Quantity determines Weight

  • Resolved JJulien

    (@scabuster)


    2 years, 8 months ago

    Hello
    I have new install of wordpress and woocommerce, all up to date.
    I do not find the options that I need.
    When customer changes quantity, i need woocommerce to change real weight.

    The problem:
    If I enter 10 pounds weight under Products > Shipping > Weight. And customer buys 3 quantity, woocommerce calculates 10 lbs x 3 qty = 30 lbs. But this is not accurate. This is never accurate. Correct weight is calculated by base weight of packaging materials + product weight. Total shipping weight changes depending on quantity, but is never simply multiples of the weight that is entered in > product > shipping > weight.

    My scenario exactly:
    1) I sell only one product. This is good, weight is consistent per qty.
    2) I use only one size box. This is good, dimensions are consistent.
    3) I give customers one price for shipping, $3.50, up to 3 quantity. This my flat rate.
    But, actual cost for shipping is more, my shipping price is a discount.
    4) Customer only sees shipping cost $3.50 in cart and checkout. Good, because product is not sold by weight, and this is my flat rate offer.
    5) If customer buys up to 3 units, my shipping price to them stays the same
    Packaging = 0.5 lbs. 1 product = 0.25 lbs. Therefore:
    Shipping qty 1 = 0.75 lbs.
    Shipping qty 2 = 1 lbs.
    Shipping qty 3 = 1.25 lbs.
    6) My shipping label company must receive the correct weights to generate the correct postage price.

    Background detail:
    1) The industry standard for USPS and UPS is postage price is calculated based on 3 things:
    – Zip codes A to B.
    – Package dimensions.
    – Weight.
    2) My orders to go ShipStation, PirateShip, etc. These have integrations with woocommerce, agreements with woocommerce. Woocommerce knows how to feed the shipping weight to these companies. But, in order for these companies to generate the correct POSTAGE PRICE, they need the CORRECT WEIGHT.
    3) But real weight is not a normal operation of woocommerce, I don’t understand why.

    So, I need to be able to adjust different WEIGHT PER QUANTITY. Quantity determines weight, and weight is not simple multiples of weight entered under product, because this information must be accurate for USPS/ShipStation/PirateShip to charge me the correct amount of postage.
    Also, this weight info must be stored correctly in order details, so that it will be picked up by ShipStation, PirateShip integration API.
    And, I need it to stay the same as far as what the customer sees, currently and correctly the customer never sees it in checkout or cart, because the products are not sold by weight, and because i have already set their shipping cost.

    Please let me know how to accomplish this ‘quantity determines weight’ in woocommerce.

    Thank you,
    JJ

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

  • Hi @scabuster

    I understand that you are looking for a way to calculate the actual weight based on quantity, because the correct weight is calculated by base weight of packaging materials + product weight and is not just weight per unit x quantity.

    The WooCommerce Measurement Price Calculator plugin seems to be a good fit for this requirement. Here is how the plugin works: https://woocommerce.com/document/measurement-price-calculator/

    * For any pre-sales questions related to this plugin, you can create a ticket here. You’d need to log into your WooCommerce account before you can access that page or create an account if you do not have one. From there, click on the tab “I have a question about a specific extension or theme I’d like to purchase.” Just so you know, in the WooCommerce.com marketplace we offer a 30-day refund policy so you can test the extension and make sure it works for you.

    Also, this could help: https://woocommerce.com/document/adding-dimensions-and-weights-to-products-for-shipping/

    I came across a couple of good articles (1, 2) but those may not apply to your case as your requirement is slightly different.

    You may want to take a look at this plugin as well: https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/weight-based-shipping-for-woocommerce/

    If none of these help accomplish the exact workflow desired, you may need to consider custom coding. In that case, you can reach out to the customization experts listed here: https://woocommerce.com/customizations/.

    Thread Starter JJulien

    (@scabuster)

    Hello Margaret,
    Thank you for your kind reply.
    Unfortunately, these suggested plugins will not work for my needs.
    1) WooCommerce Measurement Price Calculator
    This is not in the woocommerce.org listing
    There is no information about what version of wordpress it is compatible with.
    There is no information about when it was updated.
    All other SkyView plugins were updated 5 months ago, and are not compatible with the current version of wordpress.
    They charge money.
    They charge a lot of money.
    They want a subscription.
    2) Weight-based Shipping for WooCommerce
    I have tried it.
    This is as the other plugins, it is using weight to affect price. My price is fixed.
    Also, I am not selling by weight.

