Time based shipping options? Just an idea

Hi,

At the moment we have 'Next day delivery' as a shipping option. The problem being that customers may place an order outside working hours, but still expect the product to be delivered next day.

I wondered if it would be a good idea to have the option to 'Only show this shipping method' between x days and x hours

Just a thought...At the moment we show that this method is only available between Mon-Thur on the actual drop down menu. Would be great if it only appeared Mon-Thur till 4pm for example.

I've been asking support for ages if they could put a checkbox to enable us to turn off Special deliveries for example on a friday so I could have the Friday off without missing an urgent order.
However, the problem with that is, someone may want to still order a Special Delivery order on the Friday, knowing they they will not get despatched until Monday. If its timed or switched off, they can't select that delivery service.
What I think would be better is something that tells the customer which day this will be despatched when they select a certain despatch method. So for example if they order something after 4.00pm on Monday, after the timed or your cut off point, there should be something that tells them this order will get despatched on Tuesday.
On this basis it would be better to have editable cut off times that automatically pop up a message if passed.

Edited by peter.pwa - 07 August 2010 at 12:00am

We find that customers through the site don't tend to read the important things...For example as a postage option we have...

"Next Day - Mon to Thur ONLY"

But we still have people selecting this option on Fridays. And if they select this option on a Thursday but after working hours, it still complicates things a little with dispatch then being on a Friday.

We may look at putting some information on the cart page and see if that helps.

Hi, that's one to consider thanks.

We have just implemented a link (CLICK TO SHOW / HIDE POSTAGE TERMS) with drop down information on shipping...We did this as it was hiding the paypal express button, unless we placed it above but it didn't quite look right.

See it here after selecting destination... We think our shopping cart looks superb now, very happy with it so far

Edited by Volksdevil - 07 August 2010 at 1:40pm