Looking for Category / quantity based shipping module

[vjstevens]

I have a need for a quantity by category by state shipping module. First product within a category gets a fixed shipping charge and additional products within that category get an additional lesser charge. Order 3 of any product within a category, 1st item gets an 8.00 ship charge, 2nd and 3rd get an additional 3.00 charge for a total of 14.00 shipping. Optimally when you hit a certain limit the initial charge would be charged again. Basically the initial charge is for the box, and additional product adds a small fee until the box is filled. Initial fee, additional fees and limit vary by category due to the differing sizes of products. We are dealing with about 50 products max in about 6 categories. In my research it appears that the Quantity Plus! Shipping module from Copernicus would handle most of this requirement, but I cannot find anyone to sell it to me. It is listed on the Copernicus website, but if you try to get details or purchase they send you to Miva Central, which does not list that product.
Any advice or alternatives would be appreciated.
Jay Stevens

[Vic - WolfPaw Computers]

Quantity Plus is no longer available. Copernicus is owned by MIVA Small Business now.

[wcw]

Take a look at Groupwise Weight Table Shipping by World Zone at
http://www.emporiumplus.com/go/wcw/PROD/1AA/1AA00097
If you set the weight at 1 for every product, that would have the effect of counting the quantity. Since it uses a weight table, you could set from 1 to 1 = xxx, 2 to 2 = xxx, etc. You don't use categories. Rather you put all the products into the bins. Depending on the bin, that would be the rate that would be used for each product in the basket. The rates for each bin is summed to get the grand total. You have 4 bins to work with. See the product page. Contact me off list if you have more questions.
http://www.emporiumplus.com/mivamodule_wcw.mvc?Screen=SPTS

[Vic - WolfPaw Computers]

Bill,

I was going to recommend that module, but it did not appear to support a quantity based model.

Excellent idea on setting the weight. I'll keep that in mind for the future!

[vjstevens]

Well I have tried Groupwise Weight Table Shipping and found that I needed more than the 4 bins. I then tried to add the Checkout SuperMod to allow the use of both Groupwise and standard quantity pricing. This calculates shipping amounts correctly, except the customer must select the proper shipping method. Now it looks like I need the Shipping SuperMod to automatically assign the correct shipping based on product. The Groupwise mod was very reasonably priced, but the Copernicus mods are expensive. By the time I am done I will have invested $400 into mods and still not have a complete solution. Then if I want multiple ship-to's and Order attributes they will want another 200 - 300. I picked Miva because it looked very customizable, had a good support community, and most modules looked reasonably priced. I did not know I would have to buy hundreds of them. :eek:
Still looking for any alternatives.
Thanks in advance
Jay

[Vic - WolfPaw Computers]

I would be surprised if you have over 30 third party modules in your store.

Part of it comes down to researching what functionality exactly that you need, before going out and purchasing modules. Many modules are very specific in what they do - and may need to be used in combination with others to achieve a desired result. Others are catch alls - that do many things - often more than you need. So researching and obtaining the right module or modules is very important.

Besides, the $300-400 spend on modules is a heck of a lot cheaper than hiring a coder to custom write a solution for you.

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

I would be surprised if you have over 30 third party modules in your store.

Part of it comes down to researching what functionality exactly that you need, before going out and purchasing modules. Many modules are very specific in what they do - and may need to be used in combination with others to achieve a desired result. Others are catch alls - that do many things - often more than you need. So researching and obtaining the right module or modules is very important.

Besides, the $300-400 spend on modules is a heck of a lot cheaper than hiring a coder to custom write a solution for you.

Maybe, except he doen't have a solution as yet, and it may take more time or additional monetary investment in other modules. It may well have been less expensive to "hire" someone to provide a solution (although, that provider may or may not have used modules).

This is a tough decision, with lots of complex issues to weigh. However, Vic is spot-on with the first step: research. For anything other than a straight-forward feature, for example, Tell-a-freind, module descriptions will be lacking in the knowledge needed to understand whether it can work with another module to achieve something different. This is where resources such as this forum, Merchant integrators and questions to the developers themselves could save lots of time and money on the back-end. Personally, if you are investing more than a couple hundred dollars on a complex solution, paying for the knowledge of a good integrator would be money well invested. (Note, you can ask developers, however, when it comes to 'inter-species' operatability, they may not have the widest experiance.

[vjstevens]

First Thanks for all the feedback. As you can tell I am new to the Miva world, but have been in the software industry for many years.
Vic, I agree 300 - 400 is a lot less than hiring a coder or coding this myself.
Bruce, I agree this is a complex decision and part of my frustration is the lack of quality do***entation. I thought I had researched the initial modules based on their available descriptions and was surprised when after install they did not behave as expected. That was why I posted the question here initially, hoping for some guidance. Quantity Plus! Shipping sounded like it was exactly what I wanted, but for some reason is no longer available.

What I do not understand is the uniqueness of our requirement. It seems like shipping based on quantity and category would be common. Books, CD's, and in our case, baked goods that come in many different flavors. Unfortunately we are constrained by the fact that we also operate retail stores and do not want a different price for retail and online orders. It appears that much of the industry covers their shipping in their price and offer either free or flat rate shipping charges.
Jay

[whitewolfspirits]

This is what I am looking for as well. I ship one categoty of items Priority Mail. The 1st item gets full price, each additional gets .50 added up to 4 of the item. Then you get a new box. The other category of items ship 1st class mail. For only $1.50 with each additional item being .25 more, up to 5 items. Other categories have flat shipping. They must each be shipped seperately. I've tried to play with weight amounts, but it just isn't going to work. I loose sales when it charges $4.05 shipping on a $3.99 pair of earrings. I need it by category and by how many of each. If you find that elusive module, please let me know as well. LOL.
White Wolf
www.whitewolfspirits.com