Installing the Shipping Calculator Plugin For the Mals Ecommerce Cart


How is our shipping calculator plugin added to your Mals Cart? Easy!

Installing our plugin calculator is simply a matter of completing two forms, one our our side, one on the Mals side:


Please follow all the below instructions in both sections (both AuctionInc and Mals sections):

AuctionInc Account Setup

1. Shipping Calculation Preferences (Setup Wizard) When you register for our Mal's Plugin,  you will be forwarded to the AuctionInc Setup Wizard which will lead you through the various configuration options for the selection and calculation of shipping rates.  This process includes selecting your carrier services, setting your handling fees,  insurance options, packaging weight factors, etc.  (The Wizard includes a section for sales tax, but you should actually handle these through the Mal's configuration.) You can also establish additional configuration options such as promotional discounts from our Settings Menu after you have completed the Wizard.  

2. Register your Mals cart with AuctionInc and Customize your Calculator page. Next, go to our Mal's Configuration form. This configuration page will allow you to tell us about your Mals cart and customize the Plugin 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.   If you used a third party to set up your mals cart and dont know your Mals Server URL, look in your third party Admin area; it will be listed where your Mals userid is also listed.

 

Your Mals Cart Account Setup

The configuration on Mal's Shopping Cart is very quick and simple.  It is a matter of selecting the correct shipping option and adding the URL to the calculator plugin and adding some explanatory text.

1.  Shipping Calculation Configuration

2.  Shipping Calculator Message

3.  Weight of Items

 

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 Plugin at this time.  It will be available in future versions.

A comprehensive list of the differences in supported features between our ShopCart and our Mals Plugin 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.  After the selected service, we also list, in parentheses, the two letter country code and the postal code which were entered in the calculator and upon which the shipping rate was determined, i.e., "USPS Priority Mail (US:01609)".