Inventory Management in v4?
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Forum Name: Using ProductCart
Forum Description: Running your store with ProductCart
URL: https://forum.productcart.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3748
Printed Date: 03-March-2025 at 5:40am
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Topic: Inventory Management in v4?
Posted By: rotokirby
Subject: Inventory Management in v4?
Date Posted: 29-May-2010 at 3:43pm
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Hi folks...can anyone running v4 please give me your experiences with inventory management?
We're currently on v3.5.1 and even though we've spent some extra money on coding to improve inventory controls, we still have issues with overselling items. Here's a post about it on our website if you want a little more background: http://rotofugi.com/toyscart/pc/viewContent.asp?idpage=48 - A Quick Note About Overselling Basically, I'm trying to determine if I should bother with going to v4 (we are planning to transition to v4, but probably not until early next year) or if I should be looking for a different solution, either via a Productcart developer or switching software entirely. Thanks in advance. ------------- Rotofugi Designer Toy Store & Gallery Chicago > IL > US http://rotofugi.com - http://rotofugi.com |
Replies:
Posted By: ProductCart
Date Posted: 29-May-2010 at 5:27pm
Good news! v4.1 (scheduled for release in about a month) will check the shopping cart array more frequently for products that are no longer in stock. Here is an excerpt from our internal development project:
Keep in mind that technically 2 customers could check out at exactly the same time and neither would receive the message... however it should prevent most cases where 2 or more customers can checkout with the same item (assuming one of their orders will deplete the stock, and the store is using inventory management). ------------- The ProductCart Team Home of ProductCart http://www.productcart.com" rel="nofollow - shopping cart software |
Posted By: rotokirby
Date Posted: 29-May-2010 at 8:37pm
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That's good news, thanks. Will the checks be against what is in active carts, or just against the total in the inventory? Or some combination of the two? Unfortunately, debiting what is active in someone's cart can cause other problems. Prior to switching to PC we used Miva for a few years. The inventory controls in Miva debit the inventory count when an item is added to a user's basket, or at least they used to. The problem then becomes one of never knowing just how many items are in carts vs. actually sold. Or you have users trying to "save" inventory for a friend by adding it to their cart, holding it there, then "releasing" it so their friend can buy it. My fear is that no matter how it's managed, and no matter how often you check inventory, there's not an effective way to prevent overselling when you've got 5 items and 15 or more people trying to buy them at once. If 2, or 10, people hit the last checkpoint within a certain time frame (say you check inventory after the payment submit button is checked and then debit it once the payment is approved, which is how our store is modified to operate I believe) there is always going to be a window where inventory is no longer accurate, if even for a few seconds while waiting for a response from the payment processor. Maybe the solution is to debit the inventory immediately upon payment submittal, but not wait for the response from Paypal or the credit card processor. Sure, you'll potentially end up debiting inventory unnecessarily if a payment is declined, but that's better than selling stuff we don't have to sell anymore. ------------- Rotofugi Designer Toy Store & Gallery Chicago > IL > US http://rotofugi.com - http://rotofugi.com |
Posted By: Dayv3
Date Posted: 30-May-2010 at 4:31am
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A good idea might be to debit the inventory when it is placed in the cart or upon payment submittal but also start a clock that after XX minutes it is returned to inventory if there is not a response from Paypal or the credit card processor. I also guess the inventory could be checked in a few strategic places along the way. |
Posted By: rotokirby
Date Posted: 01-June-2010 at 10:31pm
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I believe you run into other issues if you try to keep inventory numbers based on when it is added to the cart versus when you receive a completed order. Mainly that the number of calls to the database are increased and there is potentially a lot more strain on the site/server. That sure seemed to be the case with Miva back when we used it (and we still oversold stuff then too).
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have the problem of high demand, LOL, but it is frustrating to have to refund orders and annoy customers who may not try us again in the future. Most people don't understand how a "computer" can make the mistake of selling more than we tell it to. ;) ------------- Rotofugi Designer Toy Store & Gallery Chicago > IL > US http://rotofugi.com - http://rotofugi.com |
Posted By: ProductCart
Date Posted: 02-June-2010 at 2:28am
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We only update inventory when an order has been placed. What's different in v4.1 is that we added more checks on the inventory levels during the checkout process. This is to check whether the inventory levels have changed while the customer was going through checkout. For example, we do a last check on the payment step. So if there are 3 units left, customer A and customer B are both checking out at the same time, customer A submits an order for 2 units while customer B wishes to purchase 3 units, customer B would be "stopped" (e.g. on the payment step) as the inventory levels have changed while he/she was checking out (because customer A already completed the order). ------------- The ProductCart Team Home of ProductCart http://www.productcart.com" rel="nofollow - shopping cart software |
Posted By: rotokirby
Date Posted: 02-June-2010 at 2:56am
Thanks for the explanation. Unfortunately, I don't think that'll fix our problem since the issue is happening primarily due to the time needed to verify a payment via Paypal. So as long as people get to the final step of the checkout and attempt a payment, if the item was in inventory at that moment, the order goes through. Since Paypal can take minutes to confirm a payment (resulting in the inventory being reduced), then we can still oversell. Let me be clear for a moment here, I'm not criticizing EI. We've got some pretty unique demands that not very many other merchants/industries need met. I think the new checks sound like a reasonable way to handle inventory for most types of stores being served by EI. ------------- Rotofugi Designer Toy Store & Gallery Chicago > IL > US http://rotofugi.com - http://rotofugi.com |
earlyimp wrote:Posted By: ProductCart
Date Posted: 02-June-2010 at 3:07am
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Which PayPal payment option are you using?
------------- The ProductCart Team Home of ProductCart http://www.productcart.com" rel="nofollow - shopping cart software |
Posted By: rotokirby
Date Posted: 02-June-2010 at 3:11am
We're using "Paypal Website Payments Standard." ------------- Rotofugi Designer Toy Store & Gallery Chicago > IL > US http://rotofugi.com - http://rotofugi.com |
Posted By: ProductCart
Date Posted: 02-June-2010 at 3:17am
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That's because the customer completely leaves the storefront and could take a while to log into her PayPal account to complete the purchase. Have you tried disabling WPS and using Express Checkout instead? With EC the customer leaves the storefront, then comes back to ProductCart to perform some of the checkout steps there (e.g. picking the shipping option), and then goes back to PayPal to finalize the order. The time "away" from ProductCart might be shorter with EC, so the issue might disappear. ------------- The ProductCart Team Home of ProductCart http://www.productcart.com" rel="nofollow - shopping cart software |
Posted By: rotokirby
Date Posted: 02-June-2010 at 3:33am
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I'll give Express Checkout a closer look....I just don't like the whole back and forth required with Express Checkout and the fact that the user experience changes so much. But if we could still do a last minute inventory check (I guess when the shipping is chosen) then we could at least cut down on the chance of overselling. I've considered just disabling Paypal when we're anticipating a heavy selling item, but we don't always know, and I don't want to annoy my customers who prefer Paypal. It's a real head scratcher for sure. ------------- Rotofugi Designer Toy Store & Gallery Chicago > IL > US http://rotofugi.com - http://rotofugi.com |