Australa Post not calculating correctly

Just added a new product and put in the dimensions of 40cm x 40cm x 5cm height and a weight of 0.25kg.

Not sure how you calculate the postage for Australia Post but if I order 2 of these products then total weight is 0.50kg.

With a $5.00 postage and handling fee, Hikashop gives me a total regular post price of $19.40 (actual post of $14.40).

When I put the same figures into the Australia Post calculator here: auspost.com.au/apps/postage-calculator.html
putting 40cm x 40cm x 5cm height with total weight of 0.5kg - the regular post price is $6.95.
This is for a postcode from 3107 to 6230.

Why is this so different in Hikashop calculation?

Also the other thing I have noticed with my particular product here is that although the box size is 40cm x 40cm, the actual product is 5cm in depth but I add 2 products together, the actual height would be 6cm, and if I added a 3rd stacked in tray, it becomes 7cm.
We can't assume that the total box size is 40cm x 40cm x 5cm which is the products dimensions. How can this be fixed or is this impossible?

Other question is how to compensate for the box weight. This is different according to how many products are purchased but impossible to add to Hikashop unless we just add some more weight ot the individual product - this could make the shipping more expensive that what it should be or even less than that.,

Hello,
1. Can you :
- show me how did you configured your product and your Australia Post shipping method through some screenshots ?
- change the value of the "Group products together" Australia Post option and try it again ?

2. 3. Can you please give me more information about the issues that you are talking about by giving me examples ?

Thank you.

I have being doing a lot of testing under different scenarios.

Can you advise how your Australia Post calculator works.

As an example in Hika I have a product that has a length of 51cm x width of 51cm x height of 1cm
The weight is 0.51kg.
So the volume of the product is 0.51m x 0.51m x 0.01m = 0.002601 per product.
If I order 8 products, then I am guessing Hika is adding the heights together so for 8 products that is 8cm in height.
So volume for 8 products is .51m x .51m x .08m = 0.020808

For Australia Post, they will use either the total weight or the cubic weight whichever is the greater.
In this case, the total weight = 4.08kg
The total cubic weight is = (0.51m x 0.51m x .08m) x 250 = 5.2Kg

So in this case the Australia Post online calculator for their website gives me a price of $41.55. That is for being sent from postcode of 3107 to postcode 6285.

In Hika, the price I am getting is $138.60. Thats almost $100 more.

Something is wrong in the Australia Post module.

When I look at the actual Australia Post "regular parcel charges within Australia" document, there isn't a figure of $138.60 anywhere. That is way off the chart as parcels are only able to be sent up to 22kg in weight or cubic weight.

How are you calculating the postage in your Aussie post calculator. It appears to be coming out with correct pricing when the weight is greater than the cubic weight but once the cubic weight is greater than actual weight the prices are coming out wrong.

Hello,
1. As I told you through that thread :

you should turn off the "Group products together" to have the same value as the Australia post website for 6 products.

2. Regarding the way we are calculating Australia Post rates, we are not calculating it but we are just sending them your package information like the width/lenght/height/weight of your package, and then Australia post send us some rates regarding the information that we sent.

Turning off "Group products together" in the Australia Post plugin doesn't help - it is still calculating incorreclty. Also it says on Hika help that if you turn this off, then the postage price is going to be more expensive as you are sending each item individually. I don't want that and was advised to make sure it was set to Yes a long time ago when I first set Hika up.

It won't even give me an Australia Post option if the group products together is set to off - it has error message "The cart items combined volume is too big for all the possible shipping methods". So I have turned it back on and I don't get that error message any more.

I put in another order for 6 of the same products on Hika. Each of the items is 0.32kg (total weight is 1.92kg). The size is 40cm x 40cm x 5cm for a single item.

How do you send the info to Australia Post - total combined weight of 1.92kg with 40cm x 40cm length and width? But what height is sent to Australia Post? If its only 5cm then Hika comes up with $43.20 as the cost. Australia Post website has only $22.15.

If you are sending the height as 5cm x 6 products = 30cm then Australia Post calculator is $70.60. If I set the height at 1cm it still comes out at $43.20. This is not a correct figure as this figure does not appear in the hard copy of the Australia Post package rates which I have of the latest copy and which matches the Australia Post online calculator.

