Product Page Field to validate delivery location

-- HikaShop version -- : 2.4.0
-- Joomla version -- : 3.4.0
-- PHP version -- : 5.4.38
-- Browser(s) name and version -- : Safari 8.0.5(Mac), Chrome (Mac) 41.0.2272.118 (64-bit)

Hey Guys:

Each my vendors each has their own list of suburb or city areas that they can deliver to and for each, a different delivery fee. Based on my understanding of Hikashop, I was not able to use 'zones' to make this happen because:

1) it only contains set listing of country, and states
2) no method to enter so many city area names other than typing in one by one
3) no way to select so many zone areas per vendors even if I was able to enter them in

I decided for each vendor, I would create shipping methods by grouping their city areas or suburbs by prices. What we end up with is that most of the vendors now have 8-12 choices for shipping methods.

The problem comes when a user is suppose to select the shipping method. There are so many (See image, that is only 3 shipping method out of 10 for that vendor). They are expected to scroll through, attempt to find the city area or suburb name in the listing, and then hopefully...will know to click on the proper corresponding radio button in order to pay the correct amount.

Ideally, before the user can proceed into the checkout, there should be a search field on the product page for user to either type in or scroll to select their delivery destination. When a user enters and selects a choice from this field, the designated delivery fee is displayed and added it to their bill during checkout...something like this:

Location Delivery Fee
Mongkok, Kowloon HKD $100
Kwon Tong, Kowloon HKD $120
Central, Hong Kong Island HKD $80
Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island HKD $60





I realise that this isn't something hikashop can do out of the box. I would like to ask for your suggestion on how I could achieve this or something similar (if you have a better idea). I am not a coder, but I could try and find someone to help with this as a project. But before I can do that, I would like to consult your expertise on the best approach to do this from within Joomla and Hikashop. I will then direct the person who we hire to do as you suggest so that the new modification will be fully compatible with all functions and settings of your system.

Hi Jerome:

That is good that you have integrate the shipping method with a min-max. I could see if it can be useful for the time being. We are serving HK and AU for the moment. We would still have problems as our Australia vendors vendors do not serve areas by sequential post codes, annoyingly. And for our HK side, we do not have post codes.

Instead of integrating with Australia Post, etc to get the shipping estimate, we are looking for the vendors to determine their own cost per city area/suburb. For example, the list for Australia or Hong Kong vendors (here is just 2 vendors for each as example) may look like this:

*Note that there is just two information that we will provide in each vendor's list 'location' and 'delivery fee'

AU Vendor A
Location Delivery Fee
2300 South Sydney AUD$10
2301 Baddington AUD$10
2302 Westville AUD$12
2302 Westville East AUDR15
2303 Kentown AUD$10
2304 Bridgeway AUD$12

AU Vendor B
Location Delivery Fee
2301 Baddington AUD$10
2302 Westville AUD$12
2302 Westville East AUDR15
2305 Central Way AUD$10
2310 Beanie AUD$12


HK Vendor C
Location Delivery Fee
Central HKD$100
Sheung Wan HKD$100
Chai Wan HKD$150
Admiralty HKD$100
Mongkok HKD$200



HK Vendor D
Location Delivery Fee
Central HKD$50
Sheung Wan HKD$50
Chai Wan HKD$80
Mongkok HKD$100
Kwon Tong HKD$150

So you see, for the same location, one vendor might charge $50, another might do it for $80, another might not even serve that area at all.

Based on what I believe to be the simplest method, on a excel-like list that we create for each vendor, it would only contain 2 information per listing: 'location' and a 'delivery fee'. This list we would import it into hikashop each time we want to update on a per vendor basis. When user attempts to purchase, this is what happens:

1) On the product page, we add a search field associated for the vendor. This field will search or display the 'list' associated with that vendor.
2) This field would allow customer to type in text or number to find attempt to search for a matching 'location' in the list.
3) When there is a match, the customer selects it. (for example: he selects 2300 Sydney)
4) For the entry that is selected from the list, it will have the exact value for the shipping fee (for example: that location value is $12), which can be passed to the shipping method as the shipping cost....or if that is way too complicated, then just allow that 'value' to be added to the customer's bill anything, as long as it is listed and charged to the customer

So you see, I don't need it to be the 'shipping cost' according to the system if it complicates things. It is just a name and an amount that needs to be billed to the user and recorded into the system, invoices, etc. What is difficult is that each list is massive, some have as many as 150 or more locations in the same list so entering them by hand one at a time is out of the question.

The goal is just to:
1) allow user to validate the delivery destination and the cost before they go into checkout (now they know the cost)
2) deter users from going through the checkout for a product that cannot be deliver to their preferred destination (cause that location would not be in the list at all)
2) add that cost onto their bill so they can pay for it (now we will get the money)

I am terrible at summing up these kinds of things. I hope you understand what I am trying to describe. The method is open-ended so if you see a better and simpler way to have it done, I would love to know about it. Thank you for reading.