Attributes HOW-TO

[afo]

I've been fiddling with the attributes, but either I'm not doing it right (EXTREMELY likely) or I can't get there from here with attributes (also EXTREMELY likely).

Here's what I want to do. I'm setting up a cart for an actor friend of mine. He'll be selling photos and the like from his site. Here's what I want to set up:

unsigned photo $8
signed photo $15
personalized &#036;25 <-- for this one we&#39;d need a text box for how they&#39;d like it personalized.

If the example isn&#39;t clear, let me know.

What&#39;s the best way to set that sort of thing up?

[kaelin]

Originally posted by Hanlon@Oct 21 2004, 06:34 PM
I&#39;m incredibly greatful for all of the work done to ZenCart and will gladly deal with a little confusion.

I couldn&#39;t agree more - I am installing a new cart for a friend and am feeling some "attribute" frustrations myself - even thought I would try to use cubecart this time - worked in there for about 10 minutes after installing and realized that I would need multiple add ons to do what zen cart does as is - and that I would have to pay for all of them - the two I needed were going to be 30.00&#33; (one was for taking credit cards OFFLINE and one was for Discount Pricing&#33;) Needless to say, I&#39;ll work with ZenCart&#33; Thank you to EVERYONE who works on making Zen Cart what it is ::tup - I think by the time I finish with this particular cart I&#39;m going to be an expert :) NOT to mention the great forum -- we couldn&#39;t live without it&#33;

That being said, I am probably missing some posts on this as I found this particular one while looking for attribute "issues" (or maybe I&#39;m just using the wrong search terms so I apologize in advance if these are "asked and answered"):

1. (I already posted this but will reiterate) I saw that someone had a mod for this - but could not find it posted - the ability to do quantity discounts in a "category" - and am trying to understand the linking -
i.e.
http://www.magneticspecialtouch.com/shop/index.php
Create Your Own Jewelry and Ready Made Jewelry will both have Bracelets, Anklets and Necklaces - he offers up Bracelets/Anklets for 15.00 each - 2 for &#036;25 or 3 @ 10.00 each - this was a simple accomplishment for the individual products - but needs to transcend to apply to all - if someone knows how to do this - please let me know (I will have to do the same for Necklaces)

2. Dropdown vs. Checkbox -- if someone wants to order 3 of the same style in 3 different colors, it would make sense to do the checkbox (Since Anklets and Bracelets are the same price I was going to do them as attributes as well but changed because of trying to figure this one out) - If I do checkbox, that will give them the option to choose more than one color - but if they only order one, then of course there will be confusion with the order - I would like to think that someone would figure this "out" when placing an order, but I&#39;ve seen to many customers get confused and know better - any thoughts on how to do this?

3. He offers free shipping period - since that is the global shipping option - I&#39;m assuming it&#39;s NOT necessary to choose always free shipping when adding a product (I&#39;ve gotten close to 100 added in the past 48 hours so I&#39;m hoping not and just thought I&#39;d ask while I was posting this)

4. I&#39;ve looked and maybe this isn&#39;t there or I&#39;m just not finding it - is there a way to copy pricing discounts from item to item like there is to copy the attribute options? I am using the latest ZenCart and selected that option when I was copying attributes (2nd option Update with new settings/prices, then add new ones) -- but it did not copy the pricing discount -

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long line of questions

Lorri Nevil

[Ajeh]

Originally posted by afo@Jan 5 2005, 01:38 AM
I&#39;ve been fiddling with the attributes, but either I&#39;m not doing it right (EXTREMELY likely) or I can&#39;t get there from here with attributes (also EXTREMELY likely).

Here&#39;s what I want to do. I&#39;m setting up a cart for an actor friend of mine. He&#39;ll be selling photos and the like from his site. Here&#39;s what I want to set up:

unsigned photo &#036;8
signed photo &#036;15
personalized &#036;25 <-- for this one we&#39;d need a text box for how they&#39;d like it personalized.

If the example isn&#39;t clear, let me know.

What&#39;s the best way to set that sort of thing up?

If I am understanding this correctly ...

You have either an &#036;8, &#036;15 or &#036;25 photo

The &#036;25 needs the personalizing.

