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urbanmash
Posts: 86
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 Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 8:52 am Post subject: Shopping from the community listings? |
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Hi!
I was just curious. If I go to ecrater.com to browse the listings, I notice when I view my cart that it is a community shopping cart to which I am able to add items from multiple sellers. How does this work? How does the cart know what payments go to which sellers?
And how is the shipping calculated? If a buyer adds more than one item to their cart from a seller who is using the shipping matrix, will it know to combine the weights of those two items separate from the items of other sellers? Or is the combined shipping a benefit that can only be taken advantage of when you go to a sellers store first to add items?
Does anyone have any experience with this situation?
Thanks!
Leesha Dawn |
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poopsheet
Posts: 4865
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:42 pm Post subject: |
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| I'd be very interested in more info about this as well.. |
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WorkmansWood
Posts: 49
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 4:45 pm Post subject: Shopping from the community listings |
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Very interesting.
Later
Rosemary |
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urbanmash
Posts: 86
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| Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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Well, I sent this question to eCRATER and haven't received a reply yet, so if anyone can answer this question, I'm still listening. 
Thanks! |
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wnorris
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 9:24 am Post subject: |
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Lets say you have one item each from seller X and Y, and two items from seller Z.
I believe eCrater has you go through an invoice/checkout for seller X, then seller Y (it retains the buyers info), and then for seller Z. It uses each sellers own shipping preferences, so if seller Z ships by weight, the two items would be combined.
The hassel for the buyer is that they have to go through checkout three times and could have to use different payment methods each time. Seller X may only take Paypal, Y only money orders, and Z only Google.
I doubt that many people will ever shop the community listings. I think most buyers are brought here by seller advertising, so they come directly to the sellers store. |
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urbanmash
Posts: 86
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| Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 1:20 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you wnorris! This has been driving me bananas!! Did you find a place where this information is posted?
Thanks!
Leesha Dawn |
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urbanmash
Posts: 86
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| Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 2:28 pm Post subject: Response from eCRATER |
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I received a response from eCRATER and it confirms that the buyer will need to pay each seller separately; however:
| Quote: | Question: And how is the shipping calculated? If a buyer adds more than one item to their cart from a seller who is using the shipping matrix, will it know to combine the weights of those two items separate from the items of other sellers?
Answer: The shipping for such multi-sellers orders cannot be combined because each seller has to send his respective part of the order to the buyer. Think of this like one big order which has suborders. Each suborder is managed by one seller.
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If I am understanding correctly, the cart will not combine shipping for items purchased from the same seller. Instead, the seller will have to send an invoice with the correct shipping.
I've sent a follow up email to verify that I am understanding this response correctly. If I learn anything different, I'll post it here. |
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urbanmash
Posts: 86
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| Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 3:25 pm Post subject: Follow up response. |
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This is why I always like to repeat how I understood something back to the person explaining it. 
As it turns out, my original question appears to have been misunderstood and the cart will in fact, combine your items if you are employing the shipping matrix. I included a specific example to make sure:
| Quote: | Question: Let's say I have 3 items that they've added to the cart and I ship via priority mail. To ship these individually would cost $4.05 each, but if the weight is combined it is $5.70. Is the community cart going to charge $12.15 for these same items?
Answer: No, the shipping will be $5.70 |
So, the checkout experience will be automatic. 
Cheers!
Leesha Dawn |
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nonsport
Posts: 27
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| Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:43 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Answer: No, the shipping will be $5.70 |
This will only work if the customer orders 3 of the same weight items AND you have $5.70 on your matrix for this weight.
F'rinstance, if your customer orders one item @ 1 lb., one @ 2 lbs. and one @ 3 lbs. the total weight is 6 lbs. and will show the 6 pound weight IF you have it listed on the matrix.
I have no clue what will happen if there is no charge listed for 6 lbs.
Likewise, there is NO way to figure multiple Media Mail orders or anything which weighs under 1 lb. Unless combined, 99.9% of my items weigh less than 1 lb., and 50% of these weigh under 13 oz.
M |
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urbanmash
Posts: 86
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| Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 11:57 am Post subject: |
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Hi Sport!
