1. Customer clicks on "continue" link to be taken to a form to choose shipping method

 
2. Your (merchant's) web server connects to courier's web site, and requests rates for each package in the order.

 
3. Courier's server responds to merchant's server with rate information.

 
4. Merchant's web server then presents the rates to the customer for them to choose in the shipping method form

 

Note: Real time rate information is provided on a per package basis. To handle this, Squirrelcart has a packing function that it uses to determine a rough estimate of the number of packages that are in the order. It then requests rate information for each package, totals the amount per package, and offers the total amount to the customer for the corresponding shipping method. Squirrelcart uses the value of the Max. Weight field on the Shipping Method's record to determine how to pack the order. This method is not foolproof, but does work very well. If you wish your shipping rates to be more accurate, we recommend you check the "Ship as a separate package" option on your product records. The cart will then assume that you are shipping every item ordered in a separate package.