It just doesn't work. I cannot work out what to do other than to create manual shipping methods of which there are going to be many to cover all the different post code ranges and then just put down a price where at least 80% of the time I will cover the postage costs and just grin and bear it for those times when the shipping is costing me money.

I just can't see what I am doing wrong to give me wrong figures. I am sure there is something wrong in what is being sent to Australia POst or what is being sent back. No matter what I do I just can't match the 2 systems together when there is more than 1 product. For 1 product is appears to work fine, but as soon as you have mulitple products then the australia post pricing is incorrect.

Hi,

It won't even give me an Australia Post option if the group products together is set to off - it has error message "The cart items combined volume is too big for all the possible shipping methods". So I have turned it back on and I don't get that error message any more.

I told you to turn off the "Group package" option because :
- When you test it through the Australia post website you're sending only one package but when you have 6 products without the "group package" option, you'll send 6 packages with one product in it.
- The "Group package" function will make sure to regroup your product through packages until they are full and then regroup your other product on another package.

So if you want to "correctly" test it through the Australia post website, the best way will be to send 6 package, so 1 for each product.

This is very confusing.

I have turned off Group Products Together in the Aussie Post plugin. All this does is turn off any option to choose Australia Post on the front end and just get the error message "The cart items combined volume is too small for all the possible shipping methods".

Australia Post will clearly never work - especially if I have a number of different products at different weights and sizes even if I can put them all in the same box to send.

I've given up on Australia Post and will have to stick to Manual shipping product.

Thanks

Hi.

I am also having problems with the AusPost plugin. Can someone please confirm that it "Group Products Together" is set to "Yes" the plugin should take only the longest length or width from the group of products and then calculate based on height??

It appears that the dimensions are being added in my case.

I have a product (a photographic print) with the dimensions as follows L-63.5cm W-33cm H-2cm.

When an order is placed for 2 of these I am told it will need to be split into 2 packages - this shouldn't be the case because my final package would be L-63.5 W-33cm H-4cm

Please advise if there is a reason the calculation isn't working.

Cant tell you Bullantmm

No matter what I do, I just cannot get the Australia Post plug-in to work properly. I have tried countless products and variations to test it, and I just can't figure out how the plug-in is calculating. Nothing every compares to the Australia Post calculator online or to their hard copy postcode range/prices list.

And then there is the thing with Australia Post where if you get a box that is say 50cm long x 40cm wide x 11cm high with some stock in it, take it into an Aust Post Office, they weigh it and give you the price. But then they tell you that if it wasn't shaped like a rectangular box but was in fact irregular, it would be a cheaper price. So now I get my stock and I pack it in the same box, but then get some bubble wrap and place it in the middle before I seal up the box so that it makes a bulge in the middle. It's amazing the price difference.
Wonder if any online shop calculators could allow for that. Maybe a tick box saying Irregular Shape Box so that the calculations are different.

I found the following forum post on Flying sole website - maybe this will help if someone fixes up the Hika Aust Post plug-in.

---

........., but I know that the Australia Post calculator will use the weight or the cubic volume, whichever is greater in its calculation.

The way we approach it is that all items in the cart are added up and the total weight is submitted to the calculator as a single package with minimum dimensions so we always get a shipping calculation based on the total weight of all the items the customer is purchasing.

This is fine in most cases, but sometimes our customers have bulky items, so they have a way of configuring such items as "bulky" and providing the dimensions of these items.

When the customer orders bulky items, all the items in the cart are split up into non-bulky items, with the shipping being calculated as the total weight of the item, and all the bulky items being treated as separate parcels using either the weight or the dimensions of the item as appropriate. Finally all the shipping estimates from Australia Post are added up and that's the final amount that gets presented to the customer.

We also have additional configuration options that allow the store owner to add additional handling days onto the delivery estimate from Australia Post, and they can also add additional handling fees as a flat amount or as a percentage of the total shipping rate.

All in all, this seems to deal with the vexing problem of shipping rate calculations.

---

Hi,

I am also having problems with the AusPost plugin. Can someone please confirm that it "Group Products Together" is set to "Yes" the plugin should take only the longest length or width from the group of products and then calculate based on height??

