Insufficient Stock message not showing up in cart

I just upgraded to 1.5.4.
Before the upgrade, if a customer added a product that didn't have enough stock, it would show up in the cart and state "Insufficient Stock" in plain view. It was very clear what was going on and really nice.
Now when the customer adds something that has zero stock you go to a page saying "Your Cart is Empty". If the customer tries to add 4 pieces of a product and there are only 3 in stock looks like everything is fine. Then you go to the cart and the quantity will be 3. It doesn't tell you Insufficient Stock right next to it. It has a banner at the top that says Warning Quantity has been adjusted to what is in stock. This in not nearly as nice as the the Insufficient Stock right next to the product.
How do I get back to the Insufficient Stock next to the product?

Here are my settings:
Title Value Action
Check stock level true
Subtract stock true Info
Allow Checkout false Info
Mark product out of stock Insufficient Stock

I am pretty inept when it comes to computers and zen cart so please explain stuff in very basic and complete terms.

From what version did you upgrade where you saw the action(s) that you "miss"?

Were the settings the same there as what you show above?

I just happened to be trying these scenarios earlier today with regards to routine ZC response in 1.5.4, and so far I haven't seen anything that is abnormal for it. But also haven't gone back to compare with other versions (1.5.1 or 1.5.3) and see if/how the response is different.

Also, can you post a URL to the site, and an indication of which products one should be able to test this with?
(Maybe it's a CSS/styling thing that's just not showing properly, which is best diagnosed by viewing the page directly)

Sorry for leaving that info out.
I upgraded from 1.5.1.
As far as I know the setting are all the same.

http://racedayhobbies.com/

Use part number GRC124GTW and quantity of 4
Use part number GRC124 and quantity of 1

In v1.5.4, when products are added to the cart, the cart is adjusted to for the quantity available.

You will see if you try to add 4 for GRC124GTW that it adjusts to 3, which is fairly clear.

But on the other Product GRC124, since it is adjusted to 0, that is not quite as clear since the product is not added to the cart at all and just the message is showing ...

We will have to give this some thought to make the message clearer ...

How is it that you are allowing Products with quantity 0 to even be added to the cart?

What happens if you switch to the Classic Template and look at Product GRC124 does it still show the Add to Cart?

Have you tried the setting in the Configuration ... Stock ... for:

Show Sold Out Image instead of Add to Cart Button

0= off
1= on

and turned that ON, or are you not wanting the Sold Out on Products with 0 quantity for some reason? :lookaroun

irishracing31:

Now when the customer adds something that has zero stock you go to a page saying "Your Cart is Empty".

Although not directly related to the problem you are having, I have found it quite beneficial to set

configuration->Stock->Show New Products on empty Shopping Cart Page to '1'.

This way if/when a customer does load the shopping cart page that doesn't contain any contents (for whatever reason) rather than a near empty page telling them the cart is empty, it will also show a list of new products to look at.

There are similar settings on this same config page that will let you show Featured products, Specials and upcoming products.

Cheers
RodG

To show the message about the stock adjustment for a Product with quantity 0, you can add the code in **RED **to your template and override for:
/includes/templates/template_default/templates/tpl_shopping_cart_default.php

by copying that to:
/includes/templates/your_template_dir/templates/tpl_shopping_cart_default.php

if not already there with:

<h2 id="cartEmptyText"><?php echo TEXT_CART_EMPTY; ?></h2>
[B]<?php if ($messageStack->size('shopping_cart') > 0) echo $messageStack->output('shopping_cart'); ?>
[/B]

This will display the messages for the shopping_cart when the cart is empty ...

Ajeh:

In v1.5.4, when products are added to the cart, the cart is adjusted to for the quantity available.

You will see if you try to add 4 for GRC124GTW that it adjusts to 3, which is fairly clear.

But on the other Product GRC124, since it is adjusted to 0, that is not quite as clear since the product is not added to the cart at all and just the message is showing ...

We will have to give this some thought to make the message clearer ...

I noticed the SAME behavior when installing/testing lat9's Product Options Stock Manager module. I had thought it was the POSM module doing this, and then stumbled on this thread today.. I found that the on-screen messaging as to what was happening was not very clear. I don't recall all the exact messages, but I will start first with making the change you suggest and then going back to test if there are any other usability issues..

