Split orders and shipments

I suppose the Order could be split, but it could be confusing for customer (since there is only one payment), and I suspect it still won't be 'easy' ;)

Indeed, the "easy" part seems to be at risk here :-)

I guess we will have a go at an implementation anyway. I'll post my findings when we get started.

Besides, by splitting the order into two shipment methods may require to change the total shipping cost

Testing out a workaround... and wanted the community's feedback.

What if a shipping option was set via Product Attribute giving the customer the option and then the shipping plugin handles the calculation upon detecting the item in the cart has the attribute flagged to ship separately or expedited? Then that can appear in the sales order invoice etc. for whoever is processing the packing and shipping.

par6 wrote:

We do something like that on our site...we offer an "Expedited Fulfillment" product option on those products which we can have drop-shipped directly from our vendor..thus speeding up delivery by a few days.
However, it required that a few rules be added to our Shipping Director plugin configuration in order to cause the shipping cost to be nullified during checkout if that option was selected and if no other items were in the order, etc:

ErrorExit
Non-US Expedited Fulfillment Error
![isDomestic] and Items.Any([@HasExpeditedFulfillment])
"We're sorry, the Expedited Fulfillment option is NOT available to customers outside the United States. Please go back and modify your selection before proceeding."

OptionExit
USPS Priority Mail included with Expedited Fulfillment
Items.All([@HasExpeditedFulfillment])
0

Packing
Pack exclude expedited items
Items.Any([@HasExpeditedFulfillment])
Packing.FirstFitSingleBox
[@HasExpeditedFulfillment]

Shipping Director's "Packing" feature can handle seeing attributes like "ship separately or expedited", and then make multiple/separate calls to the shipping providers to get the rates, and then combine the rates together to show the customer a single rate (since the customer can choose only one option).  However, it would be up to the store owner to notice the attributes on the order items to actually create separate packages/shipments to send.

New York wrote:

Are those Specification Attributes or Product Attributes? Also...would it make a separate call for each item instead of grouping them? For example, suppose a customer would like to indicate a rush/expedite on 3 of 5 total items in the cart. Would that be 3 separate UPS overnights along with the default Ground for the other 2 remaining items OR could it actually calculate a box just for the expedited items together and another for ground i.e. just 2 separate boxes, not 4 (3 expedited + 1 ground box).

Exchange products are the other problem.

If a customer returns some defective product or just want to exchange for any other product, there is no way to do it in nop.

We are doing it by deleting the product from shipment item, adding a new product item in order and creating a new shipment.

Nop needs to handle returning products too, not only return requests, that aren't much useful alone, once you can't assign products or shipments to it.

@par6
Product Attributes.  For example a checkbox that the customer checks for "expedited" (before he clicks 'Add to cart').

Yes, it "actually calculate a box just for the expedited items together and another for ground i.e. just 2 separate boxes".  This is an very old blog (and also a bit more complex scenario), but you can see the basic concept:  Packing has an "exclude" expression.  So you can first exclude items that are "ground" (i.e. keep just expedited items), get rates from UPS, using the Name Expression to only keep the expedited method/rate.  Then Pack again excluding the expedited items, get rates from UPS, using the Name to only keep the ground method/rate.  Of course, if you are offering three methods (Ground, 2nd day, Next Day), then you'll need three Pack/Option pairs.

However, although SD can do it, this can be confusing for the customer.  First, you might have to put the "expedited" product attribute on EVERY product.  And, then you have to consider if you want to show the customer multiple methods on the shipping method selection page.  (I.e. whether or not he selects "expedited" on the product page for any items, does he only see one method "Shipping", or can he still choose from different methods"?)

@iob2000

re: "customer returns ...  exchanges"
Seems to imply that you've already shipped.  You may want to create a new topic for discussing your concerns, because this topic is more focused on providing the methods for the customer to choose from.