FAQ
Overview · Installation · Configuration · Usage · Developer notes
Do I have to enter my shipping rates again?
Section titled “Do I have to enter my shipping rates again?”No. The estimate uses your existing shipping methods and rates through the CS-Cart shipping calculation, the same one checkout uses.
Does it work with UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL and other realtime carriers?
Section titled “Does it work with UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL and other realtime carriers?”Yes. Realtime carriers are asked for a live rate in the background, so the product page is never slower. Results are cached for a few minutes (setting). If a carrier does not answer within 12 seconds, the box says that shipping costs are calculated at checkout. You can also leave realtime carriers out of the estimate.
Why does the estimate differ from checkout?
Section titled “Why does the estimate differ from checkout?”Usually because the cart contains other products: weight or order total based rates and free shipping thresholds then change. Switch on Include the customer’s cart in the estimate to calculate with the cart. A guest without a location sees the rates for your store’s default location until they enter theirs.
Where do the delivery dates come from?
Section titled “Where do the delivery dates come from?”From your dispatch days, cut-off time, holidays and handling time, plus the transit days of each shipping method (or its delivery time text such as “3-5 days”). With Kavio Delivery Date & Time Slots installed, its calendars are used. See Delivery dates.
Can each product or vendor have its own handling time?
Section titled “Can each product or vendor have its own handling time?”Yes. Products have a Handling time (days) field on their admin page. On Multi-Vendor, vendors set their own handling time and cut-off time in their profile (you can switch this off).
Does it take the lead time of Stock Statuses & Lead Times into account?
Section titled “Does it take the lead time of Stock Statuses & Lead Times into account?”Yes, from version 1.0.1. When Kavio Stock Statuses & Lead Times shows a status with a lead time for the product (for example “Ships in 3–5 days”), the estimate counts that lead time as the least handling time of the product, so the delivery date starts after the dispatch date the status promises. A longer handling time of the product, vendor or store still wins. Without that add-on, or for statuses without a lead time, nothing changes.
How does the shopper change the location?
Section titled “How does the shopper change the location?”With the Change link in the box: country, state, postcode and city. The location is remembered for the next product pages. Signed-in customers see their profile address first.
Does it work with the full page cache of CS-Cart 4.21?
Section titled “Does it work with the full page cache of CS-Cart 4.21?”Yes. The cached product page contains only a placeholder that is the same for every visitor; each visitor’s estimate is loaded separately and never stored in the page cache.
Does it change my cart, orders or shipping charges?
Section titled “Does it change my cart, orders or shipping charges?”No. The estimate is calculated on a temporary copy that is never saved. Checkout charges exactly what it charged before.
Can I place the estimate somewhere else?
Section titled “Can I place the estimate somewhere else?”Yes. Choose Below the product form, or Block only and place the Delivery estimate block in Design → Layouts. The colours follow your theme and can be changed with a few CSS custom properties (see Developer notes).
What happens without a valid license?
Section titled “What happens without a valid license?”Without a valid license (no key after the 14-day start period, an invalid or revoked key, a domain the license does not cover, or no successful check for 14 days), the delivery estimate on product pages and its block are hidden. Checkout, shipping rates and orders are not affected. Once the license is valid again, everything is back.
The admin panel shows a license notice.
Section titled “The admin panel shows a license notice.”Open Add-ons → Manage add-ons → Shipping Estimator on Product Page: the License card at the top says what is wrong. Fix it on the License tab and click Check now. See License.
Does the add-on work on my staging copy?
Section titled “Does the add-on work on my staging copy?”Yes. Subdomains of your licensed domain and local development hosts (localhost, private IP addresses, *.local, *.test) are covered by the same license.
What happens if your license server is down?
Section titled “What happens if your license server is down?”Nothing changes for 14 days: the add-on keeps working and retries every hour. Only if no check succeeds for 14 days is it switched off until the next successful check.
Does the license check slow down my storefront or checkout?
Section titled “Does the license check slow down my storefront or checkout?”No. The check runs only in the admin panel or from cron, at most once a day, never while customers browse or check out.
Still stuck?
Section titled “Still stuck?”Work through the troubleshooting guide, then contact support with your CS-Cart version, edition, PHP version and the add-on version (1.0.1).