Acckkk....had RL26 in cart and hit final button and it was out of stock

[The Oregonian]

There may be some RL powders left but they were going fast at MidSouth.

I got the email, went straight to the site, and feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the ball.

 

[xsn10s]

 

[TRexF16]

It burns me up when an online vendor's "cart" isn't really a cart. Meaning, if I go to the brick and mortar store, take an item off the shelf, and put it in my cart, that's where it stays until I get to the check-out counter. Nobody can grab it during that time (well, not without a fight anyway!). Now, if I leave the store with items in my cart (left behind) without ever checking out - well, those items go back to store inventory and can be bought by others.
There must be something to website design that precludes making online carts work the same, but I don't know why it couldn't be, and maybe one hour without any site interface activity could equal "leaving the store without checking out" - I've no expertise in that field but that's sure how I would try to design it if I was setting up a vendor's website.

Rex

 

[Pdvdh]

An hour in your cart? When the powder is sold out within 15 minutes?

You'ld likely not have ever been able to place it in your cart in the first place, if powder in others' carts removed it from computer inventory. Because other shoppers must have already had it in their carts - ahead of you - if it was sold out by the time you could complete your checkout.

It's available within the computerized inventory until it's all sold, meaning shoppers completed electronic checkout. Hard to envision a system any fairer than first checked out, first served.

 

[TRexF16]

... Hard to envision a system any fairer than first checked out, first served.

Except for "first to grab the item, first to get the item." Makes no difference if you sprint straight to the checkout counter or continue shopping for the other items you need. That's the way retail has worked for all of recorded history.

My two cents,
Rex

 

[Pdvdh]

Hard store retail versus electronic retail.
Not the same.

 

[TRexF16]

But could and should be the same. That's my only point.
I understand how it works. I just don't like it. It's not civil.

 

[JFriesen]

I've thought a lot about this. I've had h1000 in my cart probably 6 times since the election and been beat out. How do you set a time limit on a cart? Its like holds on a Craigslist ad. Cash talks. Show up with green it's yours. It keeps people from just clicking everything available then sorting it out later.
If you truly need 1 or 2 powders and aren't indiscriminately buying powder for resale I think the not sold till it's sold method actually works in your favor. I finally got an 8lb of h1000 by being lucky and fast. No looking for other stuff. Did the same on an 8 of 4064 a month ago and a brick of primers a month before that. I can't get my card out of my pocket fast enough to get paid If I got lucky and stumbled onto something I really thought I wanted. . It has kept me from "hording" other maybe powders in my cart. It is desperate times but I really think it probably is the most fair method for online retail. Honestly how many brick and mortar carts get filled and not bought? Online.... a lot. I do it all the time.

 

[cjl2010]

If you think the Bots are bad now, you would never get anything if all they had to do was store items in multiple carts.

 

[The Oregonian]

Concert tickets are sold this way, FWIW. You usually have 10 mins to checkout before they release the hold. At the end of the day it is roughly the same as fewer people could add them to their cart, but it would be a better customer experience if you knew you had 10 mins. But there really isn't a huge incentive to get it done for the retailers. They are selling everything ASAP, and people will go through hell and and will look past prices (as long as they are reasonable) to get components.