One-of-a-kind items

[lizbeth]

I purchased the Manager version of ShopSite last night after I read in the manager help file that I could set up inventory control.

I am brand new to this, and brand new to internet commerce as well. I have yet to make a single penny from my business, and feel like I've just been spending all this money and getting nowhere- so I'm pretty frustrated. My items are not the kind of thing that I expect to draw a huge business from, and I'm finding it hard to justify the amount of $ I'm spending.

I sell items that are one-of-a-kind, meaning I only have one of each. I need to set up the store so it doesn't allow someone to order more than one, and so two people can't order the same thing.

How do I do this?

I enabled inventory control on my shopsite preferences, but I can't find ANYWHERE on my products to enter a quantity.

Any help would be appreciated!

[Jim]

I'm sorry to say the online help was incorrect, the Manager level of ShopSite does NOT contain the Inventory tracking feature. Only the Pro level contains that functionality.

The feature comparison chart at
http://shopsite.com/scchecklist.html#catalog_management

shows that Inventory tracking is only in the Pro level

I have sent an email to the documentation department to have them fix so the Manager level help does not show the inventory tracking feature.

[lizbeth]

Thanks Jim. Unfortunately $50 is out of my price range at this point in time. When you're selling items at $5 each and don't even know yet if they WILL sell (and have a limited inventory) $50 a month is a lot. Especially when this is just supposed to be something I'm doing for fun right now.

I'll be looking around for something cheaper to start off with. I love shopsite though, and I'll be back if this idea takes off.

Thanks for the response- I appreciate it!

edit: There's also an option in the manager version to enable automatic inventory tracking via shopsite. I "enabled" it and then spent an hour looking for how to make it work on the product pages. You might want to remove that from the manager version as well.

[Jim]

Which version of ShopSite do you have?

Selling one of a kind items is still possible in a manager level store. You just need to put a note on the product page and mention that you only have one for sale and the first person to purchase it gets it. In a new store sales are generally slow so the chance of two or more people purchasing the same item would be limited. Once you have an order for the item just remove the item from your store pages and republish. Some merchants use a special template that they can mark the product as sold and then when they republish the add to cart button for the item becomes a "Sold Out" or something similar so people can see your work but aren't able to purchase the item.

[lizbeth]

I had manager earlier but I've suspended the service for now. Your suggestion would work if I didn't have idiot friends- they try to be supportive and I can see them getting on the site and doing something retarded. I'm just trying to avoid the headaches of having to issue refunds- there's nothing to keep someone from buying something that's been sold already before I can get to it. Which I expect would happen if I told 15 people that my site was up and I only have an inventory of 20 products right this second and they're all trying to help me out, lol. Not that I expect that sort of thing to happen on a regular basis, but I know for sure it would happen right after I tell everyone about my site.

We'll see what happens. I'll most likely be back if I'm able to sustain a steady profit, but with such a kitschy product it's really hard to tell.

Thanks again for all the help!
Liz
thisbeerismine.com

[nickelman]

I just wanted to echo this very thing. This is the one and only thing that is keeping me from giving Shopsite my hard earned money. Without inventory control in the paid version of the manager edition I have to look elsewhere and that really stinks because I have been using the free version and really like it.

But I need to expand and move on to a cart that can offer what I need

This is an important issue and I think you should re-evaluate your position on it.