Last item misleadingly labelled as 'Out of stock' when added to basket.

[Symphony]

PS 1.7.6.8

Note:- We generally only carry 1x of many items, as they are unique; we can't take backorders for them.

At the moment, we have the stock level set to single, and backorders set to 'deny'.

This creates misleading problems with the labelling of the stock status of items, and also items incorrectly going into backorder if ordered

Problem with out of stock labels on simple products:-

When a customer places an item in the basket, it then displays on the product page and catalog as 'out of stock'. They are still able to purchase, as it is in the basket. But it is misleading because should they be looking for anything else, or go back to the product page to check anything, it says the item is out of stock even though it isn't. We have lost many sales on items for this reason because customers simply assume that we don't have it, as the browser is telling them that the item they were looking at is no longer in stock (when in fact it is just that the last one is in their basket).

I can understand the system is preventing more being added, but the 'out of stock' label is misleading. I have therefore changed the 'out of stock' text in Shop Parameters/Product Settings/Label of out-of-stock products with denied backorders to say 'This item is already in your basket'.

It is a clunky fix, because then any items that are genuinely out of stock now also incorrectly say 'This item is already in your basket'. However, as we generally have nothing active on the website that isn't in stock, it is an acceptable fudge fix for us.

Problem with out of stock labels on combination products:-

We do also however have some items that are variants of products using combinations. With those items, should the same happen, and the item be placed in the basket, again the misleading 'out of stock' label is shown in the catalog and product page.

However, these labels aren't affected by the settings in the Shop Parameters, because other combinations of the same item may be available. Therefore you have to translate the 'Product available with different options' text.

This gives the same compromise, but as we do often have those other items in stock, changing 'Product available with different options' to say 'This item is already in your basket' is a bigger problem for us.

 

It would be much, much easier for us, and logical for the customer, if Prestashop didn't flag a the last item being placed into the basket as then not being available, because it is still available and has yet to be bought. I can understand it not allowing more to be placed into the basket than is physically available, but to say 'Out of stock' is misleading and wrong.

Is there a better workaround than using clunky changing of the text (which creates other problems)?

I have read some other threads that have similar issues, but more to do with the status of orders and emails being issued for single-quantity stock items. I can't find anything that relates to my specific problem.

[Knowband Plugins]

// Problem with out of stock labels on simple products:-

We have checked the scenario and it's not an issue, If you check the below scenario.

Product A has only 1 quantity left in stock, You added the product in the cart so for you now you cannot add the same product as it's already added in your cart neither you can increase the quantity in the cart, It will say that The product is not available in this quantity, but apparently any another customer can add the same product in their cart but again once added the product will have the message out of stock as you have already added the last product in your cart.

And If you check the product page before adding the product to cart, it says Last items in stock. 

Our suggestion to avoid the confusion here is that with the warning message you can display the stock available for the product. Like Last 2 items in stock. becuase this message is only shown if you have only 1 product left in stock.

Check the below video:
https://www.loom.com/share/596eaf4f771c4990971d6538dcc6d8d5

// Problem with out of stock labels on combination products:-

Again the explanation for your queries are the same as you can see in the below video It's working fine as Prestashop displays the messages there properly.

Please check the snap attached below:

https://www.loom.com/share/8bb9145cff064b0d8cf5dfe8bfece31e

[Symphony]

Hi Knowband,

Many thanks for your reply.

I understand the logic of how it operates, and it makes sense: it prevents the customer from trying to add further items to their basket that are not available, and it doesn't prevent other customers from ordering.

However, it is nonetheless very misleading to the customer because it just says 'out of stock' or (in the case of combinations) 'product available with different options':

The result is that if a customer adds the item to their basket, and then they continue to browse without going to the checkout, the item they have already chosen then shows as 'out of stock'. I know why this is, but the customers do not know the inner-workings or logic of Prestashop. All they know is that the item they were considering (and have put in their basket) is now showing out of stock. So they don't complete the purchase.

I know this because many, many customers have told me that they didn't order because it said it was 'out of stock', when it wasn't.

As pretty much all of our items are unique (with just one available), displaying the stock levels won't really help (and actually looks a bit naff tbh).

There seems to be the logic built in to prevent over-ordering of product irrespective of the 'in stock / out of stock' labelling, because if you try to increase the quantity already in the basket it states 'The *** in your cart is not available in this quantity. You cannot proceed with your order until the quantity is adjusted.' That is fine for me and makes sense.

Same for if you try to increase the quantity on the product page: it states 'There are not enough products in stock.' That too makes perfect sense.

Where the problem lies is when the system states 'out of stock' for an item that is actually in stock, it is just already in the customer's basket.

If the system distinguished between genuine 'out of stock' and something like 'you already have this item in your basket', it would be clearer, but it doesn't. And there is no way to easily do that. I have fudged a solution by changing the 'out of stock' label to read 'this item is already in your basket'. Fortunately we de-actiavet any product that sells quite quickly so it works to a degree for us, but it is far form ideal, as any out of stock items now just say that the customer has it in their basket.

[Siku73]

Sorry for posting a response so late in this topic.
But is there already a solution to this problem?
This week alone, three different customers asked me whether items were sold out that were simply in their shopping cart.
This costs me turnover, as people will then buy elsewhere while I simply have it in stock!

[Knowband Plugins]

Unfortunately, there is no such default functionality through which you can take care one possibility is that you can change the settings on the product page where you change to allow orders if out of stock in that case we believe the message will not appear. Else you need to ask your store developer make some modifications to handle the scenario.