Installing the Shipping Calculator Plug-In For Mals-e.com

What specifically are the steps to install the plug-in?

• Register for the Plug-in if you have not already done so
• Configure your shipping calculator preferences for carrier services, handling fees, insurance and promotional shipping discounts appropriately
• Customize the Plug-In to match the look and feel of your Mal's shopping cart
• Update your Mals-e.com Preferences to use the Plug-in

AuctionInc Shipping Calculator Plug-in Setup

2. Customize Plug-In Next, go to our Mal's Configuration form. This configuration page will allow you to customize the Plug-in to have the same look and feel as your Mal's Shopping Cart.   The Help popup window on the form contains the details for each of the settings.

Special Note:

The Split Weight setting merits some additional information. The Mal's integration with the AuctionInc Plug-in passes only the total weight and value of the items in the shopping cart when the shopper presses the Calculate Shipping button. This limitation can present a problem when the combination of two or more items might require multiple packages to ship the order. To address this situation, the Split Weight setting allows you to control when the shipping calculator should split an order into multiple packages.  All items in the Mals cart will be included when determining this split.

When the combined weight of the order exceeds your defined limit, the calculator will automatically determine the appropriate number of packages and compute the shipping rate each. When creating multiple packages, the dollar value of the order is distributed evenly as a percentage of the weight of the package for the purpose of computing insurance.

Here is an example of how the calculator would work:

Split Weight setting of 4 lbs.
Combined weight of shopping cart items equals 10 lbs
Combined dollar value of shopping cart items equals $100.00
Calculator would compute shipping rates and insurance for following:
2 - Packages at 4 lbs, valued at $40 each
1 - Package at 2 lbs, valued at $20 (20% of overall weight)

Our recommendation is that you should set the weight to something that is appropriate for the type of merchandise that you are shipping or perhaps the average weight of your packages. Setting the split weight lower will result in more packages being generated which in turn increases the shipping rates. Setting the weight higher will generate fewer packages and might result in shipping rates that may not cover your actual cost. You may need to experiment with this setting to find the right balance.  

Mal's.com Setup

1.  Shipping Calculation Configuration

From Mal's Administration for the Shopping Cart, click on the Shipping link.  Select Option #8 (Posting Your Own Total).  Copy the HTML in the box below and paste into the text field of option 8:
<a href=http://auctioninc.com/util/mals.php?userid=YOUR-MALS-ID&{x}><img src=http://auctioninc.com/images/site/calcship1.gif border=0></a>
(Note: 150 character limit)
Make sure to replace YOUR-MALS-ID in the text above with your Mals-e user id. For example, if your user id was B123456, the link would look like this:
<a href=http://auctioninc.com/util/mals.php?userid=B123456&{x}><img src=http://auctioninc.com/images/site/calcship1.gif border=0></a>

Be careful not to have any line breaks in the url.If you prefer to use your own customized image for the "Calculate Shipping" button in the Mals cart, just change the source of the image (ie, "img src") in the code above to point to your own image.

Leave the checkbox for Automatically set units to equal the price (shipping by value) unchecked.

Note:  if you are using Advanced Shipping, you may need to turn it off in order to see the Standard Shipping options. To do this, go to "Global settings" and select "Just use the standard shipping calculations."

2.  Shipping Calculator Message

Next, from Mal's Admin Shopping Cart Setup Menu, click on the Messages and General Settings link.  In the Shipping text box, paste in the following text:
Shipping is calculated using real-time shipping rates that are based on the actual weight of the items you are purchasing.<b>Changes to cart requires you to click Calculate Shipping to update rates.</b>
You may change the text to your preferences (note: 250 character limit)

3.  Weight of Items

Finally, if you haven't already added the standard units variable the links of your "Add to Cart" buttons in your web site then you will need to update your web site HTML. The units variable is used to indicate the weight of the item in the pounds (lbs) unit of measure. This value will drive our weight-based shipping quotes.  You can use decimal values (ie, 2.2) if needed. Be sure to convert your ounces to fractional pounds (i.e. 1 lbs 8 oz = 1.50 lbs).

An example of the Add To Cart URL:

<a href="http://ww9.aitsafe.com/cf/add.cfm?userid=B713636&product=Yellow+Widget&price=12.95&units=1.25">Add to Cart</a>

Units can also be added as a form variable. For additional information on creating Add To Cart buttons visit Mals Shopping Cart Support page.

If you have a site that uses the OptionCart catalog system (which is sold through a variety of resellers), you can enter the "units" value thru your Administation system.  Edit your products and fill in the "units" value with your item weight.

Other Configuration Considerations

1.  Handling Fees   Both AuctionInc and Mal's allow you to configure handling fees.  It is your decision which system, if any,  to use to manage these. We do not suggest that you use both as this would make life more complex than it need be!  AuctionInc does offer far more options in determining and setting your handling fees than does Mal's at this time. 

2.  Sales Taxes   You should configure any necessary taxes on your product cost through the Mal's configuration.  Also, if you need to tax shipping as well as your item cost, please also set this option through the Mal's configuration (the first option on the Mal's Sales Tax configuration page). 

3.  Insurance Calculations   Mal's sends to our shipping calculator one summary figure for the item value in the Mal's Shopping Cart.  Similar to the weight total, our shipping calculator has no way of knowing how many items are represented in this total and if more than one item, how much value each item has.  This makes correctly calculating insuance costs somewhat problematic.  Our solution to this is very much like the one we are using for the summary weight total; ie, we will divide the total value by the same percentages as we use with the weight on splitting packages.  For example, if the total value of the item(s) in the cart is $100, the total weight is 12.5 lbs, and your split weight is 5 lbs, we will assume that the first two packages are worth $40 and the third is worth $20.  Insurance also cannot be controlled at an item level; you may set it as either globally on or off, by setting your insurance threshold appropriately on the Carrier Settings page. 

4.  Optional Insurance Option   The optional insurance configuration option which is listed on our Carriers Configuration page is not available for the Mal's Plug-In at this time.  It will be available in future versions.

5.  Shipping Discounts Promotions   Our Shipping Discounts are valid with the Plug-In; ie, any discounts that you configure on our Shipping Discounts configuration page will be factored into the shipping quotes.  However, the two options listed at the top of this page (ie, "Show Savings" and " Promote the Shipping Discount") are not available for the Mal's Plug-In.  In other words, while the discount will be applied, the customer will not be informed how much savings the dsicount provided.  These options will also be available in a future release of our Plug-In.

A comprehensive list of the differences in supported features between our ShopCart and our Mals Plug-In is available here.

How Do You Determine Which Carrier Service your Customer Selected?:

The shipping method that your customer selects during their purchasing session will be listed in the Detail of each Mal's order.  In Mal's, click on "View Orders" and then the "Detail" link for each order.  The method appears in the Delivery Details section, directly below the customer's phone.