Two customers logged into the same account from two different computers

[magicpants]

I just noticed it's possible for two customers to log into the same account at the same time, from two different computers. For example, if a husband logs into an account when his wife is already shopping. This is strange, because the cart contents are duplicated when the 2nd person logs in, but after that, it seems their shopping is separate.

I'm guessing this is a bug -- it seems like it could cause some weird issues / problems. I think the best thing would be for the online person being logged out with a message when the 2nd person logs in.

[Ajeh]

There is only 1 database with 1 record for the customer ...

When the customer logs in the shopping cart is linked to the customer ...

If 2 people login with the same customers_id then the same shopping cart information is in use as the link to the customers_basket is the customers_id ...

There cannot be 2 customers_baskets and link them to 1 customers account ...

If 2 people want to shop from different computers they would either need their own account or not do that ...

It is an interesting situation in that it can happen ... but this is limited to 2 computers using the same account ... the shop is not designed for that ...

We will make a note of this as an unusual circumstance and consider a method to detect that 2 people are using the same shopping cart and see if there isn't a way to prevent that from happening ...

At this time, it isn't really a bug, but a way for 1 person to use multiple computers to shop the site and not lose the shopping cart between moving from 1 computer to another ...

On the whole, I would prefer the current method to not losing my shopping cart because I logged in at home, then at the office, then at the coffee shop and then wanted to complete the order when I got to the airport ...

[kuroi]

I find this "feature" very helpful. I did a site walkthough yesterday by conference call with two clients, each of us in different cities. To ensure that we were all seeing the same things, we all logged in using the same account and as they were using different browsers, I logged in twice using a different browser on each computer. All went very smoothly so unless there's a specific problem identified, I hope that this feature is retained.

[kotp]

I find this "feature" very helpful. I did a site walkthough yesterday by conference call with two clients, each of us in different cities. To ensure that we were all seeing the same things, we all logged in using the same account and as they were using different browsers, I logged in twice using a different browser on each computer. All went very smoothly so unless there's a specific problem identified, I hope that this feature is retained.

I agree with this assessment. I find that if a customer logs into the store, rather than having them log off so I can see what is going on, the "Master Password" can be used to verify what they are seeing while they are still online. And things can be added to their shopping cart to help them find things they may be looking for.

Very nice to be able to help them, and if it were restricted by default, it would have made this situation a little different.

[Ajeh]

It is not a feature we would want to throw away as we also use it in the same manner to test the same conditions on the same and different computers at the same time in different browsers etc.

Being able to login to the same account and see the "same" thing is important ...

I have also done this with customers shopping for real ... and it really is handy ...