Shipping Rate Algorithm - Calculates in a really BAD with oversized packages

[Elimax]

Thought we had found a MAJOR shipping calculation bug, but this morning received a response from tech support that it is simply a limitation with 3d's shipping rate calculations.

Information - Our products have weight and dimension data input for each product.

Problem: Customer has a large product in their cart. Weight 70 Lbs, big dimensions 43"x43"x10". By itself, the shipping calculation is correct. When the customer adds in an additional item to the cart weighing .25 lbs, and 1"x1"x1" - The cart re-calculates the entire shipment as 70.25 lbs, but the new dimensions default to 1x1x1. In our case the customer shipping was decreasing by $30-40 for the shipment, when they were adding a "key" to the order!

According to 3d, if there are multiple items in the cart, the algorithm adds the weights, but defaults the dimension to 1x1x1, regardless of what the actual dimensions are. At a minimum it would seem that the algorithm should calculate based upon the largest dimension in the cart, not default all dimensions down to 1x1x1.

We will start adjustments today. "ships by itself" on large items, as well as tech support is telling us a workaround is to use the "predefined box" settings. Just a heads up. We have been with 3d for a number of years and had not realized this limitation. It is definitely a major issue for people that ship oversize 1 or oversize 2 packages.

Cheers

[cwnoah]

Elimax , you had it right the first time. This is a major bug in their software. It is not a "limitation", it is a huge design flaw, which classifies it as a bug. I've been in software development over 36 years, and this has always been how something like this is classified. Whoever designed this obviously knows nothing about online selling or shipping. This is made far worse by the fact that this year all major shippers went to dimensional shipping calculations. 3dcart needs to address this as an immediate emergency fix.

[3dcart-Victor]

Elimax You're correct that Predefined boxes would be the way to go with this. The reasoning behind handling our dimensional shipping with the predefined boxes is that when we merely send the sum total dimensions there can be issues for extremely large orders. Predefined boxes allow us to specify the size of the boxes used so that the cart can accurately determine how many boxes are needed. A simple example would be an order with two items. Without predefined boxes, the cart would not know if the order was going to ship in one box or multiple boxes.

Our KnowledgeBase article goes into this a bit as well explaining why we use Predefined boxes https://support.3dcart.com/Knowledge...order-shipment

Feel free to let me know if you have any more questions!

[Toobusy]

It also doesn't allow for fractional dimensions and doesn't take into account each of the flat rate options. I constantly eat shipping costs because of this. As far as not knowing if it ships by itself, there's a spot to check if an item ships by itself and if that isn't checked on an item why wouldn't the software pick up on the fact that the box that says "ships by itself" is not checked and "assume" that all items can fit into one box. I thought I could skirt around the issue of only one flat rate option by filling in the shipping dimensions of the boxes and hoping that USPS would pick it up in the calcuation but alas, you can't use fractions when entering box sizes. This has been an ongoing issue since I came onto 3dc and has never been addressed, although it has been mentioned on user voice and voted on....over two years ago. Shipping is a necessity for an ecommerce store. Accurate shipping calculations should also be a necessity for customers as well as your merchants.

[Pack Secure]

We have run into the same problem today. The second box gave the customer a shipping discount of $20.00 instead of charging more.