overselling of product...

I have a site which sells limited quantities of limited editions...we pre-announce our time of listing so we get quite a rush to buy....and we are constantly getting overselling. We use products with attributes stock add-on. Is there any way to stop this, either a mod or code change, to change how the cart keeps track of stock. All admin settings are set to not allow overselling....I also have an additional bit of code in the main ipn handler to check for stock with attributes.. see this thread...still not helping at all...today we put 32 items on the site, in 6 different sizes, and some sizes were showing -7!!!

What we actually need is what 'Big Commerce' offers....that is, a system where products entered into somebody's cart are deducted from the stock total there and then, rather than when the person hits the confirm transaction button to make the sale final. Big Commerce has a setup, so that if the cart item is not bought within a pre-definable time, the stock is returned to the site as available, and that cart emptied.

If anyone knows of a way to make/modiify zen cart to do this, I would be most grateful.....otherwise I will have to look elsewhere, and go through the whole site setup thing again....big groan!

There's no mod/easy way I know of to have Zencart subtract stock when the product goes into the cart, rather than checkout. I'd guess that the reason is that most Zenners don't need that feature, so no one has taken the time to program it. Most Zenners, with typical stores, want the product removed from inventory at checkout, so as not to tie up stock in visitors' carts.

Stevesh...thanks for the reply...I have read quite a few people who run sites that sell limited editions and cannot replace their existing stock who have this issue...It must be a situation that occurs for many as Big Commerce have addressed it. If the carts that are not 'confirmed' ie left with stock in after, say, 15 minutes are auto emptied and the stock replaced in the inventory, then stock isn't really tied up at all....

So the question is, is there any way to code this.....our situation is unsustainable at present....the amount of time we have to spend dealing with disappointed customers is ridiculous. Otherwise, does anyone know of a cart that does what I need??? It would be wonderful if this were a feature of zen that could be switched on if needed! Dreams.....

I have misquoted above...Big Cartel is the system that manages to stop overselling. Would using a different payment gateway solve this?? Any assistance much appreciated!