Inventory on Configurator Products
The following settings affect whether inventory levels are enforced at the Configurable Product level (e.g. is the “PowerTraveler Laptop” available for purchase?):
If all of the above is true, then when the Configurable Product is out of stock, it will not be available for purchase.
In many cases, the Configurable Product is “made to order” and therefore the idea of enforcing inventory at the Configurable Product level does not make sense. In those cases, you case use the “Disregard Stock” setting at the product level, or disable inventory completely on all Configurable Products under Product Configurator Settings
Inventory levels are enforced on the Configurator level:
The Control Panel notifies the store administration: the configuration page shows the message “Hidden - Out of Stock” next to the item on the "Set up Configurable Products or Services" page.
Feature limitation: back-ordered items. ProductCart Configurator does not provide back-ordering information at the item level on the configuration pages. That is: if an item is selectable not because it is in stock, but because purchasing is allowed when the item is back-ordered, the customer does not know that they are selecting a back-ordered item.
- Settings > Store Settings > Store & Display Settings > Orders & Customer Related: “Allow customers to purchase out of stock items” should be set to “No”.
- Products > Manage Configurable Products > Product Configurator Settings: “Should your store's general inventory settings apply…” should be set to “Yes”
- Products > Manage Configurable Products > Locate Configurable Product > (choose product) > Shipping Settings: “Disregard Stock” should be unchecked and back-ordering should not be set to "No".
If all of the above is true, then when the Configurable Product is out of stock, it will not be available for purchase.
In many cases, the Configurable Product is “made to order” and therefore the idea of enforcing inventory at the Configurable Product level does not make sense. In those cases, you case use the “Disregard Stock” setting at the product level, or disable inventory completely on all Configurable Products under Product Configurator Settings
Inventory at the Configurator level
Inventory levels are enforced on the Configurator level:
- IF the store is set up to track inventory
- and the Product Configurator Settings are such that inventory levels are enforced
- and the product is not individually setup to disregard stock
- THEN when the item is out-of-stock, it is automatically hidden on the configuration page.
The Control Panel notifies the store administration: the configuration page shows the message “Hidden - Out of Stock” next to the item on the "Set up Configurable Products or Services" page.
Feature limitation: back-ordered items. ProductCart Configurator does not provide back-ordering information at the item level on the configuration pages. That is: if an item is selectable not because it is in stock, but because purchasing is allowed when the item is back-ordered, the customer does not know that they are selecting a back-ordered item.