Help with shipping amounts for more than 1 order

[Guest]

Having installed OsCommerce , it seems to be working okay. I was wondering if somebody could help me with the following problem:

 

I sell books, Paperbacks and Hardbacks. Each has a set price for shipping. How can I set up shipping so that firstly it will recognise if the book is Hardback or paperback. Secondly if a cutomer buys more than one book at the same time, the shipping price will be reduced on the second book onwards.

 

An example: Customer buys 3 books ( 2 Hardback and one paperback) First hardback price to ship is say $2.00, second HB will then be $1.50 and the paperback included in this shipment will be then $1.00 and NOT $1.50 (shipped on its own price)

 

My idea was I set a weight on each book paperbacks being 1 and Hardbacks 2. Having looked in the forums for the last few days I am getting more confused and the only thing that springs to my mind is to set up a table rate. So far I have not been able to do this, and to be honest I do not even know if I am on the right lines.

 

Could somebody be so kind enough to take the trouble to post a link to a thread, or give a brief idea on how to solve this?

 

Many Thanks!