Set the Product to Price by Attributes with no price

One way to do this is make an Option Name: Photo Type Dropdown (or Radio Button)

Option Values:
Unsigned 8
Signed 15
Personalized 25

Then include an Option Name: Personalized Signature Type Text

Now Edit the Option Name: Personalized Signature

You will find there is a 64 character comment box where you can include instructions that Personalized Photos can be written here ... or something to that effect.

So the price is in the first Option Name group

The comment you add to the Personalized Signature would appear above the Personalized Signature input box.

When you add these attributes to the product, select one of the Photo types to be the default so there is someone selected.

There is not a way to *force* including the signature.

An alternative is price personalized in the first group as 0 and add the price to the Personalized Signature for 25

This way, if the personalized signature is filled in there is a &#036;25 charge on the order. If they just select Personalized from the first group but do not add the personalized signature information then there is no charge to them and may in the end be less complicated for mistakes as there would not be a charge for something they did not complete the information on.

I hope this helps you out in the different methods of using the attributes. They can be a tad confusing. But as you work with them they should be more clear to you.

Note: providing you did not go wild and clear the TEXT setting out of the products_options_values table you should not have any trouble making TEXT attributes. This is a common problem where people clean out the database tables and take out too much.

[Ryk]

Originally posted by Ajeh@Jan 5 2005, 02:41 PM
You will find there is a 64 character comment box where you can include instructions that Personalized Photos can be written here ... or something to that effect.

If that&#39;s not long enough, it can be changed by changing the database field itself .. discussed on this thread.

[afo]

Originally posted by Ajeh@Jan 5 2005, 02:41 PM
If I am understanding this correctly ...

You have either an &#036;8, &#036;15 or &#036;25 photo

The &#036;25 needs the personalizing.

Thanks, Linda&#33; I&#39;m gonna give this a whirl. I spoke to him last night and told him about the cart, so he&#39;s pretty psyched. He was stunned by the pricing I suggested, but that&#39;s not carved in stone.

Anyway, any photo available on his site can be purchased as is (unsigned), signed (just autographed) or personalized (autograhped to a specific person). He&#39;s a bit concerned about folks reselling the autographed (but not personalized) photos, but I figure once people know they can purchase merchandise directly from him, why would they bid on eBay?

[spinning-plate]

why would they bid on eBay?

for fun :) and because they may not know of his site.....

[Ajeh]

Post your own photos on e-bay with a link to your site to see them? Or is that an e-bay no-no :)

[afo]

Originally posted by Ajeh@Jan 5 2005, 03:11 PM
Post your own photos on e-bay with a link to your site to see them? Or is that an e-bay no-no :)

He&#39;s concerned about people getting autographed photos and reselling them. There isn&#39;t really much that can be done about that unless he ALWAYS personalizes the photos which makes them much less valuable from a reseller&#39;s pov. This is actually a concern for any celebrity type (famous or not). There are people who refuse to sign autographs for any adult.

This is still under consideration since I sprung it on him last night that he should have his own "store" this week.

[afo]

Originally posted by Ajeh@Jan 5 2005, 02:41 PM
An alternative is price personalized in the first group as 0 and add the price to the Personalized Signature for 25

This way, if the personalized signature is filled in there is a &#036;25 charge on the order. If they just select Personalized from the first group but do not add the personalized signature information then there is no charge to them and may in the end be less complicated for mistakes as there would not be a charge for something they did not complete the information on.

I&#39;m doing something wrong (again&#33;).

Here&#39;s how I set it up.

Priced by attributes - base price 0.

Radio buttons:
unsigned +8
autographed +15
personalized +15
personalization text +10

Unfortunately, when you look at the product, it says "Starting at &#036;18" when it should say "Starting at &#036;8".

Is there a way to restrict the "personalization text" to the "personalized" attribute? I don&#39;t want folks to think they can select "unsigned" and "personalization text" and get the signed photo for &#036;18.

[afo]

Originally posted by spinning-plate@Jan 5 2005, 02:57 PM

for fun :) and because they may not know of his site.....

True, but if I live thru setting this up, ;) I&#39;ll be posting it to forums and email lists that would be interested.