How to get Product Availability Msg to Show in Cart

[NancyC]

We've got some products that will be coming out later this year and want to take preorders. I don't want to do this for all products and set the system to allow backorders, so I put inventory in on the products we'll take preorders for. On the product page, I edited the In Stock Message to say "PREORDER: ITEM SHIPS IN JULY 2012."

This seemed effective, except one customer used the add to cart button from the category page, so they never saw this message and of course they're not happy to find out it's not really in stock. I know I could remove the add to cart button from the category pages, but I really don't want to do that as customers often order multiple items so I want to keep it easy for them.

Is there any way to have the In Stock Message show in the cart itself? I tried editing the html file, but I couldn't get it to work. I searched through the forums and found nothing. Thanks for your help!

[Evolution]

I haven't seen any examples of this but perhaps you could modify the cart so that, in addition to the item name, you pass the stock availability message tag and have it display there?

I know that not all tags are global but perhaps support can let you know which ones you can use in the cart?

[rrw]

I would LOVE this feature too! Or a line that could include estimated ship dates for those products that are made to order.

[ElegantWeddings]

[availability] tag is not a global variable;therefore, cannot be used in the view_cart.html

You can use the 3dCart Template Reference Guide for further details.

[thecartdesigner]

you can always change the "add to cart" button in the categories to "more details" which would send them to the product instead of the cart from the category section..

You would just have to change the <!--START: ITEM_TEMPLATE (#)--> button code in your category template to this:

<input  type="button" value="More Details" onClick="window.location='product.asp?itemid=[catalogid]'" class="btn" onMouseOver="this.className='btn_over'" onMouseOut="this.className='btn'">

Or you can put the "Pre-Order Only" in the title of that item which will show in the cats as well

[NancyC]

Thanks for the replies. I tried tech support and he suggested trying the [availability] tag, but he didn't know if it would work on the cart page. I couldn't get it to, but I'm not sure if I was doing it correctly.

After messing around with it for a few hours, I ended up removing the Add to Cart button from the category pages, as well as from related items and featured items. I liked having the button there, but I couldn't find a way to make it work. I'll live without it.

[ElegantWeddings]

I tried tech support and he suggested trying the [availability] tag, but he didn't know if it would work on the cart page.

As stated in my previous post, the tag is not available to use in ViewCart page.

For you AddToCart button, have you tried doing what was suggested by @3dcartdesigns?, instead of removing the button all together, have the customer direct to the product page

[rrw]

have the customer direct to the product page

We do that, but they still miss the big "Ship Date:", right next to where they have to click to add to the cart. It will say, "Next Business Day" for items in stock, or "Please allow 2 weeks for shipment" for anything that has to be made. Some folks still miss it, so it would just be nice to have that populate the details section during checkout, or on their confirmation email. :)

[thecartdesigner]

If you can direct them to the product you can enter a required checkbox option that makes them aware of the Pre Order before they can add it to the cart. That would be the best work around I can think of. Then they are required to acknowledge it and they also can't make any complaints.

[mimib]

As a workaround, I'd recommend amending the product title as suggested by 3dcartdesigns. It's not a big deal to do if you do it via a CSV import. Export a custom list of products containing just the catalogid, id, and name fields. Narrow it down to just the products you want to change either with filters on the export page or just by deleting all the other products in your CSV file. Add "PREORDER" to the product name and re-import.

[thecartdesigner]

I'd recommend amending the product title

I agree, then it will show in the cart as well

[NancyC]

Those are good suggestions. We may amend the title of the product. Thanks.

[LavMyst]

My husband just figured this out for me! He went in and edited the view_cart and the packing slip and they both show the availability messages as far as I can tell.

He added "<br>[itemdescription]" after wherever the item_name was.