Ajeh:

Have you tried the setting in the Configuration ... Stock ... for:

and turned that ON, or are you not wanting the Sold Out on Products with 0 quantity for some reason? :lookaroun

I tested having it show "Sold Out".
The issue is that if the customer searches for the part number and brings up the preview, it shows sold out. If they don't click on it to see the details, it doesn't get recorded in the reports as a product view. I watch that report daily to determine what I need to restock/stock. If it shows add to cart and they click on that or look at the detail window, it reports it as a product view.
Please redo the code to the way it was in 1.5.1 and release a patch. It was much nicer and clearer to the customer what is going on.

irishracing31:

I tested having it show "Sold Out".
The issue is that if the customer searches for the part number and brings up the preview, it shows sold out. If they don't click on it to see the details, it doesn't get recorded in the reports as a product view. I watch that report daily to determine what I need to restock/stock. If it shows add to cart and they click on that or look at the detail window, it reports it as a product view.
Please redo the code to the way it was in 1.5.1 and release a patch. It was much nicer and clearer to the customer what is going on.

The sold out image could be revised to a different image that may suggest to a customer to look at the product. Regardless, this is some of the information that was asked for about why it would be desirable to allow a customer to try to add a product that has zero quantity available.

DivaVocals:

I noticed the SAME behavior when installing/testing lat9's Product Options Stock Manager module. I had thought it was the POSM module doing this, and then stumbled on this thread today.. I found that the on-screen messaging as to what was happening was not very clear. I don't recall all the exact messages, but I will start first with making the change you suggest and then going back to test if there are any other usability issues..

Fyi, same behavior using Stock by attributes which matched the default ZC behavior and was the testing I was referring to in my earlier post.

mc12345678:

The sold out image could be revised to a different image that may suggest to a customer to look at the product.** Regardless, this is some of the information that was asked for about why it would be desirable to allow a customer to try to add a product that has zero quantity available.**

I agree.. Need to understand what the OPs reasoning is here..

Plus if I may add this:
Seems like a WASTE of the customers time to add a product to the cart ONLY to find out the product is not in stock.. while it appears that this action triggers something for the shopowners, from the USERS POV, one they find out the product is out of stock, they are off to the next vendor to find this product ELSEWHERE (and likely annoyed that they wasted their time adding something to their cart only to find out they can't get it)

DivaVocals:

I agree.. Need to understand what the OPs reasoning is here..

Plus if I may add this:
Seems like a WASTE of the customers time to add a product to the cart ONLY to find out the product is not in stock.. while it appears that this action triggers something for the shopowners, from the USERS POV, one they find out the product is out of stock, they are off to the next vendor to find this product ELSEWHERE (and likely annoyed that they wasted their time adding something to their cart only to find out they can't get it)

So what do you suggest I do to let the customer see that it is sold out in the search preview window and still get it added as a product view in the product view report?
Can you get rid of the "add" option in the search display window? If they search for a number, then clicked on the item to go to the details page before they so it was out of stock, then I would get the product view count for the product view report and they would not have to add it to the cart before they see it is out of stock.
Like I stated earlier, I want to see that it was viewed so I can determine what to stock. A lot of my product is costly, small market and time sensitive. If it sits on the self to long, a new version of it will come out and the value of my stock plummets.

When products_quantity (stock) <= 0 and set the setting for Show Sold Out Button on ...

If you want the listing to show a Buy Now button and the Product Info to show the Sold Out so that customers go to the Product Info page to count as Product Viewed, you can customize the file:
/includes/functions/functions_general.php

around line 1153 with the code in RED:

    case ($button_check->fields['products_quantity'] <= 0 and SHOW_PRODUCTS_SOLD_OUT_IMAGE == '1'):
      if ($_GET['main_page'] == zen_get_info_page($product_id)) {
        $return_button = zen_image_button(BUTTON_IMAGE_SOLD_OUT, BUTTON_SOLD_OUT_ALT);
      } else {
[B]//[/B]        $return_button = zen_image_button(BUTTON_IMAGE_SOLD_OUT_SMALL, BUTTON_SOLD_OUT_SMALL_ALT);
[B]$return_button = '<a href="' . zen_href_link(zen_get_info_page($product_id), 'products_id=' . $product_id) . '">' . zen_image_button(BUTTON_IMAGE_BUY_NOW, BUTTON_BUY_NOW_ALT) . '</a>';[/B]
      }
      break;
    default:

