Shipping table issues

[bigbedman]

I have 3 suppliers and I need to set prices for each supplier. The price is different for each state. For each supplier Maryland would have a different price. That goes for every state. On my site I prefer to have it look like there are no different suppliers and have all the products placed on the site together.

I would like it to be able to determine how to charge for shipping at the moment the state is chosen. I cannot seem to get it to work properly. Does anyone have any advice or information that would lead me to a solution? It seems Actinic does not allow for simple solutions when it comes to shipping so I hope some one has come across a similar situation.

Thanks

[bigbedman]

Would love if some one had a great idea for me...thanks!

I tried making each suppliers product a different weight 0.01, .1.00, and 100 pounds. That didnt work.........

Love some suggestions

[jont]

I assume your suppliers are shipping straight to your customer?

Setting to ship by weight should work (assuming you have a flat rate for shipping) but you may need to space your weights further in the products eg:

Supplier A : 0.01lbs
Supplier B : 100lbs
Supplier C : 10000lbs

and then set your shipping price bands accordingly eg:

Maryland:

99lbs = $10.00
9999lbs = $15.00
10000lbs = £20.00

set "take highest vlaue in table"

You can break this down much further if the suppliers are charging you on a weight basis so the more people add the higher the charge.

The obvious issue is when people add items across suppliers which will then result in the $20.00 band being triggered. This is then very complex and it would probably be worth considering setting a single shipping rate to cover all suppliers (negotiate them down to the same price if possible) taking a weighted average geared slightly over your most popular product supplier.

[bigbedman]

This looks like something I can work with. You think this can work if there are around 5 shipping areas per supplier?

[jont]

There should be no reason it will not work .. other than a bit of number crunching your end to work out all the various shipping costs to build in.

Simply set the new shipping zones (or classes) under View | Business Settings | Shipping & Handling | Shipping Bands and right click to add new. Add your 5 areas accordingly and then go through each adding your weight breaks and charges for each supplier