Canada Post Shipping - Accuracy & Group Packages

-- HikaShop version -- : 2.3.4 Essential
-- Joomla version -- : 3.3.6
-- PHP version -- : 5.4.34
-- Browser(s) name and version -- : All

First, thank you for the existing plugin and documentation. It is a process to setup an account with Canada Post but I have finally gotten through it.

I'm having issues with the accuracy of the shipping calculator and confusion around setting up the "Group Packages" system.

My product dimensions are:
17 x 12 x 2 cm
0.100 kg

Group Package is:
40 x 30.5 x 21.6
Weight: 20 kg

Various boxes in the Canada Post Sell-online account are as follows:

Weight Limit of Box (kg)| Box Weight (kg) | Length (cm) | Width (cm) | Height (cm)
Box 1 5.000 0.100 17.0 12.0 2.0
Box 2 8.000 0.200 24.0 17.0 2.5
Largest Box 20.000 0.500 40.0 30.5 21.6
Box 3 10.000 0.300 31.1 23.5 13.3

Ship from postal code: L2R 6P9
Ship to postal code: L8S 3P6

Problem 1 - Shipping Calculator Accuracy
a) Shipping calculator reports $7.70 for 1 package (should include $1.50 handling)
b) www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/busi...ARate?execution=e1s3 reports $8.64 for 1 package (17x12x2 cm 0.500kg) (would not include handling)
c) Modifying the handling fee in the Canada Post SellOnline site has no effect on shipping price.

I have tried playing around with weights and sizes without much success, as suggested in this thread:
www.hikashop.com/forum/4-how-to/74797-ca...-checkout.html#76192

A product of any size between 1x1x1 and 17x12x2 always gives the same result of $7.70. However a product of 40x20x2 uses 2 packages even though the grouped package is larger than that. Which brings me to my next problem..

Problem 2 - Group Packaging

I've also had problems getting the packages to group.
Example - 5 products in cart
At actual size and weight - ships 5 different packages, total cost $38.50
Turning off group packaging makes total cost $65.50 (doesn't list number of packages)

Playing around with the product sizes, shipping 5 products
Anywhere between 1x1x2 and 15x10x2 calculates $8.90
16x10x2 and over makes it back to 5 packages at $38.50, even at as high as 30x17x2.

Changing the weight between 0.490 and 0.010kg has no effect on the price.

Any suggestions or fixes to the plugin to help resolve these issues?

Thanks!

Hello,

Firstly, can you show me some screenshots of how did you configured your Canada Post shipping plugin ?

Here they are below.

Hello,
1.
In you case you have set the "Group packages" option to YES and the "Dimensions and weight of grouped packages" option, so your products will be grouped on 40 x 30.5 x 21.6 cm packages which will weight less than 20 KG. Note that these option can make your shipping price vary.

Modifying the handling fee in the Canada Post SellOnline site has no effect on shipping price

You should probably just use the price option of the shipping plugin.

2.

Playing around with the product sizes, shipping 5 products
Anywhere between 1x1x2 and 15x10x2 calculates $8.90
16x10x2 and over makes it back to 5 packages at $38.50, even at as high as 30x17x2.

Changing the weight between 0.490 and 0.010kg has no effect on the price.

You should maybe test it with bigger difference on weights.
Also, note that the when the group packages is ON, the packages dimensions will be set to :
- The 2 bigger dimensions of all products
- The total of the smaller dimension of all products.

Thanks for your suggestion with the handling fee, that seems to work well.

I'm still having issues with the group package shipping. As you mentioned, the shipping module should calculate the two bigger dimensions of all products (in my case 30cm and 17cm) and the total of the smallest dimension of all products (in my case 2cm). For 7 products that would mean a package larger than 30x17x14 would be required. Even at a smaller group package size of 31.1x23.5x13.3 cm that should fit 6 products and therefor only require two packages.

I have tried with more substantial changes to the weight but it does not seem to help. This particular store at the moment has only one product and it is quite small. Therefor the group shipping option is very important to get working.

Below are a couple more screenshots of the front end checkout. Let me know if you need any more information as I really need to get this working.

Thank you

Hello,
Can you give me a temporary access to your back-end through a private message so that I can directly test it ?
Thanks.

Hello,
I'm currently having a "Username and password do not match or you do not have an account yet" error when I try to log in your back-end.
Also, note that I'm currently "rewritting" the group package algorithm and the package calculation of the canada post plugin, these modifications will available through the next Hikashop version.

Sorry about that, I have fixed and tested the user account, works fine now.

Do you have an approximate time-line for the release of the updated plugin?

Probably 2 months as we are actually developing and testing it for each shipping method .