Force shipping choice on checkout

[lovinwordpress]

Hello admin, I can see what you mean. I actually believe that most people are actually acting on the basis of good will and if they are simply choosing from the dropdown menu in order to get a cheaper postage then that can be dealt with, because their Paypal address won’t reflect what they’ve chosen. The domestic side of things is fine because their process is more automated as they are shown one postage amount and they do not need to click the update button. But I am experiencing that only international buyers are getting confused with the process which means that there must be something amiss with the checkout process for them.

When I start seeing it from their point of view, it starts to make a bit of more sense because even I buy stuff on the internet too. Normally the postage is calculated once you’ve selected your own country so that the buyer is shown only one postage amount in the end. If they want to try to be fraudulent and start selecting a different country just to get cheaper postage then we can always go back to them and tell them what they are doing is not right but at least there can be no confusion about it.

But that’s not what we’re getting. Our buyers are saying that they thought the postage shown was a flat rate postage and somehow we found a way to make it cheap for international postage. Of course, that sounds insane from our point of view but it is also not impossible for them to think that way. Of course, some will pay the extra for their shipping but also some will not because they really thought they were getting a good deal and that would have resulted in a full refund. Of course, I do not blame them either.

That’s because right now, a based shipping is immediately shown upon checkout. We can’t blame them for quickly clicking on the checkout button because they wouldn’t think that you would need to click on the update button, after all it clearly shows a price under “shipping”. Of course reading the text (which I do have) beforehand would have helped them better understand the process but you do get the ones who do not read. After all, most checkout processes don’t have lengthy text that needs to be read unless it is terms and conditions. The room for error and confusion is too wide and thus takes more administrative time to get back to the buyers and ask for more money which is not something any seller would want to do in the first place.

I suppose what I’ve proposed might be too difficult or time consuming to do but you would really be capturing the market out there that Paypal hasn’t catered for yet. So far only US Paypal users have the option for international shipping.

Forcing them to press the update button would help but the based shipping should not be shown at all in the first place. The based shipping is the one that is causing a real confusion here. After all, what is the based shipping really doing here to help the buyer understand the checkout process? Most don’t even understand what “based shipping” is. They only understand terms like “domestic shipping” and “international shipping”

Once they have selected their country from the dropdown menu and there will be even an option for Australia (which is the domestic shipping), then click update to show the final postage amount.

This also means that we do not need to provide explanations like “please click on update for international shipping” or etc because it is already understood. And thus makes the process faster too. This would be the much preferred method.

OR

Forcing them to press the update button should take them to a page that says that they would need to select from the dropdown menu if they want it shipped to another country. That way it re-enforces that the price of the postage is going to be different for international shipping. I am aware it might slow the process down with an extra page but having that extra page will force them to read on how the shipping works. Once they’ve selected their country, click next and the following page will display the grand total (price of item + postage) with the checkout button. If they do not agree, then they can always cancel the transaction then.

But this method adds an extra page and it does slow the process down so the first option is still the best way to go.

[admin]

Question for you…

1. How many shipping variations do you have at the moment?

2. Can you please copy and paste the content that you have in your shipping variation field?

3. Can you please post a link to the page where you have a physical product?

[lovinwordpress]

Hi admin, thanks for the help,

These are the answers based on the numbered questions:

1. I have 6 at the moment

2. Country|New Zealand:15|United Kingdom:30|Asia/Pacific:20|USA/Canada/Middle East:35|Other:50|Australia

3. http://www.thepharmacyoutlet.com.au/general-health/gastric-health/indigestion/degas-100mg-48caps/

Thanks again, admin

Will be waiting to see what you come up with…

[admin]

Thank you… I will look into this and see what I can come up with.

[admin]

Okay I have added another option where you can make it so your customers have to select a variation first before they will see the “Total Shipping” amount. Until they select a variation, it will show a message instead of the shipping amount.

I have sent you an update of the plugin to your email for testing. Please do the following after you receive my email:

Open the “eStore_advanced_configs.php” file and look for the following line of code:

define('WP_ESTORE_MUST_UPDATE_SHIPPING_SELECTION_TO_VIEW_SHIPPING', '0');

Once you find it, change it to the following:

define('WP_ESTORE_MUST_UPDATE_SHIPPING_SELECTION_TO_VIEW_SHIPPING', '1');

Let me know how that goes.

[Author]

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