Newbie question: The best way to set up this scenario?

Hi all,

I would like to preface this with "I am not a complete idiot" although I am certainly starting to feel that way. At this point I am somewhat overwhelmed and am in need of a little guidance.

I have read the FAQs, Wiki, and forum posts but I havent found my specific questions addressed so please bear with me.

I am uncertain how to configure what seems to be a fairly complicated model for automotive parts. I realize that this will likely be very lengthy so I will ask for your patience.

I am developing a store for specific auto parts so I have set up a category for "Auto Parts". I have then made sub categories for each of the manufacturers "Ford", "Chevrolet", etc.

Here is where I get stuck.

Each model has a specific application under each manufacturer i.e. Ford > Mustang is different from Ford > Taurus. Would I make a tertiary category for each model auto parts > ford > taurus or do I make that an option?

Lets say that the product is shifter levers. I assume I would make a product type of "Shifter Lever". Is that correct? If so, can I use this same product across all of the different makes and models?

Furthermore each part that I sell is made up of subcomponents which I need to track in inventory. So using the above example Ford > Mustang would use part A1 and B1 and then depending on a color choice would use C1-C9. Each of those subcomponents needs to be tracked but the customer should only see that they bought a blue whatever for their ford mustang. A ford taurus would use A2 and B2 and then also C1-9. I hope this is clear enough.

The price is always the same no matter which options they choose so I can assign price at the product type level.

I realize that this is likely a lengthy discussion but if someone could point me in the right direction of how I would set this up I would appreciate it. If there is a document that I missed that explains this then my apologies, and please point it out to me.

Thank you all and apologies for my confusion.

Well I was going to post up a text structure but the site doesnt keep the spacing so it is pointless. I will see if I can get a picture posted.

Hopefully this will make things a little bit clearer

I would put the manufacturer at the top level, followed by the model, then the year, and then product type (lever) with the colors and such as attributes.

Ford
....Mustang
........1965
............levers
................short
.....................attributes
................long
.....................attributes
........1992
............levers
................short
.....................attributes
................long
.....................attributes

Widgets seldomely fit every model year.

You can also look at other automotive sites and see how they've done it.
Learn from their efforts.

Mike_B1

There's also this:

http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&products_id=1709

I haven't used it.

I approached it with

1. Manufacturer (of the part) -> product family ->Product (which I use as the master categories for inventory updating)

2. Product type ->For which vehicle it is valid->Products

3. Vehicle->Manufacturer (of vehicle)->Model->Year->All the products I have that are valid for this model and year
   This I have as a drop-down category search at the top of the page.
   www dot motorvista dot es /tienda

Steve, thank you for pointing that out. I will look into it as it has promise.

I should have been more clear. My question isnt as much the structure itself, it is more how to get it done inside ZC.

There is a disconnect in my understanding of how I can have one part be made up of several components and each of them get pulled/picked from my inventory.

i.e. customer orders a long blue lever with a red knob for a mustang. I would need to have D1, A1, B1, and C3 pulled from inventory so that I could make up this part and then ship it.

I dont know what should be attributes, what should be subcategories, etc. and then I dont understand how to manage inventory at that bottom level (the 4 parts) rather than the top level (the lever)

I must be missing something key that makes this all happen.

You have hit on what (for me) is the biggest hole in Zen Cart.
It does not support attributes as being unique products natively, and I don't trust the add-ons available in this area.
That's my personal opinion of course.
I have decided to not use attributes until this functionality is in the core.

Similarly it does not support kits/groups of components: you'll have to group them as a new product if you can.

I decided to have my lowest level of product reflecting what I actually buy from the manufacturer and get the customer to buy the pieces they need by making it very clear in the products description they need to select a+b+c.

This is not advice, just my approach.

My stuff is fairly simple, there are others here who have much more complicated setups who could advise better like coolcarpartsonline dot com

torvista:

You have hit on what (for me) is the biggest hole in Zen Cart.
It does not support attributes as being unique products natively, and I don't trust the add-ons available in this area.
That's my personal opinion of course.
I have decided to not use attributes until this functionality is in the core.

Similarly it does not support kits/groups of components: you'll have to group them as a new product if you can.

I decided to have my lowest level of product reflecting what I actually buy from the manufacturer and get the customer to buy the pieces they need by making it very clear in the products description they need to select a+b+c.

This is not advice, just my approach.

My stuff is fairly simple, there are others here who have much more complicated setups who could advise better like coolcarpartsonline dot com

I would prefer the simplist approach to getting this done so what you are doing may be the way to go.

I just dont know why I am having such a hard time wrapping my head around this. So in my example the customer would actually be purchasing 4 separate products? How does that look when invoiced?

I have plenty of experience with inventory control systems but sadly they are all a lot more versatile than this seems to be (not complaining, ZC is awesome!) so I just need to learn the nuances of how to make it work here.