Stupid question about stock levels

[maxxxie]

I know this has probably been asked before, but my search on "stock level" produced so many hits .. I waded through them but didn't find an answer.

 

So here it is. My store consists of mostly out-of-stock items. I order items into stock once a customer places an order. If I tell osCommerce that an item has 0 stock, it removes that item from the product listing, best sellers list etc, which means that customers don't ever see that the item is part of my offering.

 

But if I tell osCommerce that the stock level is greater than zero, it lists the item but doesn't tell the customer that it is, in fact, out of stock! So if a customer places an order, they do not get the standard "out of stock" message. OsCommerce is set up to allow customers to place an order if an item is out of stock.

 

Here's what I need:

1. Stock levels set to zero, so that customers receive a message along the lines of "we will order this in for you"

2. Even though stock levels are set to zero, the products still appear in the product listing, best sellers list etc

 

I hope this makes sense. Please let me know if this is covered elsewhere or if there is a contribution that will help me with this.

 

Cheers,

Max.

[usernamenone]

Why don't you leave stock in your store and once your customer orders they are e-mailed that you are special ordering for then and to expect delivery on such and such date?

 

Or what is the point of having a store with a shopping cart?

[maxxxie]

Why don't you leave stock in your store and once your customer orders they are e-mailed that you are special ordering for then and to expect delivery on such and such date?

 

Or what is the point of having a store with a shopping cart?

 

Because it's misleading. They've placed their order with the expectation that the goods they've ordered are in stock and therefore not subject to delay. I want customers to be aware of a brief delay prior to finalising their order. It just feels wrong not to be up-front about it.

 

Max.

[maxxxie]

For anyone who cares, I discovered that it was not osCommerce causing this problem. The Easy Populate contribution was set to interpret a 0 stock level as the item being "inactive". Which, of course, takes the product off the store's listings. I changed EP's configuration and voila! All good :) Now the items are marked out of stock up front, and not marked inactive.

 

Max :D