Calculating shipping charges has always been a problem for online vendors. In addition to
our built-in shipping cost calculation choices CyberStrong eShop offers live UPS, USPS,
FedEx and Canada Post shipping rate lookup. A shipping rate preview may
be optionally displayed.
Shipping
Options
- Shipping By Region: By weight or
flat rate.
- Shipping By Order Value
- Shipping By Order Quantity
- Free Shipping: Per product, per
order, per shipping method, over specified dollar amount.
- Minimum and Maximum Shipping Rates
- Live Rate Lookup: UPS, USPS, FedEx, Canada Post.
(Optional add-ons.)
More...
- Shipping Method Rules:
Offer selected shipping methods based on the purchaser's shipping
address, or order weight. For example, you could offer overnight air delivery to all
purchasers while limiting ground shipments to nearby customers.
(Optional add-on.)
Live Rate
Lookup
Live rate lookup is a powerful add-on feature which frees you, the vendor, from calculating and
entering your own shipping rate information. The shipping rate(s) for each shipment are
calculated at the time of purchase by your shipper and returned to your eShop instantly.
From your customer's perspective it appears that your online store has simply calculated
the correct rate for their shipment.
The process begins by totaling the Shipping Units
field of the product and options tables. As you enter new products into your eShop, simply
enter their weight in ounces in the Shipping Units field. A similar field in the
options table optionally allows you to add or subtract product weight based on the options
selected.
When your customer reaches the Shipping and Payment
screen of your eShop, a query is sent to the server for each live rate
look up you require. In a second or so, a reply is received by eShop
containing all available rates (and transit times if applicable) for
this shipment. Your customer simply selects the shipping rate he wishes, then presses Submit
to enter his order. Optionally, the customer can call for a recalculation of his
order totals if he wishes.
CyberStrong eShop's Setup screens contain a
number of settings to customize this process to your needs. For example, you can add a
fixed amount or percentage automatically to the received rates, per
order or per shipping method, to cover your own handling
costs. Other parameters include the originating country, postal code and package type
specification. In addition, you can select only the shipping methods you wish to support.
Live rate lookup works in harmony with CyberStrong
eShop's classic shipping cost calculation methods. Mix and match live rate lookup with
your own lookup tables in any combination and order.
Control over Free Shipping
A unique feature of CyberStrong eShop's live shipping rate lookup is the ability to mix
free and paid shipping. The vendor can designate one or more shipping methods as
"Free" while still displaying shipping rates for all available methods. This
allows your customer to choose free shipping, or upgrade to paid shipping at his expense.
Not All Countries Supported
Live rate look servers provide rates only for the destinations and package types, size and
weight they support. Be sure to check with your carrier to determine if your origin
country and destination country(s) are supported.
Access License Required
Shippers require vendors using its live rate lookup service to apply for a free access
license. See the documentation that came with your CyberStrong eShop for a link to obtain
your free license(s).
No CyberStrong or Third-Party
DLLs Required
CyberStrong eShop's implementation of live rate lookup requires no CyberStrong or
third-party DLLs or other components. It does, however, require that Microsoft XML be
installed on your server. For details on server-side requirements for this and other
CyberStrong eShop features, please see our requirements page.
 Demo: To see these features in action, log
into our online admin demo and click on the "Shipping" tab. |
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