    When I find a solution I will post it here.
    I continue to marvel at how companies that contract together, WooCommerce/ShipStation or WooCommerce/PirateShip, do not make sure, demand, that their services work together.

    Best,
    JJ

    Hello,

    To clarify, when checking the main page of a plugin at WooCommerce.com you can see the current version and last update date.


    Link to image: https://snipboard.io/GDKwJX.jpg

    To me your request sounds like conditional shipping, I understand you would like more affordable options. You can take a look at this article below:

    How To Set Up Shipping Rules

    Also, these plugins might help you out:
    — https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/fish-and-ships/
    — https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/conditional-shipping-for-woocommerce/

    Let us know if there are any questions.

    Thread Starter JJulien

    (@scabuster)

    Hello Igor,
    Thank you for chiming in.
    Actually, you didnt understand me at all.

    Thank you,
    Jesse

    Hello,

    If I enter 10 pounds weight under Products > Shipping > Weight. And customer buys 3 quantity, woocommerce calculates 10 lbs x 3 qty = 30 lbs. But this is not accurate.

    This is expected by default. If you need to add extra weight conditionally depending on the order quantity, you’ll either find a plugin does the job or go with a custom solution. You can get some insights from the following links:

    https://stackoverflow.com/questions/67410653/cart-total-weight-and-shipping-recalculation-on-woocommerce
    https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40546790/change-total-woocommerce-order-weight
    https://silicondales.com/tutorials/woocommerce/add-additional-shipping-weight-to-cart-items-in-a-shipping-class/

    If you can’t find a solution that exactly meets your requirements, or you’re not conformable with customization, I’d suggest consulting with a web developer or one of the services on our customizations page: https://woocommerce.com/customizations/

    Thread Starter JJulien

    (@scabuster)

    Hello May,
    Thank you for your kind reply.
    I have already seen the examples which you sent.
    Yes I am very comfortable with adding code, but not code thats over one year old as in the first link; or 5 years old as in the second example; the third example, they dont mention how old it is.
    Its my opinion that its not safe for woocommerce to make suggestions for code thats not written by themselves, or outdated suggestions either, because not only could it break a website or shopping cart, there could be security vulnerabilities.

    Woocommerce has its own plugin for generating postage, which bills the store owner.

    Let me outline the issues:
    If you’ve been charging postage based on woocommerce’s failure to calculate true weight, then you’ve been undercharging or overcharging, based on the quantity ordered. Which translates into unhappy me, and USPS and UPS will delay the shipment if they find out the postage is insufficient.

    If you’ve been overcharging because of this oversight, which you have been, then you are open to being sued by everyone using your cart, your postage plugin, and all of the other postage vendors that integrate with woocommerce, and all of their customers as well, for all the overages that you owe to them.

    The fundamental issue is simple:
    `Imagine you’re selling one product, and it weighs 10 lbs.
    You enter that into woocommerce under Products > Said product > Shipping > Weight field.
    Now think it forward. If a customer buys 1 of these, woo will calculate the weight as product weight x quantity = 10 lbs.
    So seller sends PirateShip the order details, and pays PirateShip for postage on 10 lbs.
    But it doesn’t work that way – its never the case.
    Because that weight you entered, is the product weight, not the product + packaging. And in this example of 1 qty, the weight will be over 10 lbs for not including the packaging, meaning the postage will technically be insufficient.
    Lets say you try to compensate for this, and in woocommerce you enter the true weight for that item, one number that combines packaging + 1 qty. Then if customer buys 2 qty, it will calculate the packaging 2x, and postage will be over what is actually necessary.

    Its very simple for woocommerce to fix this. Simply expand the product weight rule, or the shipping rule, to include 2 entries instead of 1: One for packaging weight, and one for product weight.

    The bottom line is, woocommerce generates order details, to be sent to postage vendors, and it should be the correct weight.

    Thank you,
    JJ

    Hi @scabuster

    Thanks for clarifying.

    I looked around for solutions but could not find a way that matches the requirement perfectly.

    Seems you may need to have it custom coded by a web developer. You may also consult the services on our customizations page: https://woocommerce.com/customizations/

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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