? Here is what I get:
http://d.pr/i/k3jY

I don't know why, but I just wasn't understanding the "Global + Fixed Rate" option - now I do! HOORAY!

I think it takes most new users some time to fully understand how all the features work.

Ok, so essentially, you cannot just directly set separate rates for each item, but you can alter the rates based on the Global settings.

In the Shipping Methods section, I set the rates for North America and The World at whatever base rate, and then, when I list each individual item, I choose the Global + Fixed Rate and put in whatever fixed amount I want added to those base rates.

I ran through a few listings, making those changes, and I think that will work! I'll just have to be sure that I set the base rates correctly so that the added fixed rate will apply fairly to both regions.

Glad to hear it helps you!

So, with that, may I offer a suggestion?

The Ecwid team might consider implementing a feature that would allow a separate fixed rate per region.

Example:
In your shipping methods, you've set the Global rate for America @ $3.00 and for the World @ $10.00

One item costs $5 to ship domestic and $15 to ship internationally.

If you add a $2 fixed rate in that listing, it brings the rate to $5 for America, but would increase the international rate to only $12.

As it is right now, the feature does allow a user to more separately define shipping rates per item, but having the option to add two different fixed rates in each listing would be helpful and even more specific.

Does that make sense?

Thanks much for your feedback!

Of course, your suggestions are always welcome. Actually, Ecwid is built based on users' suggestions, we basically do what our customers say. The customer's ideas are implemented starting the most wanted, so we ask our users to vote on the ideas that represent their requests. With regards to per-item destination-based shipping rates, there are several existing suggestions in our ideas base:
http://ideas.ecwid.com/forums/22031-...
http://ideas.ecwid.com/forums/22031-...

Please vote for them if you find them useful or add your own idea.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

[PS_1OA]

Originally Posted by Makfruit

Hmm, that's strange. Could you possibly provide a screenshot? Here is what I get:
http://d.pr/i/k3jY

Oh ok, I thought you meant it would display underneath the box that shows the total and has the "Checkout" button.

But I clicked Checkout and see that it does show by the form where the buyer enters their information. Guess I didn't notice that before.

Do you see in your screenshot here that both methods appear the same, only with different rates/delivery?

One is for America and the other is for the World, so the second option would not apply to American buyers. I think American buyers might look at that and wonder why the second option is there and why someone would pay a higher price for longer delivery time. In other words, there's nothing in those options that differentiates between America and the World.

So to solve that . . . I went back to Shipping Methods and configured the settings to read:

"Domestic - USPS First Class w/Delivery Confirmation"

"(International buyers only) - USPS First Class w/Delivery Confirmation"

That way, American buyers won't be confused.

(See, I hadn't thought about it, but realized that some sellers may offer 2 or 3 different shipping options for buyers to choose from, based on speed of delivery and cost. So that would be the reason to display more options.)


So, would you kindly take another look at how the options are now displayed and tell me if you think that's ok and will be clear to American buyers?

And also, it is for sure that International buyers will see ONLY the International shipping option?


Please let me know as soon as possible.
THANKS!

[Makfruit]

I think American buyers might look at that and wonder why the second option is there and why someone would pay a higher price for longer delivery time. In other words, there's nothing in those options that differentiates between America and the World.

If you think your American customers would be confused by the international shipping rates, you can change the destination zone for your international shipping method so that the buyers from America won't see it at all. In order to do it, you will need to follow these steps:
1) Create a new destination zone that will include all countries outside North America:
- open Control panel → System settings → Zones
- click the 'New zone' button
- enter zone name (e.g. "Outside North America" )
- click the 'Add country' button and select all countries except the ones that are listed under your 'North America' zone
- save changes
2) Select the new created zone as a region for your international shipping method:
- open Control panel → System settings → Shipping
- click the edit icon next to the shipping method details in the methods list
- go to the first page of wizard (Select region & how to calculate) and set the new created zone in the 'Select shipping region' dropdown
- save changes.

This way, Amercian buyers will see only the shipping method for North America and international customers will see only the international method.

[PS_1OA]

Originally Posted by Makfruit

This way, Amercian buyers will see only the shipping method for North America and international customers will see only the international method.

Hello,

Apologize for not getting back with you before now - to let you know, I adjusted those settings and it appears to work, at least from the American buyer side. When I tested it, only the American buyer shipping fees are displayed, so I assume that as you say, the same will apply for International buyers.

I think it would have been ok for both fees to show, as long as the store owner makes sure they denote which fee is for what region, but applying these settings makes it more streamlined and less likely to confuse buyers during the checkout process.

I believe this has solved the questions I had regarding shipping, and I do appreciate your assistance on this thread!

Thanks!