Would Atrributes work in this manner?

Howdy! Not new to eComm, or Zen Cart, but for the past 8 years I have been primarily using SaaS systems. So I am rusty when it comes to Zen. This company lost their previous Consultant, and so I am trying to make changes without the ability to discuss anything with their previous Web Developer. (And he left NO notes or documents regarding anything he did spanning the past 5 years. Ugh!)

I need to add what I thought would be an Attribute and Option Set, but now I am unsure how to do what was requested. Let me explain:

This company produces Baby Crib Bedding, and one of the main categories is Fabrics. They have dozens of Fabrics. However, most of their customers want to order a Swatch (i.e., sample) of the fabrics before deciding what Fabric to choose for their bedding. Currently the customer has to add a generic Swatch to their order and then via Notes for the order, they list the name of the fabric for which they want a swatch. Cumbersome, and confusing for some customers.

So, they want to add a Swatch option on each of the Fabrics (as the Fabrics are sold by the yard only for $20 to $30, whereas the swatch costs $1.50). I immediately thought Option Set, so that it can appear as an option with each Fabric. BUT, the pricing will only allow me to deduct or add to the price based upon the Option's price. In this regard, the $20 or $30 Fabric would need to be set to only $1.50 as the option for a swatch of the fabric would indicate to the company that a Swatch is desired, and not a yard of the Fabric.

What would be the best technique to use?

I was using this page as my source info for how to add Option Sets (for reference sake) - http://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?99-how-do-i-add-attributes-to-my-products

Any thoughts on how best to achieve this? Is the Option set the best method?

Thanks in advance,

Colin in NY

What quantity of the fabric do you sell?? if in yards or partial etc

A link to what you have would assist

As I explained, the Fabric is sold in Yards. Though, that is really not the point as it could be sold in any number of units. The point is, a Sample (swatch) is available for $1.50 for every Fabric (which range from $20 to $30 per yard). What would be the best method for achieving this? An option set (as I first thought)? OR do I make a new product for each swatch and then link to each from it's related Fabric? (Though, this 2nd idea will be very time consuming and cumbersome.)

Anyway, I thought this would be an obvious question for someone on here (a seasoned Zen user, which I am not). I know how I'd do this in BigCommerce, Volusion, and heck even using PDG. But I am unsure the Best Method for Zen Cart.

(btw - The client is a friend, and they do Not want links to their site posted on these forums for a few reasons.)

Thanks in advance for any help, much appreciated,

Colin

colin-ny:

and they do Not want links to their site posted on these forums for a few reasonsSo OBFUSCATE the URL so the search engines don't pick it up if that's the concern..

Example:
http://yoursite(dot)com

Lots of folks post links this way on the forum.. It's awfully hard to help without a link to SEE what you SAY.. and it makes it so those helping don't have to GUESS.. IJS..

@colin-ny, this is very straightforward. Price the product by attributes, then create two attributes - yard of fabric ($20, for example) or swatch ($1). They order quantities for the number of yards they need. It's a bit more work to create products like this, but it allows you to offer a swatch on the product page.

Thank you @swguy! That is a great idea. However, there are 100's of such products that I would have to do this for. I guess, either way I go (the way you're suggesting, or creating a new product for each Swatch and then linking to the related swatch on each Fabric product) will entail a lot of repetitive work. (No way around that...)

Again, thanks, good suggestion.

Colin

colin-ny:

Thank you @swguy! That is a great idea. However, there are 100's of such products that I would have to do this for. I guess, either way I go (the way you're suggesting, or creating a new product for each Swatch and then linking to the related swatch on each Fabric product) will entail a lot of repetitive work. (No way around that...)

Again, thanks, good suggestion.

Colin
Once you've got the attributes together for one of the products, you can use the Attributes Controller to copy those attributes to all products in a category (cutting down on the amount of repetitive work).

colin-ny:

Thank you @swguy! That is a great idea. However, there are 100's of such products that I would have to do this for.

If there are hundreds of products, I would create a swatch product for $1 with a text attribute for them to use to enter the model number (or name or whatever) of the fabric they want. Price the product at a dollar and call it done. It's not worth doing a ton of work for a one dollar product.

@swguy - Thanks for all the great suggestions and help. Much appreciated!

Colin

If you do the swatch product/write-in fabric name, I would suggest adding a link to it from every product description. Boilerplate code as created by swguy's directions on his website, or the Product Articles mod in Plugins, could make that a simple process.

What a clever idea - and doubly so, since it involves my own handiwork :)

With a bit of PHP knowledge, you could even automate the passing of the calling product's name or id in the link to the swatch, and then insert that into the swatch attribute so no customer writing action is needed.

Nice. With a little more PHP, you could add the swatch item to the cart with the correct attribute setting.

gjh42:

If you do the swatch product/write-in fabric name, I would suggest adding a link to it from every product description. Boilerplate code as created by swguy's directions on his website, or the Product Articles mod in Plugins, could make that a simple process.Maybe just a quick pop-up to add the swatch to the cart?

That's not the approach I would take.

In one of his longest responses ever....> swguy:

That's not the approach I would take.:D
I was just offering a suggestion to keep the customer on the page. If a link takes them away, they may never return. Oh, Look! A squirrel.:lookaroun

A squirrel? Where?

dbltoe:

I was just offering a suggestion to keep the customer on the page. If a link takes them away, they may never return.

They don't need to return. They ordered a swatch. Move them to checkout.

Sorry if this is a double post but my internet went down in the middle of the reply.
Was curious about the custom php talked about in the posts.

gjh42:

With a bit of PHP knowledge, you could even automate the passing of the calling product's name or id in the link to the swatch, and then insert that into the swatch attribute so no customer writing action is needed.

How would you do this or who can do this?
I am trying to add the option of fat quarters (two types with two different prices) to all the (approx 3000) different designs of fabric (with different yardage prices) on a site without it being a separate category. In other words, you see the fabric and decide you want a fat quarter instead of the 1/2 yard minimum. I tried to do it through attributes but it always adds in the 1/2 price as I have it set at a minimum. Plus it would have to be able to be discounted along with the fabric when it goes on sale.

Thanks
Mona