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I have free shipping with my orders. How do I turn shipping off?
When configuring your account, just ignore the section on shipping. No
mention of shipping will be made in the cart display.
You may also want to put the message: FREE shipping with all orders!" in
the "merchant message" section of the configuration form.
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I normally ship via UPS. Will virtualCART figure shipping costs
for me?
You bet! We do it better than anyone else. There is a separate FAQ
on the UPS/Fedex/USPS Shipping Calculators.
There's also a section on it in the configuration form of
course.
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I need virtualCART to calculate my shipping charges for me. How can I set that up?
virtualCART currently supports seven "calculated" methods for determining shipping costs.
Those seven are in addition to our "Multi-Method Lookup Table" and UPS/FedEx Calculators.
All are detailed in the configuration form at:
https://www.cartserver.com/config/b-config-b.html
Just make your selections during account configuration.
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I want to offer my customers both UPS ground and FedEx overnight. How can
I do that?
We offer a convenient method for allowing customers to choose whatever
shipping methods you care to offer, along with cost adjustments for them.
We use a system of "default" and "premium" shipping.
"Default" shipping is the carrier and cost you set up during account
configuration. It is usually your least expensive method, although it does
not have to be. A simple example would be UPS ground at a flat fee of
$5.00 per order.
"Premium" shipping methods are other ways your customers can elect to
receive their order. An example would be FedEx Overnight at the default
rate plus a surcharge. The surcharge can be calculated in various ways:
<form action=http://www.cartserver.com/sc/cart.cgi method=POST>
<select name=item>
<option value="b-2400^=shipping=^Method 1^base+0">Method 1</option>
<option value="b-2400^=shipping=^Method 2^base+5.25">Method 2</option>
<option value="b-2400^=shipping=^Method 3^base+-3.00">Method 3</option>
<option value="b-2400^=shipping=^Method 4^base*1.3">Method 4</option>
<option value="b-2400^=shipping=^Method 5^base*1.5+4.25">Method 5</option>
<option value="b-2400^=shipping=^Method 6^flat12.25">Method 6</option>
<option value="b-2400^=shipping=^Method 7^subtotal*.09+10.00">Method 7</option>
</select>
<input type=image name=add src=addtocart.gif>
</form>
To use this, make a "shipping" page on your site with the above code
on it. Obviously you'd set the methods to what they really were,
be it FedEx, UPS, 2ND Day, UPS to Tazmania, whatever.
The first five of the six take your "default" shipping rate and do
something to it. The sixth one ignores the default and sets the rate
exactly.
The seventh may be the most powerful of all, since it ignores
what you have as the default and calculates a % of the item subtotal
as the rate and will also add an amount to it. This gives you a lot
of power to offer second shipping methods totally independent
from the default.
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Some of the things I sell are services which don't have a shipping cost. I can't just turn shipping off since I need to charge for my tangible products. What can I do?
You can "exempt" any item you wish from shipping.
In the product "item" variable, add the prefix =SF= to your partnumber
field. Old number: xyz-1 New number: =SF=xyz-1
This is the companion exemption to =TF= which is used to exempt a product
from sales tax.
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I charge a percent of the order cost as a shipping charge, and this works well for me, but one of my items is very bulky and expensive to ship. Is there any way to tack on a little extra to the shipping charge for this?
Yes. use the =AS= tag similarly to to =SF= tag above. When the cart
sees this tag, it looks in the shipping field of the "item" variable
(field six) for a cost, and adds that to the shipping total:
<input type=hidden name=item name=item value="b-2400^=AS=pn1^Bulky Item Desc^28.32^1^5.00">
The above example charges an EXTRA $5.00.
Another tag is =SS= which will substitute the value listed for
the usual charge. For instance, you charge $1.00 shipping for
each item ordered. If you use the =SS= tag for a certain item,
it won't count against the $1.00 per item, but will be charged
the amount in the shipping field of the "item" variable (field six).
Note: =SF= and =SS= are equivalent if you have the shipping field
of the item variable blank or set to 0. =SF= ignores that field
and sets zero always.
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Most of my items are shipped under a flat $5.00 fee, but I have a few
heavy items that I need to charge $10.00 to ship. The problem is, if
they order just a heavy item, their shipping works out to $15.00,
which is too much. How can I get the cart to NOT apply the flat fee
in such a case?
Just mark it with the =SS= tag and put 10.00 into the shipping field
of the item variable (field six). When you order the item by itself,
only the $10.00 will be applied. If you get that item along with any
of the "normal" items, it will apply the $5.00 flat fee also.
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I'm confused by all the shipping options. Should I give up?
Of course not. virtualCART is a powerful program with many features, but you
don't have to use all of them right away. You can just set a flat fee and
then display the "shipping cost is estimated" message in the cart display.
Later, you can go back and tune things up as you please. It's easy to
reconfigure your account. The important thing is to get things functional,
then build from there.
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The calculation methods are great, but I also need to set a minimum and
a maximum shipping fee amount. Can I?
These shipping switches can be set in the cart configuration form:
Minimum Shipping Fee: to be applied if your chosen
method results in too low a charge for small orders.
Maximum Shipping Fee: to be applied if your chosen
method results in too high a charge for large orders.
Free Shipping over x: the threshold you set over which
shipping is free. This is a great sales tool.
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