What is it? If you need a shopping cart checkout system or just an order page, you'll probably need to be able to compute and show shipping charges for various modes of shipping, so the customer can make an intelligent choice as to which shipping method to use.
How does it work? The way this has been done in the past is to collect all of the order information (and perhaps the shipping address) on one web page, and then proceed to another page where a shipping method can be chosen. Our approach is different in two ways:
- We compute the shipping charges right on the checkout page or order page, as the order is entered (if the quantities ordered changes, the shipping charges are quickly recomputed to allow for the change in weight).
- We display a list of shipping options with each option's cost displayed! Better information makes for better decisions and happier shoppers.
Try entering a "ship from" zip code, a "ship to" zip code, and some quanities in the sample order form below, and look at the "Ship by" selection list as you do!
We've included all possible shipping methods in the "Ship by" select box above. You would probably want to limit the choices to a few that you want to offer.
Note that all of this is done without refreshing the page or sending the user to another page!