Backorder/out of stock config

[ontiltcasinogear]

Is there a way to config some items to allow for back order, while others to either disappear from the site when out of stock, or to display "out of stock" with no backordering available?

[rrw]

I have that exact same situation. We have 2 product classes: If product A is not in stock, then it takes about 1 week to ship. If product B is not in stock, then it takes 2-3 weeks to ship. We'd like to show inventory availability for each. My site setting allows backorders, and I've changed the message to read "When will it ship?" If not in stock it reads "2-3 weeks", but I want to use a different message for the other product. Hope someone can help us

[GonzaloGil]

You can customize the way the way the items handle being out of stock as follows:

1) Global rule

Settings->General->Store settings

Enable Inventory Control
Hide Items (When out of stock, hide items)
Show as "Out of Stock" (When out of stock, Show as "Out of Stock")
Allow Back Order (When out of stock, allow them to keep ordering but show that its in back order)
Use Waiting List (When out of stock, give them the chance to add themselves to a waiting list)

2) If you have specific products that need to be different than the global rule, you can go to each product, click the advanced tab, and change the configuration on a per product basis.

[rrw]

I guess I'm not understanding. I've set "allow backorders" in my general settings, and have a message of "ships in 3 weeks" for that option in the site language section.

Now for the other products, I've set the language for "out of stock" to read, "ships in 1 week". The problem is that the system will not allow the customer to even place an order if the product is set for "out of stock", if there are none in stock. That was my original problem--I need to have another option, "allow backorders 2", and set the language for it differently.

[ontiltcasinogear]

Gonz- thanks!

rrw - maybe you can change the language for waiting list to say "ships in x weeks" and allow backorder to say "ships in y weeks" ?

[rrw]

I tried that, but with waiting list it won't actually take the order either, unless I'm doing something wrong. It seems like the backorder option is the only one available to actually complete the transaction.

[ontiltcasinogear]

you could just make a blanket statement of ships within 2-3 weeks, but when it actually ships within 1 week, your customer will be pleasantly surprised! (?)

[rrw]

Unfortunately, our customers (brides) need to have more specific timeframes in order to schedule fittings, etc.

Gonzalo, any ideas??? Is it possible to make a rule that would allow one of the other options, such as out of stock, to proceed to checkout anyway? Or how about adding a second backorder choice??? This may not be an issue for many, but it is huge for us!

[GonzaloGil]

What you could do is create 2 listing templates;

Listing 1 - For items that are within 7 days
Listing 2 - For items that are shipping within xx days

And then you can assign the right template to the items.

What you would do is make a copy of the template, then in the section that displays the availability, you could hard code "Available in xx days..."

We are working on adding multiple availability options on the next release, which will make things a lot easier, but for now, the multiple templates is the way that i would take care of it.

[rrw]

I think I follow you, but does that mean that it would not track inventory for that product but always give the "ships in xxx days" message regardless?