Yes by using the "Group product together" option, your packages will have the 2 maximum dimensions of your products (width, length, or width) and then it will sum the last dimension.

for example :

product 1 : 3 x 6 x 5
product 2 : 4 x 8 x 7
=
Grouped package => 7 x 8 x 7

Note that it will also sum the weight of your product, can you tell me the dimensions and weight of your product so that I can directly test it ?

Thanks.

Mohamed Thelji wrote: Hi,

I am also having problems with the AusPost plugin. Can someone please confirm that it "Group Products Together" is set to "Yes" the plugin should take only the longest length or width from the group of products and then calculate based on height??

Yes by using the "Group product together" option, your packages will have the 2 maximum dimensions of your products (width, length, or width) and then it will sum the last dimension.

for example :

product 1 : 3 x 6 x 5
product 2 : 4 x 8 x 7
=
Grouped package => 7 x 8 x 7

Note that it will also sum the weight of your product, can you tell me the dimensions and weight of your product so that I can directly test it ?

Thanks.

My product is exactly as follows:
Length - 25in
Width - 13in
Height - 0.5in
Weight - 0.15kg

Hi,
I just checked the Australia post algorithm and it seems like packages can't exceed :
Length : 1050 mm
Width : 350 mm
Height : 350 mm

In your case the width is too high to send only one package.

Yes but 13in is approx 330mm so it is within the limit... The final package (if 2) would be stacked together and therefore 25in (635mm) x 13in (330mm) x 1in(25mm)

This would be within the limits wouldn't it?

What I'm saying is that all dimensions should NOT be adding together but only the shortest side should be adding. You wouldn't post 2 photo frames side by side...

There is no easy solution to Australia Post.

I have one product that is 51cm x 51cm x 5cm in height. If I have an order for more than one, then it only adds 1cm to the height as this particular product can be stacked within the next) like a tray. The box I have for this product is 51cm x 51cm x 11cm high. I can't use these dimensions for each product as if someones orders 8 as the the height will be over.

Impossible to do this in any online shop I think.

In my case it's easier to set up manual shipping for these products based on postcodes in Australia. It takes a bit of time but its pretty accurate.

The thing I find wrong though is that if someone orders products that have a manual shipping method and one that has been set to use Australia Post, the postage does not work - it doesn't come out with 2 different types of postage at the end.

Hmmm. I am happy if it gets to 8 and I have send another but 2 product shouldn't do this!
This should calculate fairly easily wouldn't you think...

Hello,
I've done some modifications through the Australia post shipping plugin, so can you test it with that version :

That looks like it has fixed it! Thanks! Will this be included in future releases of this plugin?

Chris

Yes, and we'll probably also improve group package calculation algorithm .

Still not working for me.

I upload the plugin from previous post and I tested my product by purchasing 6.

Each product is 41cm x 41cm x 5cm - and the weight is 0.25kg

For 6 the volume should be 41cm x 41cm x 30cm and a total weight of 1.5kg.

The volume or cube weight is 41cm x 41cm x 30cm x 250 = 12.6kg
12.6kg: > 1.5kg so the 12.6kg is weight that Australia Post take into account.

If you enter 41cm x 41cm x 30cm and a weight of 1.5kg for postcodes going from 3107 to 5000, Australia Post gives me a cost of $26.10. Hika is giving me $43.20 which is not right. ( auspost.com.au/apps/postage-calculator.html )

The problem I have is that this product can fit inside another of the same product like stacking trays. So the first product is 5cm in height but you can stack the other 5 and each one only adds another 1cm to the height so 5cm + (5 x 1cm) = 10cm. This only cost me about $17.70 to send so I am making money on the postage which I actually don't want to do. And $46.20 as per Hika to $17.70 to what I pay at Australia Post - I am making a lot of money.


So when I do go to the post office to send this off, I am charged for a package that is 41cm x 41cm x 10cm at 1.5kg.

Hello,

Each product is 41cm x 41cm x 5cm - and the weight is 0.25kg

As I said in my previous post :

I just checked the Australia post algorithm and it seems like packages can't exceed :
Length : 1050 mm
Width : 350 mm
Height : 350 mm

So for 6 products, you'll send 6 packages.

After checking that Australia post page : auspost.com.au/parcels-mail/size-and-weight-guidelines.html
I'll change the group package algorithm so that it will restrict the packages dimensions only regarding :
- The maximum dimension (1050 mm)
- The cubic meters for domestic destinations or the girth for international destinations.