Help! Can't figure out shipping

[gluck]

We want to set up USPS live rates based on shipping weight.

We have weights for each product, but where do we specify the weight of the shipping box?

We don't want to add extra weight to each product to account for the shipping box because this would give really low or really high shipping costs.

For example, let's say ...
* a shipping box weighs 1 lb
* 4 items can fit in a box
* each item is 1/2 lb.

If we add 1/4 lb to the weight of each item to account for the box and someone orders just 1 item, the actual total weight of the order would be 1-1/2 lb but 3dcart would think it's only 1/2 + 1/4 = 3/4 lb!

How have you accounted for the weight of the shipping box?

[hanzoswords]

add a small handling fee that should cover the weight of any of the boxes you use.

[hanzoswords]

another option is to mark your products weight up by a few ounces which will also cover this cost.

[gluck]

Thanks, hanzoswords.

The drawback to the handling fee is that it shows up as a separate item in the cart - we want any markup to be as invisible as possible.

And we're trying to avoid adding extra weight to each product because of the problems we mentioned in the original post.

Anyone else?

[brassandsilver]

We just round up the product weight for each item a little bit. I isn't precise, but we have customers ordering a wide variety of items and quantities with each purchase, so there isn't really a way to predict it exactly. For us, we then review the individual product weights for items when there was a discrepancy on the shipping weight of order to see if we can make any adjustments that would help.

[gluck]

Thanks, brassandsilver.

Is there a way to set up an INVISIBLE free item or option that will be added to every order. The free item/option would have a weight equal to weight of shipping box?

[ElegantWeddings]

Thanks, brassandsilver.

Is there a way to set up an INVISIBLE free item or option that will be added to every order. The free item/option would have a weight equal to weight of shipping box?

You can add the invisible fee to the product:

Products>View Edit...
Information >> Shipping Options section (where the weight height etc defined)
add an amount to the "Shipping" box, default is 0.00