Now Sold Out Products will display the ... more info and Buy Now button and allow customers to click either to go to the Product Info and count as Product Viewed but not be able to add to the cart ...

irishracing31:

So what do you suggest I do to let the customer see that it is sold out in the search preview window and still get it added as a product view in the product view report?
Can you get rid of the "add" option in the search display window? If they search for a number, then clicked on the item to go to the details page before they so SEE it was out of stock, then I would get the product view count for the product view report and they would not have to add it to the cart before they see it is out of stock.
Like I stated earlier, I want to see that it was viewed so I can determine what to stock. A lot of my product is costly, small market and time sensitive. If it sits on the self to long, a new version of it will come out and the value of my stock plummets.

Sorry some of what you are saying is a little unclear.. so let me try and re-state what you are saying you want to do..

You want your customers to:

• "search for a number"
• The search results will NOT indicate that the item is out of stock
• The customer will then select the product they are interested in and "go to the details page" where they will THEN see that the product is out of stock

You want to implement this workflow just so you can "get the product view count for the product view report"?

What Ajeh posted will certainly get you this, but (with all due respect to Ajeh) this is STILL not a good user experience because again, you have WASTED the customers time to VIEW a product ONLY to find out the product is not in stock. This is something they should have known BEFORE opening the products detail page. My comment/observation is STILL the same, from the USERS POV, once the shopper finds out the product is out of stock, they will be off to the next vendor to find this product ELSEWHERE (and STILL likely annoyed that they wasted their time looking for something only to find out they can't get it)

The only reason you want EITHER one of these workflows is to trigger a product view for a report that you are using to determine what inventory you need to stock.. Correct?? Relying on your shoppers clicking on links to trigger a product view JUST so you are aware that the product is out of stock is A LOT counter-intuitive.. Why??? Because you are relying on an action that WILL lead to a LOST SALE just to determine what you need to stock up on so that you can make a FUTURE SALE.. (to PROBABLY someone else)

If I may go out on a limb here, it appears that you are assuming that the customer will see the product is out of stock and come back later after you have the product IN STOCK. I'm suggesting that the nature of online shoppers is not what you think.. Unless your product is so unique that it CAN'T be found anywhere else, shoppers WILL go to Google find ANOTHER shop where they CAN get your products and go elsewhere where they CAN make their purchase.

So what I AM suggesting is that you explain what it is you REALLY need so that folks here can suggest a BETTER way for you to get to your REAL objective.. Your REAL objective CAN'T be making people click on a product JUST for this report.. Seems to me your REAL objective is to have a way to know what is out of stock and needs to be ordered and re-stocked. Is this correct??

Never said I agreed ... just posted a possible working solution so that Products that are sold out make the customer go to the Product Info page to discover the Product is actually sold out but will update the Product View count ... :lookaroun

Ajeh:

Never said I agreed ... just posted a possible working solution so that Products that are sold out make the customer go to the Product Info page to discover the Product is actually sold out but will update the Product View count ... :lookaroun
Oh I KNEW you weren't agreeing at all.. :)

I understand you are trying to be the voice of my customers. I appreciate the input.
Let me give you an example of my business products.
For one of the racing classes (1/8 scale buggy) there are probably 30 different tread patterns for tires.
The 30 different patterns come in at least 4 different rubber compounds.
That equates to 120 different tires people could buy.
Their choice depends on the type to dirt the track they are racing at is made up of.
I can't afford to stock 120 different tires in quantities of each.
So I put up several of the most popular tires/compounds on my website and track which one gets viewed the most.
I understand I will lose the sale for stuff I don't have in stock.
But if they view the detail page, I get a tally in the Product Viewed report.
If, say 10 tire/compound products are viewed way more then the rest DING DING I know to stock them.

As I stated before. I am pretty much a knuckle dragger when it comes to programming and doing this computer stuff. In fact, since the update, my invoices no longer show my logo. It took me hours last time to get the logo to show up and I have spent at least 3 hrs this time and still don't have the logo on my invoices and packing slips. I have looked in the forums and all the suggestions don't work. My file trees never match what people use as examples. So please explain stuff in the most complete and simple terms.