Firstly, I want to say that
I support this module, and that this functionality is 100% necessary for my business to be online. I've trolled the internet exhuastively (reading and posting on forums for zencart, wordpress e-commerce, prestacart, magento, and several others), and have found many people asking for this, but no one finding it. I would also say that there are many antique sellers on ebay who would prefer a situation like OpenCart with Manual Shipping. If I can make this work, I am going to go back to all my threads and advertise this solution.
Now some specific feedback.
I agree with JimD's analysis of the shipping situation. For me the utility of this module comes from my being able to pick a shipping method that works best for the product, me, and the buyer. The number of shipping options is always staggeringly complex, and I believe that it takes a human mind -- not only that, but one who is intimately familar with the territory -- to pick the proper shipping method. Of course, this isn't always the case: most e-commerce involves selling the same products over and over again, and fulfilling orders from a warehouse, it's all totally predictable and well modeled -- and it works just fine the way it is. JimD hit the nail on the head, though, in saying that this breaks down when you're selling a different unique product every time, and it will be packed in a unique manner. Everyone's needs are different, so I know others might see this differently.
In any case, I do think it's important for the customer to have some input in shipping. When buying things online, I don't usually care about all the details. But I care about some of them. For example, I might want to tell the seller "I need it within the week" or "try not to send it FedEx, because they come while I'm at work & won't leave the pkg without a signature". A manual shipping module opens the possibility for the buyer & seller to have a very nuanced interaction. But you don't need much tech to support this -- all you need is for the buyer to be able to enter comments in the checkout form (which I think works out-of-the-box in OC).
As for my own manual shipping needs, I would like to mention
one more feature which is very important to me. While many of my products (eg, amps, drums, upright bass) require manual shipping consideration, MANY OF THEM DON'T (eg, sheet music, drum sticks, effects pedals -- I can even guess the shipping for most guitars). What I would like is to be able to determine
which products need special shipping consideration, and which don't. Ideally, when I create the produc, there would be a check box that would let me invoke this. But perhaps it could also treat any product with a blank weight & dimensions as a "manual shipping product". Then, at the time of checkout, the system would look at what's in the cart, and evaluate the following:
A) are there any products that require manual shipping assessment?
B) is this order going to a manual shipping zone (for me this would anything outside the "continental US")
If either condition is true, then the order is a manual shipping order. Otherwise, it's a normal checkout, and the buyer can pick a shipping method & pay just like other e-commerce sites.
Lastly, I would like to
thank you Davy for your dedicated work. I'm sure ultimately this only a hobby for you, but you seem to understand that it makes real & concrete difference for other folks. As I said above, this functionality is essential for getting this business online. If I hadn't found this project, I would be trying estimating the cost of outsourcing this coding to India. It's not a solution that I'm happy with politically, but I can't afford to pay an American to code this. For this reason, I'm more than happy to pay solid money (be it $40 or $100 or $200) into a crowdsourced solution for a solid product. It's worth a lot to me that the developer is dedicated and involved with a project -- ultimately a lot more than I can pay for, sadly.
