Square Online: Additional charge for ice in packaging/shipping?

[LWalker]

I need to add a warm weather shipping option. we have to add ice to shipments during warm weather. This is an additional cost and adds to the shipping weight.

Our old web site was pretty simple. 

On every item that needed ice, I simply entered a code in May and then deleted the code in October. At the checkout it would only add one charge at the  end not a charge on every item.

We have looked at the checkout options and there is not one nor does it say we can make a new option. We can't see any way to add it to each item individually. 

We can't say " we will charge your card the extra" because square completes the transaction, and we can't add to that.

Any thoughts on how we can do this would be appreciated. 

[isabelle]

Hey @LWalker! Thanks for posting in the Seller Community.

While it doesn't look like we have exactly what you're looking for - could you add a modifier to the items that need the ice for the additional charge? Would that work?

I am going to tag some of our Super Sellers that use Square Online - perhaps they have some suggestions to offer. If not - I'll also look out for your reply! 

@MAXSDELI @AmyB1 @dasap1234 @Donnie-M @GoGoGuest  @HC_Charlie @jjgard @shopfybr @londontea @vinesandrushes @VanKalkerFarms @sugarlab @ryanwanner @Ravenssong69 @porktaco @pieous @pessosices @MichiganFarmsta

[LWalker]

We thought about that but I think that it would charge them on every item they chose. We only need it charged one time for the whole box. I may be thinking wrong here but that is the way it seem to me.

[londontea]

I can’t think of a foolproof way to get around this. Square Online doesn’t allow for an additional shipping charge to be tacked on only for specific items.

The only way workaround that I can think of is to create a shipping option priced to include ice, which I’l call “Ice Shipping,” and include directions to choose that option in the item description(s). It’s anything but foolproof as it requires the customer to actually read, and it could lead to awkward interactions when a customer doesn’t choose the right shipping option. You’d have to reach out to them to collect the ice surcharge, such as by sending them an invoice. Personally, I’d hate to do something like that because it risks leaving the customer with a negative impression. 

I’m running into a similar problem with shipping my pastries. My standard shipping costs $5 and takes several days to arrive; that works for most of my items since they’re non-perishables. However, my pastries have to be shipped frozen and require a more expensive 1-2 day shipping. Unfortunately, there’s no way for me to specify different shipping costs for different items. I can’t force customers to choose expedited shipping at checkout, so what I’ve had to do is have customers fill in an order form online, then I send them an invoice to collect payment. 

This leads me to two feature requests: 

• Having the option to add a shipping surcharge for certain items or categories. If you add an item requiring ice then the shipping price goes up by $X. 
• Having shipping options based on items or categories. Using LWalker’s case as an example, when a customer adds an item to the cart that requires ice, “ice shipping” (or whatever you want to call it) becomes the only available shipping option even if there are also items in the order that could be sent using “default shipping.” 

[LWalker]

Thank you! Yes, adding a shipping option at the end is what I really need. I would imagine that some people charge a handling fee so I searched for that option as well. A way to add a custom fee in the shipping options could beneficial to many.

[pieous]

Create a single chargeable modifier for the item that they have to choose. If I recall, you can set a parameter that the customer has to choose a modifier to add to cart. It should work.