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Inventory Control - Sold out options?
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alienrobotmonster



Posts: 15

PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 1:37 pm    Post subject: Inventory Control - Sold out options? Reply with quote

The inventory control feature is great. But does the product just disappear when inventory reaches zero? Is there an option to leave individual pictures of sold out product up, but just "on hold", "sold out" or otherwise not purchasable in some way? I just don't want my store to become visually empty after things sell out and it would be nice for customers to know that the sold out item exists and will become available again in the future when restocked. I discovered that I can enter a quantity of 1 in order to have a product picture stand in, then put my whole store on hold so that no one can buy the stand end. But I don't want my whole store to be on hold, only the products that are sold out. How does everyone handle this? Please let me know!
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cosmicray



Posts: 7286

PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 1:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

On Hold is the same as sold out. eCrater uses different terminology. Once the item is on-hold, it will not participate in the feed. At that time it should be relatively safe to add "SOLD OUT" to the title (but opinions will vary on this).
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alienrobotmonster



Posts: 15

PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 2:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi, thanks for your reply! O ok cool, so it the product picture will not disappear from the store?
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MoonwishesStore
moderator


Posts: 17389

PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 2:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As long as the item says 'on hold' the listing will remain as will the photo, but unless a customer runs into an old url link they will not be able to see the item in your store. If it is grayed out in your list of listings in your administration area, it will not show up after a few hours in your store or on the marketplace.

While this doesn't neccesarily help out with the ghost town effect in your store, it does mean that when someone finds that listing out in the cyberworld -- and they DO! they can see it and if you have restocked and changed the listing from on hold to buy they can see it and buy it. If you haven't restock and they write you about it you can tell they when it will be restocked, etc. invite them to shop and thank them for dropping in. Deleting a listing that you will be restocking, is a foolish waste of any initial marketing efforts as you never know how or why or when someone found the link and it is still functioning. I have many customers writing me about products that I'm sold out on. For a couple of them, I could have probably re-sold several items 100 times each if I had had the stock Sad but it does give me a chance to communicate with them and let them know what else is in the store that they may like.
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alienrobotmonster



Posts: 15

PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 4:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hello, thanks for your explanation! Hmm, I see "on hold" setting under "more options", but that puts the whole store on hold right? Are you saying there is an "on hold" setting for each individual product? I'm not seeing that, where is it?
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FoxAndFish



Posts: 1585

PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 4:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

alienrobotmonster wrote:
Are you saying there is an "on hold" setting for each individual product? I'm not seeing that, where is it?

It's a box with the text "Hide This Product." Click to select box and hit Update.
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MoonwishesStore
moderator


Posts: 17389

PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 5:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, you are correct, the on hold setting under options puts your whole store on hold for like vacations.
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MoonwishesStore
moderator


Posts: 17389

PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 5:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hope you don't mind me saying it, but I doubt that you want COD as your payment method. It costs money that you have to pay and it means you ship and they pay when they get the item and then you get your money sent to you. It cost a lot more than $5.00. You can take PayPal or/or Stripe, Money orders, checks-personal or cashiers, but COD is very old fashioned and not for something like what you are selling.

Also, I'm not sure you are done with your listings or still just working on your store, thus the million dollar price tag on the one item, but you need a lot more in your titles and much, much more than the word Keshi as a description.

You mentioned that you are a toy maker. Are you making these things yourself?
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alienrobotmonster



Posts: 15

PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 5:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I know, just poking around. Laughing
Thanks!
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jigsaw-puzzle-palooza



Posts: 822

PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 6:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

cosmicray wrote:
On Hold is the same as sold out. eCrater uses different terminology. Once the item is on-hold, it will not participate in the feed. At that time it should be relatively safe to add "SOLD OUT" to the title (but opinions will vary on this).



One thing I wish I could do when an item is sold is, put SOLD in the title AND enter a quantity of ZERO. Apparently making any edit to the listing forces a positive quantity.
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alienrobotmonster



Posts: 15

PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2017 11:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:

One thing I wish I could do when an item is sold is, put SOLD in the title AND enter a quantity of ZERO. Apparently making any edit to the listing forces a positive quantity.


Yes, how would we recommend/request that? Question
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FoxAndFish



Posts: 1585

PostPosted: Sat Jan 14, 2017 6:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

alienrobotmonster wrote:
Yes, how would we recommend/request that?

In the Forum entitled "Suggestions...Post here if you have a suggestion for eCRATER"
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SheilaDeesPostcards
moderator


Posts: 4614

PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 7:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Reading through this topic, I'm not sure a complete answer was given to the OP. When an item reaches a quantity of 0, it is hidden in the store. The item can still be seen in the admin, but it will only be seen by the public if they have saved a link to the item OR follow a link from an internet posting. If a customer comes to your store and all your items have sold, they will see a blank store. The "hidden" feature works well as opposed to deleting the item because you can send your buyer a link to the item and they can see the item while waiting for shipping. Also, if a customer follows a link from Pinterest, Facebook, a search engine, blog post, etc. they will see the item but be unable to purchase.

If you sell an item somewhere else, you can also hide the item on eCRATER rather than deleting the item. This is very helpful if you think you will get a replacement so you don't loose the links to the item on the internet.

You can add to the title or description of a hidden item by changing the quantity to 1. Since the item is hidden, any links to it will show the item on hold. I like to add a note to the end of the description that says the item has sold and invites the browser to see the other things in my store. Here's an example of a hidden item where I've added a note. http://www.sheiladeestreasurefinds/ecrater.com/p/18126300/ I do wish we had the option of changing the quantity to 0. Currently, the only way to change the quantity to 0 is by a sale when inventory is active. Note to new sellers, do not leave the quantity blank since that means you have an unlimited number of the items for sale.
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alienrobotmonster



Posts: 15

PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I emailed support about this and got a nice response!

My question:
"Can I please set my products to zero quantity?"
Support response:
"Yes, but that will not help. There is no need to set QTY to 0, but check "Hide this product" box instead. In such case the listing (and product image) will remain visible but buyers are not able to order ."

Anyone else try this? It sounds promising, but I tried checking hide... unfortunately it seems to just make everything disappear, even all my categories are not visible any more. What have you all experienced with this? I'll follow up with the nice support person and let you know if we can somehow unlock this feature we wish we had.
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FoxAndFish



Posts: 1585

PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

alienrobotmonster wrote:
Anyone else try this?

Try it? It's not necessary to test it out, b/c it works...and I've done it hundreds of times, exactly as I posted in this thread 10 days ago.

alienrobotmonster wrote:
I tried checking hide... unfortunately it seems to just make everything disappear

Checking "Hide this product" on the product page does what it says it does: it hides one product.

alienrobotmonster wrote:
What have you all experienced with this?

What I've experienced for the past 8 years is that the "Hide this product" box works exactly as it says it does.
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