The shipping options are complex to be flexible so they can be confusing so thanks for the question. Here's an example that might help you better understand how to use them:

Let's say you want to charge $1/oz to ship your bags via UPS (method) to anywhere in the US (zone). You could use the Primary Points for your oz., so your Product would have "16" Primary Shipping Points.

Now in your Shipping Method (UPS), you would assign $1 to each of Primary Point.

The cost to ship the 16ox bag to US would be ($1 x 16), or $16.

Now if you want to charge more for each part of the US, you can create a zone for each part, and use the Secondary Points for this. So if you want to add a $1 more per oz extra for Hawaii delivery, you could add 16 to the Secondary Points for the Product, and then add $1 to the shipping zone for Hawaii.

This would add $16 if the Product is shipped to the zone (hawaii) + $16 for UPS = $32 total shipping cost.

Think of the Primary and Secondary Points as just a multiplier you can use in your methods and zones to accumulate the total shipping you want to apply to a product going to a zone through a method.

Thanks for the timely response. My only issue is that UPS isn't that cut and dry. In fact shipping gets less expense as you add more weight and even that varies per zone (assuming there are defined UPS zones where shipping is the same throughout, and i'm not sure there are). The method above doesn't apply any sort of realistic shipping cost based on what UPS might actually charge. Their prices vary based on weight, destination and the size of the box the items are shipped in. Either i'll be grossly over charging my customers or perhaps loosing money by not charging enough.

I just don't see how I can accurately provide shipping cost to my customers with these available methods. If i'm missing something and there are ways to more accurately provide shipping costs please let me know. I would love to work with what exists as long as i can provide accurate numbers.

Just in case, how many credits would it be to integrate UPS into the system so that an accurate shipping amount is provide to customers based on the weight and zip code they provide, as well as the ability for me to add a hidden handling charge to cover any minor fluctuations either way?


Thanks

I am having the exact same problem. Multiple zones for USPS, UPS, and Fedex.

There are two generally accepted ways to determine shipping fees online. As you mentioned, one is to tie your shipping fees to your exact delivery costs, by connecting in real time to each shipper's database. While this method is exacting, over the years we have learned that many online merchants don't utilize this approach because if there is a problem retrieving the cost in realtime, which happens, they can't determine the fee to charge, so they can't accept the order. This is compounded by the number of shippers and methods that need to be queried, and sometimes their databases are not current. In addition, most merchants soon realize that different products many require different handling costs when preparing to ship, and these costs are lost since the shipper's database has no way of determining those costs.

That is why we opted to allow for more flexibility by allowing for complex zones, weight, size, handling, exceptions, etc, so that you can approximate your true costs per shipping method and charge the appropriate fee. This method allows you to tweak your shipping fees to get the best balance of cost / profit. The bottom line is that the shipping fees don't have to be exact to be effective and automated.

can you please provide any references to companies who are using livesite to ship low weight products such as mine so i can ask them how they are setting everything up?

For instance, how would i set up a sliding scale within in a zone since shipping costs fall the more weight you have per package? For instance the cost per/oz to ship UPS Ground from NY to VA (same address) are as follows: .19 cents/oz to ship 2lbs, .11 cents/oz to ship 4lbs, .08 cents/oz to ship 6lbs. How would I set that calculation up?

Also, how would i even know what states should be part of a zone? I'm not sure but i think UPS has zones for travel time but not cost.

Thanks for the continued help.

Not sure who to refer you too. Your examples is only pennies apart from each other, so could you not set up VA as a zone and change the median or max cost/lb.?

Hmm. I guess i will create a thread that calls out to anybody who might be doing what i'm doing and see what i get.

The only problem i see with charging the average (.12 cents/oz for VA) is that i loose money on the 2lb purchases and over charge on the larger quantities. Also, setting up a zone for each state would be a crazy amount of work so i've got to figure out what states comprise a zone.

Also, keep in mind that you can use Offers to discount shipping.

ok. that's a possible option as well. thanks

Charge everyone the 2lb. rate, that way you'll make up for any losses on large lbs orders to farther destinations.

Not to throw more on the thought pile, but you'll discover that many online merchants have figured out that FREE SHIPPING is required on some items/times to be competitive. You might wish to do that too at some point, then all your complex shipping calcs go out the window.

Keep it simple. :)

I've been playing around with the offer codes in conjunction with the other shipping rates. Things seem to be coming out a bit better, though in some cases i'm way over charging some. I'm sure with some refinements i can get it closer.

One thing i am seeing is that for some reason I can't get a USPS Flat Rate shipping method to appear unless i have at least the US Domestic - West Coast applied. When that happens it effects the flat rate shipping like all the others. Is there a way to just have the flat rate shipping as a static rate that isn't effected by anything, just a single price i set? If you look at my checkout shipping methods page you'll see what i'm talking about.

Thanks,

This is actually a response to waterfront, rather than a question. Have you worked out your zone issues yet? I have been having the same problems that you have, and have spent a lot of time trying to get to a good estimate of shipping to different zones, although I have only gotten through USPS so far. I pulled a list of zip codes by state, and then condensed them into a list of the first 3 digits of each zip code (since this is what most of the shippers use to designate zones). I then pulled the USPS zone chart to look up the zones for each of the 3 digit zips in order to find out which zones were in each state. Yes, this was a long process, but the result was, I realized that most of the states only crossed over 2 zones, which were close enough that I could pick one of the two zones and use that zone rate.

For example, I am in RI. RI is in my zone 1 (obviously), CT is in my zone 2, MA is in 1 and 2, but more zips were in 1, so I will just include that in zone 1, NH is zone 2, ME and VT were in 2 and 3, but both had more zips in 2, so I will just include them in zone 2. So, continuing with these states as an example, zone 1 would include RI & MA, and zone 2 would be CT, NH, ME, and VT.

