Shipping Dimensions VS Item Dimensions

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I'm working on setting up my shipping info. I am selling Dollhouses, everything form kits for a house to tiny accessories. The dimensions I entered for the house kits are the over all dimensions once the house is assembled. This is the size that a buyer would want to know. However, when it comes to shipping, a house that is 48"H X 29"w X 19"D actually ships in a flat box much smaller. So if my shipping plug-in uses the dimensions in the description of the products, the shipping will require a small bank loan! But, again, the buyer wants to know how big the house is once it's put together.So how can I avoid this problem?

Also, I am having trouble finding some documentation that I need. I see a lot of comments about using 'warehouse' when doing shipping. However, I am having trouble finding anything about what warehouses are, and how I set up different ones.

I do have at least 4 different venders/distributors that I offer items from on my website. They will all drop ship for me. But I have to figure out how to figure out a shipping charge to when an order is placed. If anyone can point me towards some good tutorials or info on these topics, I would love it!

I import my items with a CVS file. I have created 'product_vendor_id' and 'product_warehouse_id' columns in the file, and set them up in HikaShop. My products all also belong to a category, (currently I have over 800 categories.)
I've been working on this e-com site for a very long time now, and have 40,000+ items to offer! So I really need to get all the technical details worked out so I can put this site to use.

One last item, I have been reading a lot on the forum about HikaMarket and wonder if that is something I should look into. While I offer products from different vendors, my vendors do not interact with my website at all. When I get an order, I have to turn around and place the order with that vender.

Thanks for any help I can get.
Barbara

Thanks for your reply.
HikaMarket, I agree does not sound useful to me.

Please let me explain a bit about how my shop works. I am the ONLY person who edits, enters, & updates product listings. My distributor, Handley House does not interact with my web site at all. With my retail license, I have accounts set up with Handley house, Alessio's, and Majestic Masions. All 3 of these companies are in different US states. All three of them offer to drop ship orders for me. I have downloaded inventory lists from each company, as well as their images. I then format them and upload them to my HikaShop. If someone places an order on my website, I then have to turn around and place an order with the company, and have the items drop shipped. A forth company McGhee's Miniature, are items that I hand make myself, and so would ship from my location.

The other 3 companies have their own shipping set up their own way. I need to figure out a way to take orders from my site, figure the shipping to charge, and then place the orders with the other companies. So for each company I will ask which service they use, and what methods (cheapest, priority, ect) they offer. Then I also pay a $5 fee to have items drop shipped.

I have set up each company under a 'Brand' as well as a "Warehouse.' I think I need to set up my shipping using 'Brands' or 'Warehouses' but I am not sure how to do this. You mentioned the "product_manufacturer_id" value. I placed that column in my import sheet, with the names of the companies for each item in a test file. I imported this .csv file, and under Categories, I get a category named product_manufacturer_id. However, there are no values in that category.

My categories I set up by creating them in HikaShop, and then placing the category number listed in HikaShop in the "categories" column of my csv file. I do not see a way to create manufacturers on the back end like I did for categories.

I also still have the issue of the product dimensions. My buyer will want to see the dimensions of the fully assembled product. These dimensions are very different from the shipping dimensions. I there a way to show the assembled dimensions to the customer, but have the shipping use a different set of dimensions?

Thanks,
Barbara

Hello,

The other 3 companies have their own shipping set up their own way. I need to figure out a way to take orders from my site, figure the shipping to charge, and then place the orders with the other companies. So for each company I will ask which service they use, and what methods (cheapest, priority, ect) they offer. Then I also pay a $5 fee to have items drop shipped.

Ok so who is supposed to go through the checkout workflow on your website ? How do you exactly want the shipping method to be attached through your order.

I have set up each company under a 'Brand' as well as a "Warehouse.' I think I need to set up my shipping using 'Brands' or 'Warehouses' but I am not sure how to do this. You mentioned the "product_manufacturer_id" value. I placed that column in my import sheet, with the names of the companies for each item in a test file. I imported this .csv file, and under Categories, I get a category named product_manufacturer_id. However, there are no values in that category.

A solution can be to manually create a product with a warehouse attached to it, export that product, edit the exported CSV file by using the model of the product that you have created manually.

I also still have the issue of the product dimensions. My buyer will want to see the dimensions of the fully assembled product. These dimensions are very different from the shipping dimensions. I there a way to show the assembled dimensions to the customer, but have the shipping use a different set of dimensions?

you should specify the dimensions/weight that will be shipped through the weight/width/length/height options of your product configuration page, and then specify the assembled dimensions through your product description.

I'm not sure how to answer your question about my shipping. The way it should work is, that customers come to my website. They order items from my website, and pay me for them. I then have to order the items from my venders who will drop ship them for me. The shipping part of my workflow, won't actually create a shipping label, or interact with a shipping service. i need the shipping portion to come up with a shipping cost that I will charge to cover the shipping costs I will have from my venders.

I guess it would be more like a shipping calculator, just adding a shipping cost so the transaction can be completed.

Does this make sense?

You wrote:
you should specify the dimensions/weight that will be shipped through the weight/width/length/height options of your product configuration page, and then specify the assembled dimensions through your product description.

Should I then not make the dimensions visible on the page?

Hello,

i need the shipping portion to come up with a shipping cost that I will charge to cover the shipping costs I will have from my venders.

Note that you won't be able to charge your customers for the shipping cost that you had when ordering the item from your vendors. You'll have to charge your customers DURING the checkout workflow, if not, your customers will have to wait until you know what will be the shipping price, and then pay his order, but that won't be that easy to do and useful for you.

Should I then not make the dimensions visible on the page?

I was just saying that for shipping methods, the dimensions/weight that will be used, will be the one that you have set on the "weight/height/width/length" options of your product configuration page.

Sorry for the long delay, I had a bad accident at work, and was out of work for 2 months.

Let me address one problem at a time, because I am overwhelmed.

When an order is placed on my web site, I have to take that order and submit the order to my distributor. If the order is over $30, I pay a drop-ship fee of $5, plus the shipping cost. If the order is under $30, I pay a drop-ship fee of $7, plus the shipping cost. If the order is $250 (wholesale) or $500 (retail), the shipping is free.

So I need 3 shipping rates for this distributor. If I were writing it in code, I would have an 'if... then' function. I'm not sure how to set this up in HikaShop. I may use the drop-ship plus a % of the total sale, to get the shipping. The customer on my web site will not be able to choose their shipping method. They will simply be told what the shipping cost is.

Any help with this would mean a lot.
Thanks,
Barbara

Sorry for the long delay, I had a bad accident at work, and was out of work for 2 months.

Sorry to hear that .

1.
To do that you'll just have to create one shipping method per case by using the price/Maximum price/Minimum price options
2.

The customer on my web site will not be able to choose their shipping method. They will simply be told what the shipping cost is.

In that case, you'll just have to configure your shipping methods so that your customer will only have one shipping method available.

Thanks, I will give that a try!