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Version 2 of the Shipping Rate Provider Suite
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Andy Miller
#1 Posted : Thursday, April 26, 2007 10:25:54 PM(UTC)
Andy Miller

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I am very pleased to announce a new version of the Shipping Rate Provider Suite for BVC5 SP2.



The Shipping Rate Provider Suite calculates custom shipping costs without custom programming. This is the most complete real-time shipping cost calculation suite available anywhere for any ecommerce package.



Some of the new features include:

<UL>
<LI>Split the order into packages based on any package or product property (i.e. weight, count, product type, etc.)
<LI>Assign packaging weight to packages. For example, add 1 pound to every package to account for the box and packaging.
<LI>Assign box dimensions to packages. This means you can "pre-pack" the shipment into common box sizes. The box dimensions are displayed on the Shipping page so your shipping department knows exactly how to pack the order.
<LI>Use the new Day of Week property to customize your shipping offers on certain days of the week. For example, you could offer Saturday Delivery on Thursday and Friday.
* Use the new Length + Girth property to avoid carrier surcharges for oversized packages.
</UL>
For more information, please visit http://structured-solutions.net/PROVSTE-5

Andy Miller
Structured Solutions

Shipper 3 - High Velocity Shipment Processing
MitchA
#2 Posted : Sunday, April 29, 2007 6:13:59 PM(UTC)
MitchA

Rank: Member

Joined: 3/3/2006(UTC)
Posts: 1,737
Andy,

As I'm building a store and creating products right now... do I need to do anything on the product edit page with regards to product size, weight, etc. differently in anticipation of adding your suite?

Or... asked a different way, should I load and configure your suite before loading and configuring products in order to take full advantage of the functions?

I watched the demo - twice... Holy mackels, Andy! There's something in there for everybody.
Optimists invent airplanes,
Pessimists buy parachutes.
Andy Miller
#3 Posted : Sunday, April 29, 2007 7:01:23 PM(UTC)
Andy Miller

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Posts: 2,136

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Hello Mitch,

Thank you for the great comment and question. You do not need to do anything special when you setup the products. You will be able to select packaging and calculate costs based on the product type and any custom properties you assign (both are usually assigned earlier in the product definition stage). But I don't think any decisions you make now will exclude any shipping options later.

Andy
Andy Miller
Structured Solutions

Shipper 3 - High Velocity Shipment Processing
birdsafe
#4 Posted : Wednesday, May 2, 2007 10:42:00 PM(UTC)
birdsafe

Rank: Member

Joined: 2/21/2007(UTC)
Posts: 1,113
Andy,

Do you think you could configure a "Priority Mail - Flat Rate Box" method? It would have to be fairly exact, and obviously based on accurate dimensions for the products, but it would save a lot of trouble for me. right now if a customer chooses Priority Mail and it's over the Flat Rate and I can make it fit in a FR box, then I have to issue a credit to the customer for the difference.
Joe Arbogast
www.birdsafe.com
www.birdsafestore.com
Mona Vie -- Health & Opportunity!
Applied Innovations Hosting
Andy Miller
#5 Posted : Thursday, May 3, 2007 8:26:17 AM(UTC)
Andy Miller

Rank: Member

Joined: 11/5/2003(UTC)
Posts: 2,136

Was thanked: 1 time(s) in 1 post(s)
Andy Miller
Structured Solutions

Shipper 3 - High Velocity Shipment Processing
birdsafe
#6 Posted : Thursday, May 3, 2007 8:34:33 AM(UTC)
birdsafe

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Joined: 2/21/2007(UTC)
Posts: 1,113
Hi Andy,

I just use FRB1
Joe Arbogast
www.birdsafe.com
www.birdsafestore.com
Mona Vie -- Health & Opportunity!
Applied Innovations Hosting
Andy Miller
#7 Posted : Thursday, May 3, 2007 1:46:54 PM(UTC)
Andy Miller

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Posts: 2,136

Was thanked: 1 time(s) in 1 post(s)
Joe,


Here is a rough cut of a screencast video showing how to use the Shipping Rate Provider Suite to package items into USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes (and use regular Priority Mail rates for anything that does not fit in the boxes).



[color=#6c2e19><a]http://structured-solutions.net/support/videos/ShippingProviders/USPSFlatRateBoxes/</A>[/color]

The technique can be used with any kind of box or set of boxes. For example if you prefer to ship items in a few standard sized boxes you can define those just like I defined the Flat Rate boxes and let the Suite take care of putting items into the appropriate boxes.
Andy Miller
Structured Solutions

Shipper 3 - High Velocity Shipment Processing
birdsafe
#8 Posted : Thursday, May 3, 2007 10:19:28 PM(UTC)
birdsafe

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Posts: 1,113
Very cool Andy! That is a no-brainer for me -- as soon as my BV5 store is ready, you have a sale! <G>
Joe Arbogast
www.birdsafe.com
www.birdsafestore.com
Mona Vie -- Health & Opportunity!
Applied Innovations Hosting
birdsafe
#9 Posted : Thursday, May 17, 2007 11:11:08 AM(UTC)
birdsafe

Rank: Member

Joined: 2/21/2007(UTC)
Posts: 1,113
Andy,

Question -- will this add-on be able to catch if a customer enters a PO Box and rule out UPS or FedEx as shipping options and only give them USPS?
Joe Arbogast
www.birdsafe.com
www.birdsafestore.com
Mona Vie -- Health & Opportunity!
Applied Innovations Hosting
Andy Miller
#10 Posted : Thursday, May 17, 2007 12:47:23 PM(UTC)
Andy Miller

Rank: Member

Joined: 11/5/2003(UTC)
Posts: 2,136

Was thanked: 1 time(s) in 1 post(s)
Yes.

There are two ways to handle this and it depends on whether you want to show the actual carrier names and rates, or show your own branded names (ala Amazon).

If you want to show actual carrier names and rates, then you create two methods for each service you support. One of the methods is normally hidden and is used to retrieve the carrier's rate. For example UPS Ground. The second method is used to either show or hide the carrier rate depending on your criteria. For example if the destination address contains "PO" then hide UPS Ground. [Note that when you electronically signed with UPS you agreed not to show UPS rate names and costs next to any other carrier services.]

If you want to show branded names such as "Standard Shipping" and "Express Shipping" it is a little simpler. In this case you create one hidden method for each carrier rate. Then you create one method for each brand of shipping such as "Standard Shipping" and use rules to select the carrier rate that is appropriate for that brand of shipping. For example, Standard Shipping might use USPS Parcel Post if the address contains "PO", otherwise use UPS Ground.
Andy Miller
Structured Solutions

Shipper 3 - High Velocity Shipment Processing
birdsafe
#11 Posted : Thursday, May 17, 2007 10:07:23 PM(UTC)
birdsafe

Rank: Member

Joined: 2/21/2007(UTC)
Posts: 1,113
Thanks Andy -- I thought it might provide that ability. I do need to think about it however, as I do have a couple of customers that, for whatever reason, will use a PO Box on one address line and a street address on the second -- I guess they are covering their bases, but if I create a rule based on the first address line, then that would rule out using FedEx Home Delivery when in fact they could use it based on the second address line.

the next thing on my "shipping wish list" is to display the time in transit for the various carriers. I get customers about twice a week selecting 2nd Day delivery when Ground will get to them in 2 days, sometimes 1 day.
Joe Arbogast
www.birdsafe.com
www.birdsafestore.com
Mona Vie -- Health & Opportunity!
Applied Innovations Hosting
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