I have searched the forums to see if this issue was recognized by anyone else in the past or past versions of Ablecommerce. We recently have tested on both non and production websites and we have found when one product is added to basket the shipping estimator is correct in cost based on our UPS negotiated rates. (Ablecommerce latest version.)

When you add another item to the same basket and check the estimator for shipping cost the cost of total shipping for 2 items decrease's in cost. We now end up paying the additional cost that should have been added and not subtracted for the total shipment when adding multiple items to the basket.

I have not looked at the code to dive into this. However, if anyone else has had this problem please post.

Thanks again for any feedback on this.

Ricky

Hello, thanks for your input.

I would like to hear from the (Able Team) on their thoughts to this issue. We have not seen this before. I know that AC7 and even back to the old Cold Fusion platform this was never a problem. Please note: that this is only being seen with UPS on our websites and not USPS.

Also, we don't have this issue with other .NET platform we test against. Our goal is not having to babysit our shipping cost by manually adding or subtracting cost for UPS shipments. Don't have the time for it!

If ups can send us a bill because a package weight or dimensional weight were incorrect when we create the shipping label, I would think that Ablecommerce should see why this calculation is not working correctly with AC9 using the OAuth plugin and what is being sent to OAuth in order to calculate some type of correct charges.

If this was a free and open source platform we would customize this process, but it is not.

Thanks again for your input.

Ricky

Hello,

There is a shipping option in Ablecommerce that you can use to send in both dimensions and weight for each product. This is under the Shipping and Tax section.

Special Condition: Calculate costs separately.

When this is used, the customer will not see separate shipments, but the code will send info for each product and then total the amounts.

I've also seen other merchants who will enter the dimensional weight.

We really don't have any control over what the rate estimates and actual shipping costs are. We send in a rate request and UPS sends back the response. It would be great if the shipping API supported a rate request containing several items, each with their own dimensions and weights - but they don't.

Keep in mind that the residential/business flag indicator affects the rate as well.

I am happy to test a specific use case in Gold and AC9 and give you the results.

As far as I know, there have only been improvements to shipping in our newer version. As I mentioned, it is not possible to send in dimensions for a package that contains multiple items in it. For this reason, we have the Calculate Costs Separately option.

Please let me know which shipping service? Is it UPS? Are you using UPS Oauth in version 9?

FYI - UPS will always use the dimensional weight.

Dimensional Weight = (12 × 12 × 10) / 139
= 1,440 / 139
≈ 10.4 lbs = 11 lbs.

With 2 items (no dims) = 8.25 lbs.

To predict the total size of a package with multiple items would require a 3rd party packing algorithm or 3D modeling tool. This has been discussed in the past, but there are so many variables like how the items are oriented or stacked, space for packing material, etc. It's a complex calculation with no clear answer.

Edited by user Friday, June 13, 2025 11:28:39 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I am having the same problem. I recently upgraded last January and then went to a lot of trouble & expense for custom coding to integrate LTL Freight quotes.

Now, as I go along, I see when a customer purchases more than one item, my shipping quotes are no better than they were before with simple weight tables. This can make a BIG difference!!! Sometimes hundreds of dollars!!

Also, when a customer puts a small item that is UPS-able, in the cart first, and then a large item that needs to be freight shipped, AC returns UPS rates!!

Why does AC simply ignore dimensions of secondary products?? Why would anybody do this?!?!?!?

This makes no sense at all.

You have to understand that the shipping APIs do not allow us to send in a single shipment request containing multiple items. For one shipment with one item, we send in weight and dimensions. For one shipment with multiple items, we send in the total weight because it's not possible to know the dimensions of your package containing multiple items. There are no provisions in the API to send in multiple items in a single shipment.

That is why using the "Calculate Costs Separately" is a feature that allows us to send the required information for each item (weight and dims), then AbleCommerce will total those shipping costs. The customer will only see one shipment. The merchant will only have one shipment shown for the order, but the costs for each item will be a sum of each calculation.

Another option if you don't like that is to enter the dimensional weight of the item as the actual weight.

Please also make sure that you are using ship groups properly. It was designed so you could offer different shipping methods for different types of items. For example, shipping a small lightweight item via USPS and a large overweight/oversized item UPS Ground.

This is a simple example, and yes it makes sense. What you are demonstrating is a packaging algorithm.

It gets a lot more complicated when you have more than 2 items in a box. The orientation of how those items are packaged within that box is also a critical factor. Also, there would likely be pre-determined box sizes available.

Basically, the merchant would define the box sizes and there would need to be some logic used to determine how the inside items are arranged in the shipping container.

There are a few third-party services that specialize in packaging algorithms. It looks like Shipper HQ is a popular one.

Their Starter plan is around $200 per month though.

We can certainly look into other API's available, but I suspect that most are going to be costly. Not only costly to use, but costly to integrate with AbleCommerce.

Have you tried using dimensional weight? The shipping carriers look at the dimensions for the purpose of determining the higher of actual weight and dimensional weight.