[thelist] Let's Discuss Ecommerce Enabled Sites...

[aardvark]

> From: "Michele Foster" <michele at wordpro.on.ca>
[...] 
> A question that is missing from this article.  When to calculate
> taxes? And, this can be extended, when to calculate shipping charges
> based on destination.

taxes should be calculated and shown to the customer as soon as 
you have the zip code information (or state/region/province, etc., 
depending on your rules/country/etc.).... always provide the user 
with as much information as you can as soon as you can...

as for shipping, as soon as you have enough info again... 
sometimes you need to get order totals, or weight, or shipping 
address, or other stuff... so get the shipping method early enough 
that you can display shipping costs as quickly as you can... many 
people will only use the cart to do comparison shopping, and that 
includes shipping... believe it or not, you do want to help them, 
too...

[...]
> I currently have two different scenarios on the go.  The first is
> rather simple, if a customer lives in a particular state, they will
> need to pay sales(state??) tax.  The shipping charges are based on
> each individual item, as this particular client only wants to deal
> with U.S. Continental orders at this time.

keep in mind that states can have multiple sales tax rates based 
on county, and zip codes don't always map to one rate (take the 
one for Texarkana)... as such, if you don't have the ability to call a 
tax/address service, you may have to choose the highest rate that 
occurs in that state... once you go beyond a state or two, you 
really should consider a service, depending on client and budget... 
and make sure you chat with an accountant who has a clue about 
inter- and intra-state commerce... preferrably one who's worked 
with mail-order shops...

[...]
> necessary shipping info, isn't going to be possible.  But, at the same
> time I find numerous potential customers email us to find out what it
> will cost to ship before they want to place an order.  (Keep in mind
> this site doesn't have an automated ecommerce system in place, yet.)

yep, not surprised by that...

> Anyway, based on the fact that customers WANT to know the final cost
> before committing any personal information, how do others best deal
> with this?  Ask the information on the shopping cart page, in simple
> terms, i.e. are you in Ontario, are you in Canada, etc.?

well, you can explain that customers can't be told shipping and tax 
until you have shipping address... just make sure you don't ask for 
the credit card information before you present the absolute total 
(including tax and shipping)...

[...]