Help with shopping cart shipping calculations!!!!

[jodiapple]

Hi all My name is Jodi Apple and I'm stumped on something.

I am in process of building a e commerce site for a business that sells paint strippers and stains etc... They have some materials that are hazardous and some are not. They offer 2 shipping options. UPS ground only and Truckline by common carrier. They are wanting a set up where there site will calculate the shipping costs where they don't have to call there customers back and handle the transactions by phone.

They have given me a list of rates that are by the pound, every state within the US has it's own rate for the truckline shipping. Truckline shipping is cheaper to use when shipping large quantities or anything over 3 gallons of product. Not to mention hazardous materials.

Ups however is cheaper for smaller packages. Ups charges a 20.00 fee for hazardous materials per shipment.


I to figure out a way to have the cart calculate shipping for items purchased. There are unlimited variations for example..

If an customer ordered 5 gallons of a paint stripper (hazardous) and 5 gallons of a Stain (non Hazardous) it is cheaper to ship UPS UPS would charge $18.25 to ship 5 Gallons Plus $20.00 Hazmat Fee on top of that. Then to ship the 5 Gallons of Stain along with it it would only be $13.22. For a total of $51.47 for the shipping on that order.

However if they were to just buy the stain by itself it would cost them $18.25...

I hope this gives you an idea of what I am looking at. I've been banging my head trying to figure out a way to make this work but I'm really starting to feel it's impossible. If anyone has any idea of how to make this work or even get close to some kind of solution I'd appreciate it Very much.

Does anyone know if there is anything available as far as shipping calculators that could be placed in a shopping cart that would automatically add the order and it's shipping costs? I know UPS has a calculator however I'm not sure if it will work with the set up I have now and still be accurate with the variations of shipments.

1 other thing... there are 2 distributers for this company. each of them ship to certain states.

If you have any idea's I'd be glad at this point to hear anything.. Thanks!

Jodi Apple
www.mothernaturesweb.com
jodiapple@mothernaturesweb.com

www.kwickkleen.com - Webmaster

[ChrisRC]

I'm not sure I understand what the problem is, but that may just be because I don't understand the *problem*. As they say, a clear definition of the problem is the first step to a solution:)

Here's the situation as I understand it. Please point out any misunderstandings:

You have 1 table that lists per-pound, by state shipping charges for Truck shipments

You have a seperate table with UPS per-pound, by zone charges.

You have a table which includes item details such as shipping weight and whether or not it is subject to the UPSs HazMat surcharge.

So, you find the zone for the shipping zipcode and calculate the UPS shipping cost, adding $20 if any of the items require it.

Then calculate the Truck shipment charges for that state.

It sounds like, at this point you just go with the cheaper alternative... Which part is the problem?

Similarly, I'm not clear on what problem the 2 distributors present. What do you need to do as a result of the situation that you aren't sure about?

I've developed a few systems that had to deal with both of these situations, so I'm happy to be of any assistance I can.

Chris
crcdesign.net