Shipping Methods per Product by BCSE with 4.1.8

jillsybte · #1 08-22-2007, 11:54 AM

I am thinking about purchasing this mod from BCS Engineering. I currently use Paypal Standard and sell only books. Since Paypal only allows one shipping schedule, I ship via Media Mail exclusively.

I am currently in the process of preparing X-Cart 4.1.8 for use with Paypal Pro on my site. I plan to offer Media Mail and other USPS shipping methods, and I may add non-book items soon as well. I would like to offer Media Mail, etc. when just books are in a customer's order, but offer Parcel Post, etc. when there are non-book items. I know a statement telling users not to choose Media Mail if they have non-book items in their cart will not be enough. It will be the cheapest method and they'll choose it.

So this mod seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. Does anyone have any first-hand experience with this mod used with X-Cart 4.1.8? I have made some appearance changes to my cart thus far (moved some vertical menus around, changed colors, logo, etc.). Will this cause problems when installing this mod? With this mod installed, will I have problems applying X-Cart patches, etc. in the future?

If anyone has any input regarding this or other third-party mods, I'd be glad to receive it.

Thanks,
Jill

Jayk · #2 08-22-2007, 12:07 PM

Hi Jill,

I am using this mod. It works great and their support is great as well! Appearance changes shouldn't affect the mod at all. I haven't really had any upgrading issues to speak of.

Jason

jillsybte · #3 08-22-2007, 12:21 PM

Thanks for another tremendously fast and helpful response, Jason. I've seen mentions of BCS Engineering quite a bit on these forums and they seem to have a good reputation. The mod is reasonably priced and I think I'm going to give it a try very soon.

Thanks again,
Jill

swifty1 · #4 12-08-2008, 08:55 AM

Hi Jill did you give the mod a try and if so what do you think as i am looking at the same mod.

Swifty

jillsybte · #5 12-08-2008, 09:37 AM

Yes, this mod has been great. I really needed it since we carry books, etc. and I like to offer Media Mail as a cheap shipping option. However, other items can't be sent that way and I knew customers would ignore any instructions to not choose Media Mail if they have non-media items in their order. This way, they are shown only the shipping options applicable to their order. Installation was pretty easy and it runs well in 4.1.8. I haven't had a chance to test it in 4.1.10 or 4.1.11 yet, though.

swifty1 · #6 12-08-2008, 11:37 AM

Thanks for the prommt reply Jill, one more question i have taken a look at BCSE site and under this mod they say the following.
[quote] To use this mod, you need to select atleast 1 shipping method for a product for it to be "shippable". We recommend that you have atleast 1 shipping method in common for all of your products. Otherwise if 2 products are put in the cart and they don't have a common shipping method, then "no shipping methods allowed" message will show up (as expected since they can't ship together).
Am i right in thinking that if the customer adds two products to the cart, one has free delivery and the second has a delivery charge then no delivery method will be shown, what i have on my site is two delivery methods set up, one is free delivery on selected products and a fee based delivery on other selected products which now gives the customer a choice of both delivery methods which means the customer allways slects the free delivery, this is not good.

ranger82nd · #7 12-08-2008, 11:46 AM

Hey jillsybte...
You have this problem with your site! http://forum.x-cart.com/showthread.php?t=40451

jillsybte · #8 12-08-2008, 11:52 AM

OK, I'm a little tired so I'm not sure I'm thinking clearly... Do you mean you have an actual shipping method that's free and then another method that's not?

I have a similar situation to yours in my store. I have some items that drop-ship and the rest I ship via various methods. So I set a freight charge on the drop-ship items and then also use the setting to NOT calculate shipping on items with freight charges. Then I select all shipping methods for the drop-ship items so that they won't interfere with the other items in an order. There's also the option to choose "Free Shipping" when modifying a product. I don't use that myself, but I think that allows you to mix free shipping items with items that ship for a fee.

Your best bet is probably to contact BCSE. They make tons of mods and use X-Cart themselves so they can probably help you figure out what would work best for your store.

swifty1 · #9 12-08-2008, 12:22 PM

Thanks again Jill will contact BCSE.

Swifty

jillsybte · #10 12-08-2008, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranger82nd

Hey jillsybte...
You have this problem with your site! http://forum.x-cart.com/showthread.php?t=40451

Thank you, ranger82nd. The problem is actually that the USPS server is down (http://forum.x-cart.com/showthread.php?t=44107&highlight=real+time+shippin g) right now. Instead of just telling customers that, it tells them that there are no shipping methods available. I had some orders this morning and even made USPS labels through PayPal, but I've lost a few customers in the last hour because of this problem. At first, I didn't no what was going on. My store has been set up this way and working fine for over a year. I started thinking it might be the USPS server and, sure enough, I find several others here having the same exact problem. When I tried testing real-time rates, I received a server error message. I can't believe the USPS would let this happen and not fix it right away or have a backup system. They're costing me customers. These people are going to think my store is messed up and never come back. They're anonymous so I can't contact them to let them know. I guess I'll just have to put the site in maintenance mode for now so hopefully people will return later.