Shipping Problem

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   So we have 1 shop that we use PC and we offer Ground Free Shipping on all orders over $99.  We are launching a 2nd site in a category where we can't offer Free Freight and be at the lowest advertised price.  Therefore we need to have PC calculate shipping.  Here is where the problem is.  We ship product from multiple warehouses.  Does anyone else do this and if so, how are you calculating freight?

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BHN Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 20-October-2008 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote BHN Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Shipping Problem Posted: 20-October-2008 at 4:07pm
	So we have 1 shop that we use PC and we offer Ground Free Shipping on all orders over $99. We are launching a 2nd site in a category where we can't offer Free Freight and be at the lowest advertised price. Therefore we need to have PC calculate shipping. Here is where the problem is. We ship product from multiple warehouses. Does anyone else do this and if so, how are you calculating freight?

Greg Dinger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Certified ProductCart Developers Joined: 23-September-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 238	Post Options Post Reply Quote Greg Dinger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 20-October-2008 at 4:24pm
	Does each product get shipped from only one location, or do products originate from various locations? You may be able to address this requirement with some custom coding but it would help to know the details of what comes from where.

BHN Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 20-October-2008 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote BHN Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 20-October-2008 at 4:32pm
	Each item comes from a specific warehouse. We do not warehouse products in multiple locations. Does this help?

Greg Dinger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Certified ProductCart Developers Joined: 23-September-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 238	Post Options Post Reply Quote Greg Dinger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 20-October-2008 at 9:45pm
	Sorry for the delay - I have an idea but I am checking something first.

Greg Dinger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Certified ProductCart Developers Joined: 23-September-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 238	Post Options Post Reply Quote Greg Dinger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 21-October-2008 at 6:50pm
	ok, I had to run an idea I had past EI to confirm that it would work. My initial thought was as follows: In stock form, the application has a single point from which the origin point (shipping warehouse) is defined and retrieved from. If you were to introduce a field in the product table where you code the origin point zip code for each product, then alter the code to grab that value instead of the normal shipping config, now you can use the product-specific zip code for calculating shipping. However, this came in from EI: I think the main issue that anyone making a customization such as this will run into is if they wish to use the shipping wizard for labels. The shipping wizards are designed for one shipping origin and account. The other area of concern will be performance in the store front. Right now there is sometimes a significant wait for the shipping rates to be returned. If you introduce different “ship from” addresses for each package, you are going to require the code to have to loop through more than one time, in some cases. Currenly, the request will allow multiple packages with one “ship from”/”ship to” address, so there isn’t a loop when there are multiple packages, but there would be if there were multiple “ship from” addresses. So there is a potential for doing this, but it could involved some serious coding, and could impact performance during the shipping calculations (and shipping estimator if supported). Perhaps someone has addressed this in the past and will contribute further ideas.