The Ceon URI Mapping module is a very handy module that no Zen Cart site should be without!

Unlike other SEO modules, where the URIs are generated automatically when a customer visits a page, this module allows specific URIs to be entered within the admin, or even for auto-generation to be used to create a static URI for an individual category/product/manufacturer/EZ-Page/Zen Cart page.

We believe this to be a much better solution as the store is in control of its URIs.

It lets the store specify static, human-readable, keyword-based URIs to be used instead of the dynamic, ID-based URIs which Zen Cart uses as standard.

For example, for a product, instead of dynamic URIs like this:

http://yourstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=5

a static address - easy to read, easy to type in and full of keywords - could be specified for the product:

http://yourstore.com/books/life-is-good

It's simple to promote sections of the site on advertising literature.

For example, the following static URI could be mapped to the specials page:

http://yourstore.com/EasterSpecials

Ceon URI Mapping is packed full of features, which include:

• Full Multi-Language Support.
• URI Auto-Generation.
• Transliteration Support.
• Historical URI Redirection (Never have a broken link again!).
• 100% Compatibility with Zen Cart.
• As well as many more!

Give potential customers easy to enter/remember URIs and improve the site's rankings in search engines - check out the full feature list and download the module!

The URI Mappings Manager makes it extremely easy to:

• Generate URI Mappings for entire categories at once (including their subcategories and all their products).
• Define auto-generation “templates” for the store or even for individual categories. E.g. “{category-name}/{product-name}”.
• Add, edit and delete URI mappings for any Zen Cart page through its intuitive interface - there's no longer any need to manually edit the database!
• Add, edit and delete URI mapping aliases for other pages - optimise the site's keywords further!
• Examine, add and delete historical URI mappings - prevent broken links by redirecting the visitor to the current URI for any page!

The URI Mappings Manager can save hours of work generating/adding URI mappings for each category/product/page for an existing store!

Find out more by visiting its website.

Product / Category / Manufacturer Rates!

The Advanced Shipper module allows individual products and/or entire product categories and/or all products from specific manufacturer(s) to have their own specific shipping rates!

There is no limit on the number of methods which can be defined, products/categories/manufacturers/the whole store can have multiple shipping methods if desired (E.g. “Royal Mail 2nd Class”, “Royal Mail Next Day” etc.)!

If there are various shipping options for the items within a customer's shopping cart, they are presented with all possible combinations of shipping methods for those items, so they can choose the method (combination) that best suits them!

For example, if a customer has a magazine in their cart as well as a bookcase, they can be offered the following options, which let them choose between normal or express delivery for the magazine while having the bookcase shipped via a pallet service:

Being able to specify exactly which products/categories/manufacturers use which method(s) makes it very easy indeed to set up almost any type of shipping arrangement, including complex drop-shipping arrangements etc., something most/all other Zen Cart shipping modules can't do.

In fact, very few shopping cart software packages, commercial and/or open source, can match Advanced Shipper's functionality as integrated with Zen Cart, never mind its ease of use!

Flexible Region Definitions

There are multiple mechanisms for defining Shipping Regions, including Geolocation and Country/Postcode Matching - a hugely flexible option which allows you to set up shipping regions quickly and easily by matching against the customer's postcode/zipcode etc.!

With the extra Advanced Shipper Zones module, an additional option, Country/Zone Matching, can be used to match against addresses using Zen Cart Zones. Stores which already have a list of Zones set up for shipping purposes may find this module very handy indeed!

Another expansion module, the Advanced Shipper Localities module, also adds additional options, Country/State Matching and Country/City Matching, which can be used to ensure that customers are only able to use a set list of States/Areas/Cities, thereby restricting shipping to places on that list!

Comprehensive Rate Definition Options

Shipping rates are defined based on a combination of the customer's shipping address - the “Shipping Region” it is in - and the details for the applicable products; their total Weight, total Price or the Number of Items of applicable products, or, new for 3.8.1, the Total Order Price of all the products for an order (not just the total price of the applicable products for the method!).

If rates have been defined for individual products and/or categories and/or manufacturers, the overall rate will be calculated based on the composition of their shopping cart.

Rates can be entered as flat rates, percentage rates, a joint percentage rate & flat rate, as a block rate, as a series of combination rates or in several other ways...

“Percentage rates” allow rates to be set up by weight/price/number of items quickly and easily, without having to enter long lists of limits & rates!

