Negative inventory

[compunerdy]

I posted a bug but figured I would mention it on here for others as well. I have items constantly going negative inventory and overselling even though none of them are set to allow backorders. I believe the system does not check during checkout to make sure the items are still in stock. So 4 customers could add the same item to thier carts at the same time and then boom you just oversold by 3.

Then again this could also stem from the bug that leaves half my orders as payment pending until I view them. I detock after payment is made so these are not destocked when they should be.

Any other ideas on why this is happening? Doesnt help much to track inventory when the system keeps allowing me to oversell.

[jmestep]

I think it would have more to do with the payment pending issue. Do you have your payment pending order status set to de-stock inventory? You could try that and if you cancel the payment, set it to re-stock. If you have it set to de-stock and it isn't doing it, then I think it would be a bug.

[AbleMods]

I believe the system does not check during checkout to make sure the items are still in stock. So 4 customers could add the same item to thier carts at the same time and then boom you just oversold by 3.

AC7 RC3 will perform a stock-check whenever the add-to-cart button is pressed. Even if the product page was loaded when the item has stock and subsequently went out-of-stock before the visitor clicked add-to-cart, AC7 won't let the item go to the basket.

On the other hand, your order statuses can greatly affect how stock is adjusted through your business order flow. For example, if you want inventory to be destocked as soon as an order is placed, regardless of whether payment information was valid, you must set your "Unpaid" order status to "Destock". By default I believe it is set to "Unspecified" because AC7 will accept orders without valid payment information.

Remember that each order status can affect the stock quantity, so check each one to be sure that it should or should not be deducting from inventory.

The real "gotcha" is when something is added to a visitor basket but the visitor sits on it for 15 minutes before proceeding. Is (or should) that basketed item already deducted from available inventory even though the order has technically not been placed? The visitor could change their mind, come back later and buy or even remove it later and by something else. Or they could decide to complete their purchase, but by then the remaining inventory has already sold out.

Multi-user Inventory Management in real-time is a challenging aspect of any ordering system. By design, every software package must have a specific cut-off point in time where the sale is considered "committed" and stock must be deducted. AC7 seems to consider this point to be once the order is placed and not when the item is added to the basket. I'll need to spend more time testing this to confirm though.

[compunerdy]

If the system is setup to check inventory again at checkout and not just at add to cart then the problem is probably the bug I mentioned above. If its not setup to double check during checkout then it really should be as items can sit in carts for weeks it seems.

[AbleMods]

If the system is setup to check inventory again at checkout and not just at add to cart then the problem is probably the bug I mentioned above. If its not setup to double check during checkout then it really should be as items can sit in carts for weeks it seems.

Change your "Unpaid" order status so that it destocks inventory. Then regardless of whether the bug appears or not, once an order is stored to the database your inventory stock is deducted.

So far as how returning visitors are handled, AC7 automatically handles it correctly. If an item stored in a basket from a previous visit goes out of stock, it's automatically removed and the customer notified the next time they return to the site. Inventory amounts are checked every time the basket is displayed or updated and upon the first page hit.

[compunerdy]

Cool.. well I guess my best bet is to do what you suggested until the bug is fixed. I will give it a shot and see if that clears it up.