Tonight the last of the Blogiversary IV contests are ending, so tomorrow I can take all the entries to somebody not affiliated with Blogography and have them draw the winners. That will bring the week-long celebration to a close, and I can move on to another year of big blogging fun.
In the meanwhile, I am still trying to get the Artificial Duck Co. store ready for its grand re-opening on Monday afternoon. It's been a long-time coming, and a really difficult road to get here. I thought the hardships were over once I moved to Yahoo! Merchant Solutions, but it turns out my problems are just beginning.
One of the major reasons I decided to go with Yahoo! was that they had inventory control. This was really important to me, because I didn't want people to order something that was out-of-stock and be disappointed when I had to tell them they wouldn't be getting it. With inventory control, I would finally have a way to let people know if they could order an item or not. I would use Yahoo! tags to access the inventory status of an item/size, then use the yes/no result to display a graphic to let people know if they could order a particular size...
Except Yahoo! doesn't allow you to do that with their "store tags." In order for a customer to know whether or not something is in-stock, they have to add it to their cart. If it ends up in your cart, congratulations, you can order it! Otherwise you get this ugly stupid-ass error message...
What the fuck?!?
What sense does it make to have inventory control if you can't tell your customers what the inventory level is BEFORE they add something to their cart? This is pretty stupid, and basically cuts the usefulness of this feature in half.
So now I'm going to have to MANUALLY adjust the inventory indicators every time something changes, which sucks ass. Heaven forbid that I actually go on vacation or something.
Why is it that somebody can't build a reasonably-priced merchant solution for small businesses that doesn't suck? Is it really so incredibly difficult? I can only hope that Google jumps into the game and fixes this shit like they seem to be doing with everything else.
Surprisingly I ran into a similar situation with Borders when I special-ordered a book. A day after I ordered, I got an e-mail telling me that "Sorry, we can't order this for you for whatever stupid reason...". At least yours gives you somewhat immediate info...
Kudos to you for even undertaking this enterprise!
I know they aren't problem free either, but why didn't you go with shopify? (just quick and short question, I've worked on many shops with shopify and am totally aware of their probs, but they still seem the easiest option to me for a 'non-professionally all day store)
Oh come on dude, you could take that on as another project! It's not like you're doing anything else with your time, right? *wink wink, nudge nudge*
Posted by Caffeinated Librarian on April 28, 2007 | Reply
I would have suggested PayPal but after reading your experience with them I'd have to duck (pardon the expression).
Congrats on a wonderful Blogography anniversary week! I just know I'm gonna win a big prize, as in XL or even 2XL.
Posted by bogup on April 28, 2007 | Reply
Is it really over? I'm so sad now.
I don't understand the yahoo cart thing. I don't understand any of those online dealer cart things. EY R STOPUD.
Posted by Kentucky Girl on April 29, 2007 | Reply
While being totally off base about your cart troubles... what happened to 3XL??? Or is this a sign I need to take dieting seriously again???
Damn.
Posted by NYC Watchdog on April 29, 2007 | Reply
Google do have a merchant affair, Google Checkout. Or is it just for larger scale operations? Hey watch me dance! I can do a jig!
Posted by MRKisThatKid on April 29, 2007 | Reply
Unfortunately, Google Checkout doesn't have inventory control at all (even a bad one), and you can't offer coupons or gift certificates. YET! Here's hoping the get on that! :-)
NYC Watchdog... Shirts are available up to 5X, so we've got you covered. :-)
The problem is that it is very difficult to get color shirts past 2X... so I usually end up having to print 3X-5X on white. :-(
Hey Dave
Sounds like a really frustrating time for you... here's hoping that it gets better! If I knew anything about website design and stuff, I'd try and help, but at current my knowledge is rather limited. Maybe one day? Who knows!
I'm looking forward to seeing who has won the prizes... it's so cool that you've had this thing going for four years! Congratz on lasting. :)
Posted by Ruth on April 29, 2007 | Reply
Phew. White is good... although it doesn't hide spaghetti sauce as well as black... but it's the message that matters. Thanks!
Posted by NYC Watchdog on April 29, 2007 | Reply
It looks really nice though.
I'll be back for a "little geeky" shirt and maybe some buttons...
Posted by Gary LaPointe on April 29, 2007 | Reply
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