For Example, if a shipping method uses a courier service which charges by the Kg/lb, a £1.25/Kg (or $1.25/lb) charge could be applied with the following rate definition:

<weight>*:125%</weight>

For a 3.00Kg/lb order, this would be calculated as 125% x 3.00 = 3.75.

[New for 3.8.0] “Block Rates” provide for the charging of a set rate per “block” or part of a block of the weight/price/number of items. The weight/price/number of items is divided up according to a “block size”, which is rounded up to the nearest whole number of blocks, and multiplied by the specified rate.

For Example, if a shipping method uses a courier service which charges £1.50 (or $1.50) for each 0.5Kg/lb or part thereof, the following rate definition could be used:

<weight>*:[0.5:1.50]</weight>

For a 1.25Kg/lb order, this would be calculated as 3 x 1.50 = 4.50.

“Combination rates” allow orders to be priced using multiple rates at the same time!

For Example, the same bookcase as above could be sent for an International Order by a method which used a combination rate which charged more per Kg for the first 10Kg than the second:

[New for 3.4.0] “Minimum/Maximum Rates” make setting up rates even simpler by allowing the specification of a minimum or maximum rate to be applied to any rate calculation! For example, it's easy to state that a rate should be based on a percentage of the weight of the applicable products in the cart, but should cost a minimum amount. This works independently of any surcharge which can also be added on!

“Nested Tables of Rates” - Advanced Shipper even allows multiple calculation methods to be used per individual shipping method! A very powerful option which allows ever more flexible shipping rate rules to be set up. For example:

<price>0-250: <weight>0-10: 2.50, 10-30: 4.50</weight>, 250-*: 0.00</price>

For orders less than £250 in value, shipping for orders weighing 0-10Kg will cost £2.50 and for orders weighing 10-30Kg it will cost £4.50.

For orders over £250, shipping will be free!

“UPS Rates Calculator” - This can be used to have the module contact UPS for a custom set of shipping quotes for the applicable products. The Source Country and Source Zipcode/Postcode configuration options for each region of each method mean that it is easy to set up drop-shipping using UPS directly from a manufacturer or distribution centre etc., even for individual products/categories/manufacturers!

“USPS Rates Calculator” - This can be used to have the module contact USPS for a custom set of shipping quotes for the applicable products. The Source Country and Source Zipcode/Postcode configuration options for each region of each method mean that it is easy to set up drop-shipping using USPS directly from a manufacturer or distribution centre etc., even for individual products/categories/manufacturers!

“Contact Store rates” can be used instead of a numerical rate for individual methods, to have the module display a “Please contact the store for a personal shipping arrangement” message, instead of allowing customers to check out with the particular item(s) they have in their cart - a very handy option to have for awkward products/categories/manufacturers!

“Contact Store After Order rates” can be used to allow customers to check out with the particular item(s) they have in their cart but requesting that they “Contact the store for a personal shipping arrangement after completing your order” - so no potential sales are lost but the customer is still kept informed!

[New for 3.6.0] Automatic Multiple Packages Support

If there is a maximum weight of applicable products which can be sent in a single package, and the ability to split the order into multiple packages is available to the store, the weight at which the products will be split into another package can be specified.

Advanced Shipper will automatically work out how to combine the applicable products into the least number of individual packages possible. It will also take into account any packaging weight that must be added on per package!

[New for 3.4.0] Packaging Weights

For rates being calculated using the weight of the applicable products, a table of packaging weights to be added on to the weight of the applicable products - before the rate for the weight is calculated - can be specified.

 

In a similar fashion to the rates themselves, the additional packaging weights can be specified using flat weights, percentage weights, flat & percentage weights, block weights or combination weights!

[Rewritten for 3.8.0] Surcharges

As if all of that wasn't enough, an additional surcharge can also be specified for each individual shipping method/region!

It is simple to add on charges for insurance (for example, based on the total price of the products) or add on a charge for handling a large order (for example, one having several packages) etc..

The surcharge can be a simple flat rate, or can use its own, full table of rates, based on the total Price or the Number of Items of the applicable products, the Total Order Price of all products in the order (not just the total price of the applicable products for the method), the Shipping Rate calculated for the method, the total Weight of all the packages calculated for the method (all the applicable products plus the packaging) or the Number of Packages being used to ship the applicable products by this method!

