Is customer groups the way to go? (ie: only certain visitors can buy certain prods)

Am running 3.1.8, apple-zen.
I need to be able to set up so that all visitors to the site can see all products, but only certain visitors can buy certain products. What is the best way of doing this?
Thanks!

This is do-able, but just how you do it will depend on how many customer "groups" there are.

If you just have ONE "special" customer group that has access to ALL products, then you could simply insert a CONDITIONAL statement into relevant php sections that looks for some sort of FLAG, and if the condition is met (If customer is a member of special group) then the product shows up... or can be added to cart, etc.

There are several ways it can be done... but unless you provide a reasonably DETAILED description of who will have what permissions, and under what circumstances, no further advice can be given.

Fundamentally, your solution will involve setting a flag (probably in the customers table - which will involve a new field, and changes to admin systems to allow you to add a flag to that field, on a customer-by-customer basis)... and will then involve coding in conditional statements that the respective customer record must meet in order for a certain behaviour (eg: add-to-cart) to be permitted.

If this is beyond your skill sets, you could ask for help in the Commercial Help Wanted section.

thanks for getting back to me. Essentially there will only be one or two special groups.
The important factor is that all visitors should be able to see all products. They will then submit an application and subject to approval will then be "allowed" to purchase.
There will also be some products available for anyone to purchase with no application needed.
Are there any existing mods which have these functions?

pb4:

thanks for getting back to me. Essentially there will only be one or two special groups.
The important factor is that all visitors should be able to see all products. They will then submit an application and subject to approval will then be "allowed" to purchase.
There will also be some products available for anyone to purchase with no application needed.
Are there any existing mods which have these functions?

There are no mods which have this function, as it is a specific customisation, exclusive to your needs.

As I advised, you will need a "conditional" statement coded into the PHP (I'm not sure where it would be placed).

This conditional would limit any given product's capability to be added to the cart.

Your customers would have to be LOGGED IN before you allow anyone to add to cart, and there is a setting in admin >>> configuration >>> customer details >>> Customer Approval Status - Authorization Pending (Probably set to "3" in your case).

Then, you will need to add the conditional to the "Add to Cart" function, where the conditional basically says:

"If the customer belongs to a special group, they can add this product to the cart. If not, they are presented with an alert message, and are prevented from adding the product to the cart".

This will need specialist coding.