Well doing what you can to keep costs down for your customers is always a good thing in the customer's eyes and actual shipping costs as opposed to a 'guestimate' is admirable but what is shipping based on? Usually it's weight. If it's an automated system, items are being added to the database and pulled from there for display and purchasing so what's to stop someone from storing the weight if they wanted ACTUAL shipping costs for their customers... which can be calculated with UPS web services on the fly BEFORE a credit card is taken or by setting up your own calculations tables and updating it with changed amounts when UPS does. They'll give you that info. The most current info can probably be found on their site... they may even have a remote service for that too...
Take Dell, NewEgg, and Tiger Direct for example, they have a ton of items for sale, all different sizes and weights. Their shipping costs are pretty close to actual costs from what I've seen. Granted they generate very high online revenue and can afford (and have little choice otherwise) to make the process as streamlined as possible but it does prove it's possible. If it's working for you, by all means go with it. I personally wouldn't buy anything from anyone without knowing the bottom line before hand and I'm sure I'm not alone. Many of us have done ecommerce sites. We can't please everyone. Let's face it, people are more particular about their money than anything. Many people will see a misspelled word on a cart and decide they don't want to spend their money there; they are picky and cautious about where they will buy online and they should be. It's harder to lure them and their money in than it is to turn them away. I just feel that those three things are 3 very big deterrents for more people than not. (not letting them know its in stock before hand, not giving AT LEAST a shipping estimate before hand, not giving a final tally of all costs) But as I've said before... I'm no expert... I just play one on the internet. ..:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:. Bobby Hartsfield http://acoderslife.com -----Original Message----- From: Stephens, Larry V [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, January 13, 2006 10:40 AM To: CF-Talk Subject: RE: Encrypt CC number and store in DB Do you actually get people to give you their credit card information without them even knowing: a) how much they are going to be charged b) whether or not you charge them more for shipping because of where they live c) if what they WANT to order is even in stock? **Yes. If so, you must have one user friendly, warm and fuzzy feeling generating site to make people feel that comfortable. (is it basketbasics dot com?) *Yes (The shopping cart is going into place soon, but we have people who give us the info with their order now.) Why would any of that information (in stock, shipping cost, shipping location, etc..., and a FINAL price) not be obtainable BEFORE getting the credit card number? If any of it IS unobtainable without a Credit Card number, it sounds like a flawed system to me. **Perhaps you can explain how you determine the shipping charge before you have everything boxed up and ready to send. We could send a notice back to people telling them how much it would be, but that depends on their reading email and then responding to us and for what - a figure that is determined by UPS in the first place? Most people just accept that it's going to cost something. In stock can be determined but sometimes people will order several items and want to leave an out-of-stock item on backorder while getting the rest of the shipment. Now you have a split shipment and we don't charge until we ship. If you see a business telling you what the shipping cost is up front then they either have a product that lends itself to easily determining what the cost will be (i.e., not a mix of dissimilar products insofar as size and weight) and is usually purchased as a single item (not a mix of, in our case, bulky but light handles, bulky but heavy reed, shirts, cans of stain, etc.) or else they are tacking on enough hidden cost to cover lower-than-needed postage costs (e.g., S&H with the emphasis on "handling") or are selling a product that never goes above minimum cost (e.g., CDs). We only charge actual shipping cost without any "handling" cost to keep prices down from our customers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:229475 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
