01Observed outcome
Complaint removed
The shipping complaints stopped after launch.
Client case study
Freight integration
A commercial furnishings checkout was blocking institutional buyers with freight estimates they could not trust. A custom integration replaced the guess with live carrier rates.
Shipping complaints stopped after real carrier rates replaced estimates.
Situation and responsibility
What was at stake
A US institutional commercial furnishings manufacturer sold through a self-service Magento storefront. Its buyers worked from fixed approved budgets, so freight could determine whether an order was possible.
The existing estimator was a reasonable early workaround, but bulky products varied enough in weight and dimensions that it produced costly high and low estimates. The regional carrier offered no public API.
- Client
- Anonymous US commercial furnishings manufacturer
- Platform
- Magento
- Constraint
- Carrier had no public API
- Responsibility
- Discovery, extension architecture, build, and testing
Diana’s responsibility
- Mapped the checkout calculation and carrier quote flow
- Designed and built the Magento extension
- Automated submission and parsing of the carrier quote
- Kept the integration invisible to the buyer
Important decisions
Judgment made visible
Each response follows from an observed condition. The last column marks the tempting shortcut the work needed to avoid.
| What you notice | What it may mean | A useful response | What to resist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estimates were wrong in both directions. | A better formula would still be a guess. | Use the carrier's own rate as the source of truth. | Do not hide uncertainty behind a larger buffer. |
| The carrier exposed only a web quote form. | The available interface was designed for people, not software. | Automate the same request and parse the response at checkout. | Do not require buyers to leave the order flow. |
| Buyers used fixed purchase orders. | Freight accuracy was a conversion requirement. | Return the real number before commitment. | Do not frame freight as a minor checkout detail. |
Decisions and delivery
How the work moved
- 01
Map the failure
Trace where Magento calculated freight and how the carrier's quote form behaved.
- 02
Automate the quote
Collect weight and destination, submit them to the carrier, and return the response inside checkout.
- 03
Ship and observe
Test the extension against real order shapes and confirm the recurring complaint disappeared.
Working through a similar constraint?
Describe the problem →Visual evidence
The product in view
This project has one approved image in the archive. It is shown at full scale without implying a larger undocumented gallery.
Supported outcomes
What the evidence supports
Quantitative claims appear only where the repository provides them. The remaining outcomes are explicitly qualitative, operational, or statements of responsibility.
02Buyer outcome
Accurate checkout
Institutional buyers could work from the carrier's real rate rather than a buffer.
03Responsibility
Focused solo build
The custom Magento extension was scoped, built, and tested by Diana.
Bring me the version that is hard to explain.
If one fragile handoff is costing otherwise healthy orders, describe it and I’ll help map the smallest useful intervention.
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