votrechien - 12:29 am on Jul 2, 2011 (gmt 0)

I could see if somebody wants to take a shot at programing a formula... But for instance... We could have something that goes in a 6x6x70 box. Or have that with something the size of a penny added to it. Or a cable added to it that we could fit, or one that's too long and has to go separate. Or have a 6x6x64 with one item. Or have five of those, but now be in a 10x10x64 that goes over the dimensional weight, recalculating the whole thing. Or add the some small cables to those, or long cables with those that have to go separate. Or 6 of the 70" items that have to be broken into two boxes, two charges. On top of that, we have custom stuff where the dimensions aren't even known until it's made. You get the idea. Obviously it can be done automatically... But I would bet that no matter what you do, either the customer would end up paying too much, or we would. It might come out in the wash, but how many people are you ticking off in the process. But thinking about it... I don't think the free thing would really work either.

You're never going to get it completely right. I've only ever run into one company who does get it completely right and they charge shipping about a day later after they've calculated the cost and run the credit card through again, and this is a horrible way to do it IMO.

It is possibly to get a system down that is accurate to within a few percentage points. Individual orders will never be correct but overall, it will be.

With that in mind, I believe the best way to keep your customers happy is to always undercharge, even if it's only by 10% or so. That way the cases where they are overcharged for shipping are few and far between.