AboutNick L Expertise In the subject of e-commerce I can answer questions related to shopping carts, credit card processing, SEO & SEM, and general issues related to setting up an online business.
Experience I have owned and maintained two e-commerce sites (northcedar.com) and (outdoorfurnitureplus.com), for the past 4 years. I have also designed two e-commerce sites for other people. Both on the Miva platform. I have written a customer service column for Practical Ecommerce since it was founded last July.
During the past four years I have fine-tuned my skills in SEO and SEM. Reading several books on the subject, and by experimenting with my own strategies. I have always been successful in achieving good rankings for my sites in key search terms.
Publications I have written a customer service column for Practical Ecommerce since it was founded last July.
Education/Credentials B.A. Communications
Awards and Honors OutdoorFurniturePlus.com was featured on the Miva Merchant monthly gallery feature.
Question I am currently developing a custom ecommerce site for a client (I am a web
developer, and this is my first custom ecommerce solution). I just had a
question about how one handles charging estimated shipping. What can my
client do when they charge est. shipping of $5 but the ACTUAL charge comes
out to be $6? Can my client go back and alter the credit card transaction? Or is
my client stuck with the extra $1 shipping charge? If it has any importance, my
client will most likely be using authorize.net for their payment gateway.
Answer Hello,
If your ecommerce system cannot create any custom rules, like adding charges for distant shipping addresses, then the best idea would be to charge the median shipping rate for all customers. For example, if your item ships from New York, you would charge shipping to St.Louis for all customers, that way the orders on the east coast will net you a little money, and the orders on the west coast will cost you a bit.
I don't think you can add charges after the order. That will turn into a customer service nightmare, as almost all stores give you the shipping rate upfront.
