Backorder/Out of Stock Message

[Andrea]

Hello,

I am pretty new to Shopsite, so I'm hoping someone could help me. I think
this topic might have been discussed already, but I couldn't find an answer
in the previous discussion.

I am trying to implement inventory control on my site. I have classified
each sub-product and created a template to show them in a drop down box in
the main product with no major problems.

At this point I would like to display a message to the customer who is
ordering merchandise that is out of stock that says that the item is out of
stock (it's backordered), but that he/she can proceed with the order anyway.
I believe that if I put a zero in the out of stock box, the message gets
displayed, but the client cannot actually proceed with the order. If I leave
the box blank the client would be able to order, but would not receive any
message saying that the item is backordered. This is a big problem for me
because I want the client to know what is available right away vs. what is
backordered (right now I temporarily say that it take six to eight weeks to
deliver each product, but most of them are actually in stock). I really need
a way to alert people that the item is backordered, but still allow people
to make orders.

Do any of you have any suggestions?
Thank you very much!

Andrea Loreto
http://www.essentialsforentertaining.com

[loren_d_c]

The ShopSite Pro feature Inventory Tracking does not have the
functionality you describe. Basically, if you set an Out of Stock Limit,
once that limit is reached the product cannot be ordered. You can allow
a product to still be ordered after the Quantity on Hand number goes
below 0 by just not setting an Out of Stock Limit for the product, but
in this case no message is displayed to the shopper.

If you remove the out of stock limits from your products, one thing you
can do manually to let shoppers know something is backordered is to add
text to that effect to the product's name or SKU, which will appear in
the shopping cart (and on ShopSite-generated store page, if you use
those). With this method, you can even indicate an expected ship date
for individual items. So for example, if Product A goes out of stock,
change it's Name in Products -> Edit Product Info to 'Product A
(backordered, will ship in 2 weeks)' or something like that.

-Loren



Andrea wrote:

Hello,

I am pretty new to Shopsite, so I'm hoping someone could help me. I think
this topic might have been discussed already, but I couldn't find an answer
in the previous discussion.

I am trying to implement inventory control on my site. I have classified
each sub-product and created a template to show them in a drop down box in
the main product with no major problems.

At this point I would like to display a message to the customer who is
ordering merchandise that is out of stock that says that the item is out of
stock (it's backordered), but that he/she can proceed with the order anyway.
I believe that if I put a zero in the out of stock box, the message gets
displayed, but the client cannot actually proceed with the order. If I leave
the box blank the client would be able to order, but would not receive any
message saying that the item is backordered. This is a big problem for me
because I want the client to know what is available right away vs. what is
backordered (right now I temporarily say that it take six to eight weeks to
deliver each product, but most of them are actually in stock). I really need
a way to alert people that the item is backordered, but still allow people
to make orders.

Do any of you have any suggestions?
Thank you very much!

Andrea Loreto
http://www.essentialsforentertaining.com

[Andrea]

Thank you very much Loren.
Your suggestions are precious!
I will use the SKU description trick and leave the Out of Stock box blank,
so at least the client will know the items are backorder when he/she gets to
the shopping cart and if they want they can proceed.

I suggested a modification to Shopsite, do you think there are any chances
it will happen in the near future? The modification should be pretty simple
to do (I mean to let client order AND receive the out of stock message).

Andrea

"Loren" <loren_d_c@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ck28so$d09$1@eval.shopsite.com...

The ShopSite Pro feature Inventory Tracking does not have the
functionality you describe. Basically, if you set an Out of Stock Limit,
once that limit is reached the product cannot be ordered. You can allow a
product to still be ordered after the Quantity on Hand number goes below 0
by just not setting an Out of Stock Limit for the product, but in this
case no message is displayed to the shopper.

If you remove the out of stock limits from your products, one thing you
can do manually to let shoppers know something is backordered is to add
text to that effect to the product's name or SKU, which will appear in the
shopping cart (and on ShopSite-generated store page, if you use those).
With this method, you can even indicate an expected ship date for
individual items. So for example, if Product A goes out of stock, change
it's Name in Products -> Edit Product Info to 'Product A (backordered,
will ship in 2 weeks)' or something like that.

-Loren



Andrea wrote:
Hello,

I am pretty new to Shopsite, so I'm hoping someone could help me. I think
this topic might have been discussed already, but I couldn't find an
answer in the previous discussion.

I am trying to implement inventory control on my site. I have classified
each sub-product and created a template to show them in a drop down box
in the main product with no major problems.

At this point I would like to display a message to the customer who is
ordering merchandise that is out of stock that says that the item is out
of stock (it's backordered), but that he/she can proceed with the order
anyway. I believe that if I put a zero in the out of stock box, the
message gets displayed, but the client cannot actually proceed with the
order. If I leave the box blank the client would be able to order, but
would not receive any message saying that the item is backordered. This
is a big problem for me because I want the client to know what is
available right away vs. what is backordered (right now I temporarily say
that it take six to eight weeks to deliver each product, but most of them
are actually in stock). I really need a way to alert people that the item
is backordered, but still allow people to make orders.

Do any of you have any suggestions?
Thank you very much!

Andrea Loreto
http://www.essentialsforentertaining.com

[Brandon Eley]

We get around this by actually showing our inventory on products in the
drop-down menu. They know before they add the item to the cart if it is
out of stock.

They are displayed the message only if we have set the out of stock
limit to 0 (usually only on products we will not be restocking).

-----------------------
Brandon Eley
EleyTech & RackData
brandon@eleytech.com
http://www.eleytech.com
T: [800] 682-2550
P: [706] 883-7078
C: [706] 668-0174

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Andrea wrote:

Hello,

I am pretty new to Shopsite, so I'm hoping someone could help me. I think
this topic might have been discussed already, but I couldn't find an answer
in the previous discussion.

I am trying to implement inventory control on my site. I have classified
each sub-product and created a template to show them in a drop down box in
the main product with no major problems.

At this point I would like to display a message to the customer who is
ordering merchandise that is out of stock that says that the item is out of
stock (it's backordered), but that he/she can proceed with the order anyway.
I believe that if I put a zero in the out of stock box, the message gets
displayed, but the client cannot actually proceed with the order. If I leave
the box blank the client would be able to order, but would not receive any
message saying that the item is backordered. This is a big problem for me
because I want the client to know what is available right away vs. what is
backordered (right now I temporarily say that it take six to eight weeks to
deliver each product, but most of them are actually in stock). I really need
a way to alert people that the item is backordered, but still allow people
to make orders.

Do any of you have any suggestions?
Thank you very much!

Andrea Loreto
http://www.essentialsforentertaining.com