So, in case you are still trying to work out your shipping zones, or if anyone else is having this problem, here is a list of zip codes by state:

Alabama: 350-369
Arizona: 850-865
Arkansas: 716-729
California: 900-961
Colorado: 800-816
Connecticut : 060-069
DC: 200, 202-205
Delaware: 197-199
Florida: 320-349
Georgia: 300-319, 399
Idaho : 832-838
Illinois: 600-629
Indiana: 460-479
Iowa: 500-528
Kansas: 660-679
Kentucky: 400-427
Louisiana : 700-714
Maine: 039-049
Maryland : 206-219
Massachusetts: 010-027, 055
Michigan : 480-499
Minnesota: 550-567
Mississippi: 386-397
Missouri: 630-658
Montana: 590-599
Nebraska: 680-693
Nevada: 889-898
New Hampshire: 030-038
New Jersey: 070-089
New Mexico: 870-884
New York: 100-149
North Carolina: 270-289
North Dakota: 580-588
Ohio: 430-459
Oklahoma: 730-731
Oklahoma: 734-749
Oregon: 970-979
Pennsylvania: 150-196
Rhode Island: 028-029
South Carolina: 290-299
South Dakota: 570-577
Tennessee: 370-385
Texas : 733, 750-799, 885
Utah: 840-847
Vermont : 050-054
Vermont : 056-059
Virginia: 201, 220-246
Washington: 980-994
West Virginia: 247-268
Wisconsin: 530-549
Wyoming: 820-831

Hope this helps! Good luck!

Sorry, after all that, I forgot to explain how I am setting up the actual charges. I haven't tested it yet to be certain it works, but I am setting the base rate of each of my shipping methods slightly below the 1lb rate, and setting the primary weight rate to the average increase per lb. For example, Parcel Post to zone 4 is $5.25, and the average increase per lb (for up to 20 lbs) is $0.53, so I could set the base rate at $5.00 and the primary weight rate at $0.55. If I had a 4lb item, I would set the primary weight points on the product to 4, so the Parcel Post shipping to zone 4 would be $5.00 (base rate) + (4x$0.55) = $7.20, and the actual cost is $7.97.

The difference for 1 lb is higher with the lower weights and decreases with the higher weights, so because most of my shipments would be lower weights, I will probably set my primary weight rate a little higher, maybe $0.75, so the total shipping costs would be $5.00 + (4x$0.75) = $8.00, which would be much closer to the actual. If you ship more heavyweight products, you could set the rate lower, so a 20lb product could be $5.00 + (20*$0.55) = $16.00, and the actual shipping cost is $15.30.

To answer your question about the flat rate shipping, I realized when setting up my zones that you have to include zones, even if they do not apply to your shipping method, otherwise they will be listed as EXCLUDED, so you won't get the flat rate option for whatever states are in your US Domestic - West Coast because it thinks that those states are excluded. I presume your state is in that zone, which is why you are not seeing it when you test it out. Sorry if this doesn't make sense, I'm getting tired from working on this stuff for so long. :) I hope I was able to help you with some of my info.

Hey Maureeng96, i'm still working on it and it's been quite a challenge. Flexibility is one thing but accuracy is another and i'm not seeing any accuracy with the way the shipping options work. It's overly complicated IMO. I'm not in the business of making money on shipping and grossly overcharging or undercharging is not what i'm looking for when providing shipping options to my customers.

We are shipping from NY and our products all have the same weight, 12oz. Unfortunately the system is not set up to generate accurate shipping when it comes to shipping multiple items because it's only adding and there is no way to create a sliding scale downward from what i can see. As i'm sure you are aware, UPS shipping doesn't cost more to ship multiple items to one location it actually reduces the cost so i'm not sure how to achieve that besides using a generic offer action, but that effects everything in the same way which is once again not accurate.

I wish there was a better and easier way to do this. It's taking more time and energy to figure out the shipping then it did to actually set up the site. This shouldn't be the case. I hope camelback takes a close look at their shipping options and figures out a way to make it more accurate and easier in the future.

i take one thing back, the sliding scale. sorry, just looked at some calculations and that's not exactly the case. the per item cost becomes less when you ship more to the same location, but the overall cost goes up slightly.

For instance to ship 2 units to TX UPS ground costs $7.51, to ship 5 units to the same address would be $8.56. the cost per item goes from $3.75 to $1.71.

Ok. So I've been doing some research and i think i've figured out how to go about setting up my shipping. My only problem now is that I'm having problems setting up different zones that work properly. Will keep you posted.

BTW, if you guys at camelback are planning on making any new video tutorials, please, please make one that goes into setting up shipping and all the calculations. I looked in the help section and to be honest it's very confusing for someone who is not math oriented. It would be great to see you go through the motions setting up the different zones etc.

ok. think i figured that out also. fingers crossed. things seem to be moving more smoothly.

I'm looking forward to hearing how you were able to work out the shipping zones and charges. At this point, I'm figuring that I will need to set up a separate zone for each state, since the zones between carriers do not exactly match, and then attach each state to my shipping methods....a lot of work, though.

if you like i can speak with you over the phone. send me an email with your number to waterfrontroasters@gmail.com and i'll get in touch tomorrow. It's easier that way i think. it is a little work, but it seems to be working much better now.

Thanks! Sent you an email.

Hey all,

Has anyone had any luck getting a solid FedEx pricing schedule? We are shipping a frozen product and have only FedEx 2 day service so it is pretty easy to break up the country from our location to get different base prices but not sure how to work the multiplication table to be relatively accurate for each product. Any help?

Thanks