I have been tearing out my hair (not really, I'm bald ) with this shipping thing. I need to set my shipping up by weight. I will be shipping to the States only so I am not interested in International, yet!
My thought is to go with USPS Priority Mail; "If It Fits, It Ships!!"

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to set this up. I now this is a can of worms, but I really need some help here. The weights for the products is not a proplem, I need to know how I am supposed to know how much to charge per ounce, per State, or whatever!!

Has anyone developed a good system that they would be willing to share?

Steve

Well, if you are doing shipping by the USPS standard box shipping method you don't need to worry about destination or weight. I believe its a set fee per box as long as you can fit the item in it. If that is the case then just charge normal shipping fees, relative to your item instead of worrying about the hassle of weight based shipping.

USPS Flat Rate Shipping does have a weight limitation but unless you're putting iron weights in the boxes, you should be good to go.

Thanks.
I do have a problem with one item that does not fit in one of their boxes. So I guess what I am asking for is peoples solutions as to how they set up the shopping area in regards to what they charge per ounce, pound or whatever?

I may not use Priority Mail, it is only a thought.

Surely UPS has a table of costs that you can use, and the product you mention has a weight (as you talk of using weights) that can be assessed according to a table of costs? I know that the States has a pretty complex system, but I (in Europe) have found the weights to be the ideal solution for my product. I have just made a list of several destination options... I have added a small sum to the postal service mail cost to cover my actual wrapping materials, and then I have just used all the postal costs according to the destination and weight. Then the shopping cart software takes all the hassle out of calculations as it totals everything up for me. You are welcome to try this out on my site (url in signature)... but please let me know you have visited as I am having trouble with my transaction log which tells me people have purchased when all they have really done is just try out the system!!

Gosh that sounds complex!

Thanks Janys, I did take the time yesterday to check out your website, very good job!! And I did do a test purchase to see how your cart did.

I guess we are all spoiled by how other people have their sites set up in regards to shipping; click on a box that asks for your zipcode and you have an instant shipping charge. (Did you hear that guys, an idea for an upgrade??? ).

I now see that, for the moment until the next upgrade comes out, there is no choice but to enter all the prices per pound per state per zone. And this has to be done for each delivery type you specify. Very time consuming.

In regards to the USPS Priority Mail, I read on a shipping info site (sorry, don't have the link) it was said that Priority Mail is only good if your package weighs 10 pounds or more. Anything less then that and it is cheaper to ship other ways. Most of my items weigh just under a pound by themselves and will fit in the Priority box but when you order more than one it will no longer fit in the box, I must go to a larger box that is not supported by Priority. So I guess I will go another route, only one of my items weighs 11 pounds and it is too big for the Priority box anyway.

Thanks everyone for your input, I hope it is just as valuable to someone else.

Steve

Note, if most of your items weight less that 1 pound DO NOT USE FLAT RATE. Flat rate is usually good only if you are shipping bricks.

Standard Priority will usually go to 90% of US for about 4.95. If under a pound, you can usually go First Class and get even cheaper than that (Unless customer requests priority).

Been there, done that.

Very good info, thanks!!

We want to use a Merchandise Total rate schedule to determine shipping (like some catalogs) but I can't figure out how to do it. Any insights or am I chasing my tail.

If this has been answered somewhere else, I apologize. Let me know which forum to read.

Thanks,

What is a Merchandise Total rate? Is that the USPS?

Never mind, stupid question. I misread your question.