Active Carts Questions

Matt626

When a customer starts an active cart does it remove it from inventory for the time being? How long does a cart remain active when it has been started before it is deleted? It seems I fluctuate quite regularly with that number.

Jay37

I don't believe it removes it from the inventory until it is bought. I can recall a customer of mine having issues that took a few days to sort, but in the meantime items from his cart were purchased by others and he couldn't understand why they weren't 'reserved' for him.

One analogy would be a number of customers in a supermarket with carts. Technically there's nothing to stop one customer taking an item from someone else's cart and adding it to their own - at that point it still belongs to the supermarket, not the other customer.

I can't remember how long an active cart remains active. I'm sure seven days has been mentioned in the past, but equally it could be indefinitely (although in reality probably isn't). It's a nice indicator of 'footfall' in your store, but unless it converts to a sale, that's all it is.

XS Bricks

Just wondering, my store is closed over a month now and the active carts stayed at 2 for ages, then fell to zero and today I noticed it is at 4! How does that happen.

I closed the store for vacation, but have extended to closure to reorganise and add lots of new stock, will be opening again in a few weeks, may open for a test few days in the meantime.

Jay37

I've noticed that too on occasion. I can only assume they've linked into your store either by clicking on your user name in the forums, or as a previous customer, and it looks like they can create a cart but just not convert to an order.

Malnaborg

And an "active cart" stays in your statistic for 7 days. You can view this message if you hover your mouse over your active carts :-)