Shopping cart availability sometimes confusing

[JustJoe]

I know maintaining all the web shopping pages is really challenging now that production is ramping up on the DC models.

But say I have a customer for you and tell him, you gotta get one of these, so go to the Netonix shopping cart and order one asap...

First, many of the first runs have shipped, so for instance WS-12-250-DC says:

Out of stock

TAKING PRE-ORDERS - NOW


How should the customer sign up for a pre-order? Should they use the Contact Page PM form? Or should they Email something like Sales@rfarmor.com?

But then the one that is a little more confusing is WS-12-DC (I think that is what I will recommend to them)
which says:

IN STOCK and has the add to cart button, but it also says

TAKING PRE-ORDERS - NOW (which is the confusing line)

The "HURRY HURRY get them" PMs made it sound like you had 78 that were being built ongoing basis, so they should just "add to cart"?

[sirhc]

We told everyone to order and that the web site would not allow people to order more than we can deliver out of this batch shipping Monday.

PLEASE READ THIS POST viewtopic.php?f=6&t=619&p=6870&hilit=ETA#p6874

Next Batch will be around the 2nd week of September.

[JustJoe]

I understand how busy you are! But I think you are too close to this, take 2 steps back and then try to understand the questions I asked...

I am going to tell my friend, get these ASAP so that the remaining choices don't run out until next month:

WS-6-MINI , WS-12-DC, and maybe WS-12-250-DC when available, for added flexibility.

He being in a large company won't be ordering them himself, he will Email his purchasing person and say order this list asap.

They will see

WS-6-MINI, great, add to cart.

WS-12-DC, Hmm, could add it to cart, but don't have confidence on what/when pre-order means? Have to Email the boss back.

WS-12-250DC, Can't add to cart, the boss wants it asap, out of stock, that happens, so how do I pre-order?

I am not trying to be an ass, but these guys, as a large company, are going to expect online ordering to go smoothly. That may even be one of the ways they initially get an impression of your company. They will completely understand initial supply/out-of-stock problems, but you can't expect them to keep coming back to read forums to then guess when they should re-trigger their order with their purchasing people.

I understand that to you Chris, these switches are your family offspring, they are on your mind 24 hours a day and you know where every resistor is ... But to a large WISP, at the end of a busy and frustrating day, they are just switches, and though it may cost more and sacrifice features, I gotta remind you, they will choose the path of least resistance.

You are welcome to curse at me, but consider how fantastic you have made the useability of the switch GUI. And now how easily that might get derailed with a misleading shopping cart? I wouldn't write this much if I thought it was trivial.

[Dave]

its ok, Chris & I curse at each other all the time!!!!

[JustJoe]

its ok, Chris & I curse at each other all the time!!!!

I understand Dave, but this is a case where I want to make sure Netonix makes an excellent first impression on a possibly new customer where in a previous conversation, I had already sold him to the point of having a credit card in his hand. But then pulling up your shopping cart he was already scratching his head a bit.

You and I are "hackers", we can make things work somehow, including ordering stuff. But once the person is on that shopping cart page, it should be pure simplicity.

[lligetfa]

You too eh? j/k

on my former job I worked for a Fortune 500 company with a very convoluted purchasing department that made it nearly impossible to deal with small suppliers as they had their list of preferred vendors. I had worked out a deal with a local supplier to be my intermediary and do the buying for me on spec and I would then buy from them. Often I had product in hand before they saw a PO.

Where time was of the essence, we undertook a bit of risk because the order would be placed without PO confirmation and central procurement could always override my choice of vendor. There were a few times we had to get "creative" so as not to stick them with the product. Oh, the bureaucracy!

[sirhc]

its ok, Chris & I curse at each other all the time!!!!

I understand Dave, but this is a case where I want to make sure Netonix makes an excellent first impression on a possibly new customer where in a previous conversation, I had already sold him to the point of having a credit card in his hand. But then pulling up your shopping cart he was already scratching his head a bit.

You and I are "hackers", we can make things work somehow, including ordering stuff. But once the person is on that shopping cart page, it should be pure simplicity.

Updated Web Store, removed the pre-order text and replaced with this

Next batch due in by the 2nd week of September

Once we get the next batch it will allow you to order more.

[JustJoe]

PERFECT!

Thaaank you Chris!!!!!