posted on August 7, 2003 10:45:34 PM
Something needs to be done about the ability for customers to attempt to check out with quantities of an item that is greater than the actual quantity available.
Every item in my store has ONLY a quantity available of 1, which is what shows correctly in my Store Inventory. However, the customer can simply choose more than the quantity available and subsequently get the impression they have actually ordered that quantity entered.
EXAMPLE: Tonight I had a customer order 7 different items (vintage ads), then the customer emailed me wanting to know why the total amount due was so high. Customer was nice enough to include the checkout data in his email which showed a total of 9 items he had ordered. 7 of those items had a quantity of 1 each. One had a quantity of 2 each and another one had a quantity of 4 each. He subsequently completed the checkout with 7 line items instead of 9 line items - so I lost two sales thanks to the quantity button!
A seller may very well have 500 items in their inventory, but if we only have 1 of those 500 items showing as Quantity in Store - then logically and absolutely the choice given the customer should NEVER exceed the Quantity in Store.
Please correct this confusion-causing checkout situation.
Regards,
Greg Williams
Retro Bargains Vintage Ads Shoppe
"Find Your Memory Today!"
www.retrobargains.com
When someone selects a quantity that is higher than what you have placed in the store, if they try to confirm the checkout at the end, they get this message:
This item is no longer available in the requested quantity
Clicking the Back button on that page takes them back to the first page of checkout, where they need to enter in a new quantity. It sounds like your customer made it to the page right before confirming checkout, that gives the total of the purchase, and then sent you the email asking about the total. If they had clicked 'confirm order' the order would not have gone through.
posted on August 9, 2003 07:12:40 AM
Funny I had the same problem. Guy thinks he has a $90 order and actually has a $54 with fewer items. He was confused and I was confused.
posted on August 9, 2003 09:50:46 AM
Yeah, the system should be "smart" enough to automatically adjust the quantities entered to no more than the quantities available to keep the customer moving FORWARD in the checkout process and calculate CORRECTLY.
As it is now, REQUIRING the customer to click BACK and hoping the customer will play the GUESSING GAME of how many items really ARE available only adds confusion and could just cause the customer to say forget it and cancel the whole order.
Makes me wonder how many times THAT has happened!
Again, I strongly suggest we have some long-overdue emphasis on the store, the functions, the quantities available at checkout, search and in a nutshell a major upgrade on the store altogether.
It's amazing how long we have been told that the store upgrades are coming and yet we continue to see nothing happening.
If left up to the customer - the customer will "up and left".
Greg Williams
Retro Bargains Vintage Ads Shoppe
"Find Your Memory Today!"
www.retrobargains.com
posted on August 10, 2003 12:07:03 PM
I agree. The stores really need to be upgraded. I would like to be able to have the same "look" as my auctions. I mean I would like to have the sames choices of templates in my store.
I am also required to charge sales tax if the buyer is from my state. As it is, I am having to take it out of my profits, which are that high to begin with.
I also have a lot of customers who think they have paid when they hit confirm. I know this seems stupid, but it happens all the time.
Actually, the customer does not need to play the 'guessing game' as to how much of an item is available. When they get to the error page, it says the quantity available of that item.
posted on August 11, 2003 09:06:26 AM
Thanks Sonya, that's refreshing to know - but it still sets the customer back in the order process instead of moving forward - point here is we can't sell what we don't have and the buyer has already shown interest in purchasing what we DO have - why step them backwards to confuse them?
A message screen stating the items are not available in the quantity requested, and stating how many are available and adjusting that amount in the customer's basket and moving FORWARD to a confirmation is much better than asking the customer to read and adjust on their own. We had the customer's quantity request already in the basket, but if that quantity exceeds availability then the error page appears and if I remember correctly the quantity shows in the customer's basket as 0 - so in effect we have LOST that item that was already placed in the basket... unless the customer adjusts the quantities and moves forward (again).
I know Vendio has no control over getting the customer to read and comprehend what is given (that's just people in general - they don't read). Vendio does have the control of making this simpler for the customer though. The customer has already shown interest in the item by placing it in their cart - don't take it away - sell them what do have available and keep the checkout process moving forward - effectively forcing the customer to accept only the quantity that is available or have the customer physically remove the item from their cart if they decide they don't want the item if it isn't available in the quantity they initially entered.
This is pretty obvious as being the correct way the checkout should work.
Regards,
Greg Williams
Retro Bargains Vintage Ads Shoppe
"Find Your Memory Today!"
www.retrobargains.com