Method/Shipping Scheduling

Individual shipping methods can be set to be valid only for certain time periods, or a preferred shipping date (or selection of shipping dates) can be offered to the customer!

For example, a “Saturday Delivery” Method could be configured to be available from Thursdays (at 16:00) until Fridays (at 16:00).

The Shipping Method would then only be available as an option from 4PM on Thursday afternoon until 4PM on Friday afternoon.

An example of offering a selection of shipping dates:

In addition, it is also possible to set a limit on the number of orders which can make use of a particular shipping method within its availability period.

For example, any stores offering delivery services can stop taking orders for Saturday delivery after the 20th order has come in!

Full Tax Support

Each Region can have its own “Tax Class” setting and rates can be entered including or excluding tax, with an independent “Rates Include Tax” setting able to be configured for each Region for a Shipping Method.

Intuitive Admin Configuration Utility

It would be impossible to offer all the options that the Advanced Shipper module does using the standard Zen Cart configuration shipping module procedures so a complete Configuration Utility has been built from the ground up.

The JavaScript-powered Configuration Utility makes it easy to add, configure and delete Shipping Method Configurations, Product/Category/Manufacturer Selections and Region Configurations.

Save Money Now!

To cut the store's shipping bills, find out more about Advanced Shipper and try out a demo on the website.

The Advanced Shipper Zones module is an extension to the Advanced Shipper 3 module which allows store owners to make use of the Zones that have been set up for the store.

Specific shipping methods can be made available for a Zone quickly and easily by choosing the Country and Zone to which the shipping method applies in the Advanced Shipper Configuration Utility.

The Advanced Shipper demo has this module installed... try it out!

The Advanced Shipper Localities module is an extension to the Advanced Shipper 3 module which allows store owners to set up a list of States (e.g. “California”, “Florida” etc.), Areas (e.g. “L.A. Metropolitan Area”, “North California” etc.) and Towns/Cities (e.g. “Los Angeles”, “Long Beach” etc.) for a country, which customers can use when they create an account on the site or add an address to their addressbook.

Specific shipping methods can be made available to a State/Area/City quickly and easily by choosing the Country and State/Area/City to which the shipping method applies in the Advanced Shipper Configuration Utility.

The “Terms” used for each “Locality” can be changed to a store's preferences (e.g. instead of “State/Area/City”, it could be “Province/County/City”).

The module fully supports JavaScript remote loading so that, as a customer selects a State/Area, a dynamic list of Cities within that Area/State are displayed and able to be selected - there's no clicking “Next” and waiting on page reloads!

For Example, the counties of Northern Ireland, with an area “Greater Belfast” of “County Antrim” would appear as follows:

Selecting “Greater Belfast” would display the towns/cities defined for that area:

Now it couldn't be easier to limit shipping only to places the store actually ships, thereby avoiding unfulfilled, refunded or cancelled orders!

Of course, for 100% compatibility, the module fully supports any browser that doesn't have JavaScript enabled so every customer will find it easy to sign up or add an address!

The Advanced Shipper demo has this module installed... try it out!

Please note: Advanced Shipper 3 Localities is not likely to upgraded to be compatible with Zen Cart 2.0.x, it is for 1.2.x/1.3.x only.

Streamlined Checkout Process

We think Sage Pay Direct is the best solution as the customer remains on the store's website, they are not redirected to an external site to enter their details as with many other payment solutions, making this as professional a payment solution you could possibly use with Zen Cart!

The whole checkout process is completely streamlined, allowing store owners to have a store which works just as well as any of the large e-commerce websites - including full 3D-Secure support using IFrame technology.

Transaction Admin

The Sage Pay Direct and Sage Pay Server modules both have an incredibly useful Transaction Admin which is part of the Zen Cart order page, enabling stores to carry out many “Transaction Actions” directly within the Zen Cart admin.

Authenticated transactions can be Authorised (in full or in part) or Cancelled, Deferred transactions can be Released or Aborted. Orders can even be refunded in full or in part.

With all of the transaction actions, the Zen Cart totals for the order can be automatically updated, as can the overall Zen Cart order status. E-mails can even be sent automatically as well, to inform the customer and/or the store's staff!

Compare Options

To make it easier to determine which solution is best for you/your client's store, we have created a comprehensive comparison of the three different options.