Reservations/ open orders

walstib

The concerns Thor among others have about having a slower shopping method/check out later for experienced for know buyers got me thinking about open orders. I often shop in batches, want to get this one thing now and then fill up to a limit I discuss with the seller over time.

It seems like and open order would basically be the same as a "non instant checkout" and so difficult.

What if we had some sort of reservation system, on a whole cart should a seller opt into the possibility, where like the "request a quote" a seller can chose to remove them from inventory, but not sell them. When done with reservation a shipping quote will be entered to the cart and checkout can happen then?

Reservations of lots in general would be great as I do this quite often for my buyers. Seems like it could also address some concerns about things in peoples cart disappearing.

Joe

Lawrence

So, sellers sets "Allow reservations for X days"

Customer goes to cart, either clicks reserve items or does a quote request, the system then pops up " Your items have now been reserved for X days", they are then deducted from inventory and no longer available for sale. If the reservation expires, they are added back onto inventory. That sound about right?

Thor

I would prefer to simply give SOME of my buyers an option to keep their order open for a certain number of days. In other words, I want them to actually place their order and be bound to complete it within x number of days. When complete, then they can check out and pay. By "SOME" buyers, I mean buyers with a minimum number of feedback (which each seller can select for their own comfort zone) or buyers who have purchased from me in the past.

In general, I don't wish to blindly or automatically offer to any and all unknown or unproven buyers non-binding reserved inventory, especially zero feedback buyers, without first approving the specific reservation and buyer. It is just too open for abuse. It could, for example, eliminate first listing benefits or the increased price a seller can receive for being the first to list a new popular in-demand item. Or a competing seller could use a duplicate account or account of a "family member" or "friend" to reserve and remove from the catalog lower priced lots.

I would, however, consider offering some buyers reserved lots only if they contacted me in advance and I approved. Kind of like the BL system for reserving lots. No non-binding or reserved orders are placed. Instead, the seller can manually set aside specific lots as reserved for specific buyers.

Thor

walstib

@Admin

Almost but it would be a request instead of automatic. I pictured it beside request a quote in the cart.

Automatic agreement with the request as an option could work for a few sellers I suppose. I have 4 lots with 3000 quantity and they sell in small amounts. Hard to think of an example it's practical.

It would appear only if you want to offer the service as a seller.

Having settings for who it would appear for I agree with. You could request to become part of that program in a store and get added to a list. Have a certain amount of feedback. etc..

I personally don't have an issue with it being non-binding as it would be my choice.

They want to put aside a few of those and I trust them, no worries I have many. Yes

It's all of my main "draw them in" item, I can't reserve that many for you without a commitment. No

Thor

If implementing the reservation feature suggested by the OP, perhaps you could allow sellers to choose whether they want any such reservations to be binding or nonbinding on the buyer. As Walstib states, as long as it is the seller's choice. And the buyer knows in advance whether it is binding or not.

Thor

DadsAfol

If this is created, please make it optional to turn on or off in each store.

walstib

Hard to think of an example it's practical.

If I could set it so that a specific member could have automatic reservations, but others not, it would be useful.

Thor

I like the idea of giving optional nonbinding or binding reservation privileges to specific members pre-approved by the seller. It would be a nice little perk I could give to show my appreciation for good repeat customers.

Thor

walstib

It would be a nice little perk I could give to show my appreciation for good repeat customers.

That's the direction I'm thinking. Salesmanship and relationship based. Low priority for me for that reason as new relationships are just starting.