Freight Charges

Hi,
   True Quoting is supported by the BTO version of ProductCart on BTO products.
A good approach taken by several stores is to use special "hidden products" as shown on the WIKI : http://wiki.earlyimpact.com/how_to/links_to_hidden_products
A specific "product" is created for the shipping as a hidden product and a link to it sent to the customer via email.


Edited by Hamish - 29-May-2009 at 6:50am

The BTO system assumes that the BTO product itself is indeed your package. The system is built with the assumption (limitation) that all of the quoting functionality happens at the individual BTO product level.

So for example, let's assume you sell custom furniture and use Build To Order to allow customers to select customized furniture "packages". If you wanted your customers to get a quote on a custom kitchen remodel, the "Kitchen" itself would be your BTO product, to which you can assign all sorts of categories (e.g. cabinets, countertops, appliances, etc.), and all sorts of Standard Products and BTO Items within those categories, all affecting the total package price, and total package weight too, if individual weights are assigned to those products/items.

It would be quite complex (pretty much a complete rewrite of how everything works) to allow for multiple BTO products to make up a "quote".

Although all of the online quoting features in ProductCart work at the Build To Order product level, there is a workaround. You could allow customers to place an order for multiple BTO products at once, and create a special payment option called "Request a Quote", where no payment is involved.

What's missing in this workaround is the "Submit Quote > Admin Review > Turn Quote into Order" functionality that is available at the BTO product level, when a customer "Saves a Quote" for a BTO product.

We hope this helps clarify things.


Edited by earlyimp - 29-May-2009 at 10:24am