You are absolutely correct. The matrix is designed to combine weight and calculate shipping based on one shipping method only. This presents a problem for sellers who are trying to give their customers the benefit of combined shipping discounts while using different shipping methods for individual purchases of different items.
wnorris posted a method he has come up with to set up the matrix for the differences (http://www.ecrater.com/community/viewtopic.php?p=2937, very clever); however, it requires a lot of math.
Needless to say, there has been a large number of merchants requesting more shipping options in the cart. Probably the quickest, easiest adjustment would be if the flat rate option were expanded to charge the full rate of shipping for the highest shipping charge, then add $X.00 for each additional item ordered. This still will not work for everyone, but for someone with similar weighted items, it would be a lot less work intensive than the current options.
Do you think that might work better for you? |
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wnorris
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:32 pm Post subject: |
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| nonsport wrote: | | Quote: | | Answer: No, the shipping will be $5.70 |
This will only work if the customer orders 3 of the same weight items AND you have $5.70 on your matrix for this weight.
F'rinstance, if your customer orders one item @ 1 lb., one @ 2 lbs. and one @ 3 lbs. the total weight is 6 lbs. and will show the 6 pound weight IF you have it listed on the matrix.
I have no clue what will happen if there is no charge listed for 6 lbs.
Likewise, there is NO way to figure multiple Media Mail orders or anything which weighs under 1 lb. Unless combined, 99.9% of my items weigh less than 1 lb., and 50% of these weigh under 13 oz.
M |
I live in KY, so if you live in a surrounding area, this may work for you. If not, you may have to look at the numbers a tweak it for yourself.
A bulk of my items ship media mail. For media mail, my shipping costs in the matrix are 2.25, 3.25, 4.5, 5.25, 6, 6.75, 7.5, 8.25, 9, .75. This is for columns 1...16+. These are basically the media mail rates I charge, which includes actual shipping, plus a small handling fee to cover packaging materials.
These media rates are the same for anyone in the US because media mail is a one zone shipping option. So items like trading cards that I enter as .05 pounds, or comics, as .3 pounds, will ship for a reasonable rate, even when ordering multiples. Example, 50 comics would only cost $9 ($6.99 actual for media shipping, $2 for box, delivery confirmation, tape, etc.). 20 trading cards would be $2.25 ($1.69 ship, $.56 for packaging). Again, a reasonable rate I think.
The problem then is what to do about non-media items like Hot Wheels cars or action figures. Well, my standard box holds 2 action figures, which will weigh a pound, so .5 pounds per figures (my bigger box happens to hold 4 and weighs two pounds, so again .5 pound per). These items all ship priority mail. Well, at .5 pounds, eCrater would only charge $2.25 for one figure, and it would actually cost $4.05. Not good. But multiply the weight X5 and enter 2.5 lb. Now one figure would cost 4.50. If someone orders 2, ecrater would use the 5 pound rate, which is 5.25, so the customer pays around a $1 more, but it is very close. If they order 4 figs, it comes out as 10 pounds, or $6.75.
$6.75 is roughly the correct charge (within $1) for priority shipping to zone 5. For zone 1,2,3 you overcharge about $2. For zone 8 however, you undercharge about $2. So if you get an equal # of orders from around the US, it should average out.
The same works for Hot Wheels cars. I can get three in my standard die-cast box, so it would be ~.3 pounds per car. Once car by itself weighs a little over .5 pound though. So $2.25 is an undercharge for priority and 1st class. However, if I multiply the .3 x5 and use 1.5 pounds as the weight of 1 car, it is $3.25, which I can do 1st class for one car, if they order two cars, it is $4.50, which is priority. 10 cars comes out to the 15 pound rate of $9. Zone 5 priority for 3 (.3*10) lbs is about $9. Again, Zones 1-4 are overcharged $1-$2 (which I think is reasonable since most places charge a handling fee anyway) and zones 6-8 are undercharged $1-$2. All things being equal, you should break even in the long run.
You just have to figure out your multiplier for each type of non-media item you sell. In most cases that number is x5 for me. I do have some items that are x4 or x6. This number is dependent on a few factors (like how many fit in your standard boxes), so you have to look at each type of item a few ways to determine the best multiplier. |
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