Precision Matters e-commerce

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Ron LaDow
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Precision Matters e-commerce

#1 Post by Ron LaDow »

My goodness!
We hoped that Precision Matters would have had e-commerce up and running prior to Christmas; obviously it did not come about. The project has been delayed for several months as developers have worked with conflicting regulations and our ability to include shipping costs in an accurate manner.
Unfortunately, the regulations require the C/C info to go directly to a secure site without allowing our application of the best shipping charges we can find; the shipping costs can be flat-fee or some percentage of the purchase cost, neither of which is anywhere close to reality. While still in the process of finding a way to charge accurately for shipping, the effort has recently been made moot.
According to Precision Matters tax consultant, a recent court ruling requires all e-commerce businesses to collect sales taxes from every sales tax district where sales occur, and they must file monthly or quarterly (it all depends) returns in each of those districts and remit the taxes to each of those districts.
I do not know how the major retailers are dealing with the issue (except one: Pegasus Auto Racing: https://www.newswars.com/bust-small-bus ... ax-ruling/ ). Not good and beyond our ability to support.
I do know that Precision Matters' margins are not high enough to support that sort of accounting costs, so I encourage you to call regarding your needs; it's cheaper that way.
Ron LaDow
www.precisionmatters.biz

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Al Zim
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Re: Precision Matters e-commerce

#2 Post by Al Zim »

Because a customer calls you that will not relieve you of your sales tax responsibilities for payment of taxes. al zim
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Ron LaDow
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Re: Precision Matters e-commerce

#3 Post by Ron LaDow »

Al Zim wrote: Sat Nov 09, 2019 8:00 pm Because a customer calls you that will not relieve you of your sales tax responsibilities for payment of taxes. al zim
I appreciate your comment, but in this case, I'll defer to the Pre Mat tax professionals.
Regardless, newer software now allows very accurate shipping cost determination in all but a few cases; those will be handled manually.
Pre Mat WILL have e-commerce up and running sometime this month. The 21st century beckons!
Ron LaDow
www.precisionmatters.biz

Justin Cordesman
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Re: Precision Matters e-commerce

#4 Post by Justin Cordesman »

Ron, fully documented API's are available from USPS, Fedex, and UPS to calculate shipping and produce labels, so there is no reason that your developers cannot ensure that your shopping cart receives specific calculations based on service class, weight, and package size before your checkout process passes the invoice break down etc on to the credit card payment processor.

Documentation below:

USPS
https://www.usps.com/business/web-tools-apis/
Fedex
https://www.fedex.com/en-us/developer.html
UPS
https://www.ups.com/us/en/services/tech ... r-api.page

As for taxes, in some states in order to avoid whacking small businesses (or more aptly to ensure they do hit Amazon and eBay when acting as intermediaries), the law is such that you must still do a minimum dollar volume per year to have to collect and pay sales tax, below that threshold it is still the buyer's responsibility to calculate and pay it to the state. I just ran into this two weeks ago myself when I sold equipment to someone in California who objected to the sales tax collection by eBay and tried to get me to eat the cost of the taxes that eBay collects automatically. In CA they set a threshold of 500k a year.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia ... s-tax.html

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Ron LaDow
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Re: Precision Matters e-commerce

#5 Post by Ron LaDow »

Precision Matters enters the 21st century: We now offer E-commerce on the site.
The software has come to us; we can now hold an order for a brief time to confirm the shipping charges are as low as possible. This REALLY matters on orders of more than one product. Until now, the software simply charged for two individual shipments rather than figuring a single box shipment.

We are now up and running, but we need one ‘beta tester’ (guinea pig) to confirm the process end-to-end.
This is limited to one, and one only: The first to call with a name and then place an order for an Emergency Push Rod Tube on the Pre Mat online store will get the part and a refund check for the entire amount of the sale, including shipping
( 48-states only, you guys…)
Ron LaDow
www.precisionmatters.biz

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Ron LaDow
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Re: Precision Matters e-commerce

#6 Post by Ron LaDow »

Bob, an on-going customer, called and it's going out to him.
The store worked, buy from the price page for all products.
Thanks, guys.
Ron LaDow
www.precisionmatters.biz

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Ron LaDow
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Re: Precision Matters e-commerce

#7 Post by Ron LaDow »

Didn't take long for the new software to prove its worth:
Got an order this morning for a total of (4) parts. The former software would have charged the customer over $46 for shipping.
This software mails me a provisional order before charging the card. Those parts fit in one box, for an actual $21 cost.
Won't make my customer rich, but I don't know anyone who prefers to pay shipping charges twice as high as they should be.
Ron LaDow
www.precisionmatters.biz

Justin Cordesman
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Re: Precision Matters e-commerce

#8 Post by Justin Cordesman »

That's a lot less developer time!

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