Drop Ship Items & Inventory Availability?

[-ND4SPD-]

How do I get an item that I don't keep on the shelf but drop ship regularly to always show as in stock?

I figure I can set the available inventory to some absurdely high number like 9999 & just let it be. I prefer solutions to work arounds so I figured I'd just see what others have come up with.

[3dcristywisty]

set the available inventory to some absurdely high number like 999

This is what I do... seems to be the easiest solution. If a size or color goes out of stock, then I enable that color/size to -0- and go back to main inventory and add 999 --- this way all remaining size/colors are available and the out of stock size/ color is available for back order.

~Cristy

[doberer]

put a space in the out of stock message and backorder message. That way you can keep it at zero - in case you are using quickbooks. otherwise it will treat it like you have 9999 of that item when you actually don't. Because you have a "space" in the 2 fields it will override the out of stock and backorder message that is displayed in the template.

[-ND4SPD-]

put a space in the out of stock message and backorder message. That way you can keep it at zero - in case you are using quickbooks. otherwise it will treat it like you have 9999 of that item when you actually don't. Because you have a "space" in the 2 fields it will override the out of stock and backorder message that is displayed in the template.

Can you clarify "put a space" in those fields. You mean literally just click in the field & hit the space bar? That's easy & great but just seems odd that's all. Thanks

[piaf]

Can you clarify "put a space" in those fields. You mean literally just click in the field & hit the space bar? That's easy & great but just seems odd that's all. Thanks

I tried just hitting the space bar in those two fields but it didn't work for me.

[Mark]

We use an appropriate amount in the stock field (like 6 or 30) depends on the product, then we set the low stock alert to 2 so an email to let us know when we are running low is generated...HTH

[doberer]

I guess I should explain a little more.

we have 4 listing templates for the type of product that we sell
1) normal day to day parts we dropship (no stock, dropship only)
2) "kits" that use the system options and create configurable items (no stock, dropship only)
3) Stocked parts that we replenish when low on inventory
4) Stocked parts that will be discontinued once sold out

#4 listing template is the only one that we show "qty available". The rest is assumed we have stock and we monitor it from email alerts and replenishment programs. So for templates 1-3 we have put a "space" (litterally the space bar once) in the 3 fields In Stock/Out Stock/Backorder. This overrides the display fields from showing. Inventory control is enabled and the default action is set to allow backorders. For template 4 we set the inventory control to out of stock so it can't be backordered.

works extremely well for our business model. We used to put 5000 in the qty available field but that interfered with the accounting side of things.

[-ND4SPD-]

I guess I should explain a little more.

we have 4 listing templates for the type of product that we sell
1) normal day to day parts we dropship (no stock, dropship only)
2) "kits" that use the system options and create configurable items (no stock, dropship only)
3) Stocked parts that we replenish when low on inventory
4) Stocked parts that will be discontinued once sold out

#4 listing template is the only one that we show "qty available". The rest is assumed we have stock and we monitor it from email alerts and replenishment programs. So for templates 1-3 we have put a "space" (litterally the space bar once) in the 3 fields In Stock/Out Stock/Backorder. This overrides the display fields from showing. Inventory control is enabled and the default action is set to allow backorders. For template 4 we set the inventory control to out of stock so it can't be backordered.

works extremely well for our business model. We used to put 5000 in the qty available field but that interfered with the accounting side of things.

That's great. Thansk for clarifying. I love the way you set up the 4 templates as well. Very slick.

[fbgluck]

What about items that are out of stock?

Thanks for the information -- especially about how to use templates.

However, what if you don't even want items with 0 inventory to show on the site? (It's terribly frustrating when shopping and you see items you can't order).

We set the sitewide option for Inventory to HIDE but as 3D just told me, you can't override this (e.g. if you choose HIDE, then any other setting you choose for a product is ignored). This does not allow us to use "BACKORDER" for items that are dropped shipped.

Any ideas about how to handle this??