I have implemented a layer of ecas, since this is the easiest way to patch quickly these calculations, as I developed these. it also allows me to intercept the services used in shippment calcuations.
this starts with shipping estimates and refined on shipping. 1)determine type of packing (single, multiple) 2)which shipper will handle this packages. 3)which shipper has the best delivery based on a query to their system. a)deliver time b)delivery cost c)insurance cost d)Signature required for shipping send data to shipper to get shipping cost compared against sales estimate. if under use shipper data, and complete shipping. if over put on hold for manual determination. #1 has the ecas to do the measurement and/or weight conversion. start with cubic measurements for a rough estimate to find the right CarrierShipmentBoxType for the weights, based on ShipmentMethodType. then check for oversize rules. Starts as a shipment total then breaks it down to items if can't find any shippers. David Legg sent the following on 10/18/2008 3:18 PM: > I'd be interested to know how people have implemented shipping > calculations on their sites. > > Our site sells a variety of items weighing from 1g to several Kg and a > variety of sizes from things that fit into an envelope to things that > are over a metre long. This means that a large number of shipping rates > could apply and calculating the best one is non-trivial as the choice of > packaging can affect the rate. > > I've written some code which seems to be fairly accurate at predicting > the correct postage under most circumstances; but even I stopped short > of implementing a packing algorithm which could predict how much of an > order can fit into a Jiffy bag! I take into account the maximum volume > of envelopes and boxes, their weight, individual item weights and > volumes etc. I also take into account the maximum weights and > dimensions allowed for each postage rate. > > How do most people cope with this situation? > > Regards, > David Legg > > >
