x-cart ~ turning the australia post shipping calculator on & off

On the rare occasion that eDeliver from Australia Post is down, if you use the Australia Post shipping calculator in your shop, people won't be able to process orders. So far, this has happened twice that I'm aware of, and both times it has taken several hours for the service to come back up again. Use the following tutorials to turn AusPost off and set up an alternative, and put it back in to place again when the service is working again.

The Australia Post shipping calculator runs through www.edeliver.com.au. If their website is down, chances are, the calculator isn't working. You will get an error message at the top of the page when trying to process an order when the calculator isn't working.

TURN OFF AUS POST SHIPPING CALCULATOR

1. In the Management section, click on SHIPPING METHODS
2. Click on the Australia Post link to expand the section and see what's turned on.
3. Take the ticks out the Active column of all methods chosen. Note what they are, because you have to turn them back on later.
4. Click UPDATE (bottom left of page)

SET UP AN ALTERNATIVE SHIPPING CHARGE

1. For ease of use, we're going to set up a flat rate for all orders. Pick a price you can live with for a few hours.
2. In the Management section, click on SHIPPING METHODS
3. Under the Add Shipping Method heading, type in a name for your shipping method - just call it something like Postage within Australia, leave the Delivery Time blank, Destination choose National, Weight Limit - Aus Post only take up to 20kg, so you can put the limit in, or leave it blank if you don't think orders will go over the 20kg limit. POS is just the position it appears on the list, type in 900 and it will be near the bottom of the list. Put 10 if you want it near the top. Make sure Active is ticked.
4. Click UPDATE (bottom left of page) - We're 1/2 way there.
5. In the INVENTORY section, click on SHIPPING CHARGES
6. Under the ADD SHIPPING CHARGE VALUES, select your new method from the drop down box.
7. Zone - leave as Zone default for now
8. In the FLAT CHARGE section, type in the amount you decided on.
9. Click the ADD button.

TURN AUS POST BACK ON

1. In the Management section, click on SHIPPING METHODS
2. Click on the Australia Post link to expand the section and see what's turned on.
3. Put the ticks back in the Active column of all methods previously ticked.
4. Click UPDATE (bottom left of page)

TURN OFF THE ALTERNATIVE

1. In the Management section, click on SHIPPING METHODS
2. Under DEFINED SHIPPING METHODS, the new method you set up should be listed. Take the tick out of the active box and click UPDATE (bottom left of page).
3. Note: we haven't deleted it, we've just made it inactive. It is still sitting there waiting to be turned back on if necessary at a later date.

TURN BACK ON THE ALTERNATIVE AT A LATER DATE

1. If you' already have an alternative set up previously, you don't have to set up a new one, you just have to turn it back on.
2. In the Management section, click on SHIPPING METHODS
3. Under DEFINED SHIPPING METHODS, the alternative method you set up should be listed. Put a tick in the active box and click UPDATE (bottom left of page).

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