Out of Stock

[Dave_C.]

Tell me anyone, what would you recommend? When an item is out of stock, would you:
Not show the item?
Show the item out of stock and keep the item in view?
Show the item and allow back orders?

I think this is the only choices there are, but I want to know the "best" choice. What do you think? :confused:

[maksum]

I don't do back orders. Just too darn confusing and complicating for the way I process orders and such. some of my suppliers can get me items within a week, others don't give me any idea and I don't see it for months. So I'm not going to backorder an item for my customer without being able to consistently give them a solid idea on when they might see it. That's just me.

I do not hide items when they're out of stock. I don't think it's a good idea. I think my customers like to browse items they may want to order later. PLUS, if you hide items you're missing out on one of 3DCart's most awesome features: Waiting Lists! I LOVE this feature. I see a lot of sales because of it. Say we run out of an item. People will simply put themselves on the waiting list. We get the item back in and emails go out to people that requested notifications. We VERY consistently see sales from this. Had it not been there these people have no idea we have the item they wanted and they may never be back.

Just my thoughts.

Mike

[Mark]

Wow,
Is the waiting list feature working now?
There was not an option to email folks once the items were back in stock. How well is that working now? Is it automated?
Thanks!

[maksum]

Wow,
Is the waiting list feature working now?
There was not an option to email folks once the items were back in stock. How well is that working now? Is it automated?
Thanks!

I've been using 3dcart since last september and it's been there since I started using it. Basically you put items back in stock when you get them, then you go to "products -> waiting lists" and you'll see a "new" and "all" button next to the newly replenished item. It shows you how many items you have in stock and how many people are "waiting" for it. I simply click "new" and it emails all of the people that have requested notification. (I think the "all" button notifies anyone who has EVER requested notification of the item.) I then delete it from the waiting list so I know that next time it goes our of stock and people request notification that they'll be new people.

Works awesome and we always see sales out of it. In fact, just today we got a popular item back in and I notified people. I'm certain I'll be packing some of them up in boxes tomorrow morning... it's like clock work.

Good luck.

Mike