[ic] Questions about Interchange

[Rick Bragg]

On Thu, 2010-02-18 at 16:57 -0500, Rick Bragg wrote:
> On Wed, 2010-02-17 at 11:18 -0600, Todd W. White wrote:
> > Hello,
> > 
> > Our company manufactures and sells items that are of various sizes and
> > weights. We also sell internationally.
> > 
> > When we ship, be it via UPS, FedEx, or USPS, the carriers always want
> > to know several things in order to give us an accurate shipping quote
> > to our customers.
> > 
> > They usually want to know:
> > 
> > * The shipping weight of the item.
> > * The dimensions of the box it is being shipped in.
> > * The destination of the package.
> > * How many packages are going to that address.
> > * The value of the shipment.
> > * If we want to insure the shipment.
> > 
> > For international shipments, the carriers also calculate the customs
> > charges, if any, to the particular country the shipment is going to.
> > 
> > What I would like to know is:
> > 
> > 1. Is your program configured to handle the type of data we would need
> > to give it so that it can accurately calculate shipping for people who
> > are buying items from our webstore?
> 
> Shipping can be totally customized, Keep in mind however, it is hard to
> determine how there "cart" will look in reality.  i.e. (using a bikeshop
> as an example) someone can order a whole bunch of parts and some tools
> and maybe it would all fit on one box;  Another person may order some
> fenders, wheels, and a couple of frames where each item is it's own
> package...  It's best to try to find a happy medium.  I have programmed
> a system that bases shipping on weight, and adds additional costs for
> special items like wheels.
> 
> > 2. If not, can it be configured to do so, and what would that cost?
> 
> Pretty much anything can be done with Interchange, cost depends on your
> developers.  Are you currently working with someone now? If not, you can
> put out a request on the "Interchange-biz" mailing list. I'm also
> looking for work (shameless plug ;)
> 
> 
> > 3. Can it be setup to accept payments through PayPal?
> 
> There is a paypal module available in the git tree under
> lib/Vend/Payment/.  Documentation for it is inside the module itself.
> 
> 
> > 4. We already accept credit cards - with your program, is it possible
> > to continue to do this in-house so that we do not have to pay someone
> > like authorize.net to do it?
> 
> You "can" do it via pgp encryption, however, I would highly suggest to
> use a gateway service like authorize.net.  You can ask your bank for
> other "gateway" solutions.  Again, look in /lib/Vend/Payment/ for
> gateway services that are already to go.
> 
> 
> > 5. Does Interchange have templates we can use to customize our store,
> > or do we supply that?
> 
> That depends on your store.  If it was built on top of "standard" then
> you can edit catroot/variable/THEME_CSS and also include/layout/... and
> templates/components/... also in pages/... at the top an bottom of each
> page, there are settings for what template, and what components are used
> on each page.
> 
> > 
> > 
> > Please reply at your earliest convenience,
> > 
> > Todd W. White, Marketing Manager
> > Great Plains Audio
> > Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
> > _______________________________________________


Forgot to mention.  For shipping take a look at "shipping.asc" and your
country and state tables.  Here is also an interesting thread to get you
started.
http://www.icdevgroup.org/pipermail/interchange-users/2002-July/022830.html

Rick