WooCommerce Cart Stock Reducer
Contributors: jamesgol
Donate link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=GAXXM656QPNGY
Tags: woocommerce
Requires at least: 4.0
Tested up to: 4.1.1
Stable tag: 0.75
WC requires at least: 2.2
WC tested up to: 2.3.4
License: GPLv2 or later
License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
Allow WooCommerce inventory stock to be reduced when adding items to cart
Description
WooCommerce doesn't remove an item from inventory until someone actually buys that item. This plugin can reduce the "virtual" stock quantity of an item without actually modifying the item inventory, so there should be no problems with missing data if somehow the cart data is deleted. This plugin isn't for everyone, but people that are selling specialty items will find it useful and hopefully eliminate some customer support nightmares.
The plugin can automatically expire items from the cart (disabled by default) with a configurable expiration time. Expiration times are plain english using whatever types php's strtotime can support (Examples: 10 minutes, 1 hour, 6 hours, 1 day) Per item expiration time can be configured by adding a Custom Field to each item using the configured 'Expire Custom Key' (default name is 'csr_expire_time').
Expiration can be enabled independently of reducing the cart stock, so this plugin can also be used to expire items at other intervals than the default WooCommerce cart/session expiration.
An issue was opened on the WooCommerce issue tracker regarding this problem and someone posted on Facebook about it, which caught my attention.
Please submit bug reports, feature requests, and pull requests via the GitHub repository
Installation
- Upload plugin and activate through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
- Configure plugin specific settings under the WooCommerce->Settings->Integration admin page
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if two users click the add to cart at the same time?
The first request that hits the server will get the item if there is only one available. The other person will receive a "Item is no longer available" message.
What happens if someone tries to increase the quantity from their shopping cart and that amount is unavailable?
They will receive a "Quantity requested not available" message and their original quantity will be retained.
What setting should I use for 'Minimum Stock to Skip Check'?
This is an advanced option and should only be used on high volume sites with predictable orders. The setting to use depends on your stock quantites and how much you expect to sell. If you have a stock of 100 and only expect to sell 10 per hour you could set this to 25 and set the expiration to one hour and you should be safe. Always err on the side of caution, you don't want to run out of stock when someone believes they will get an item. If in doubt, don't use this option.
What adjustments need to be made to caching?
We recommend turning off page and database caching for pages affected by this plugin. For example, assuming your site uses the default Woocommerce "shop" page and W3 Total Cache, add "shop/*" (without the quotes) to "Never cache the following pages:" at the page cache and database cache settings.
Changelog
0.75
- Allow countdown timer to be configured when it is shown (Always, Never, Only When Items are added)
- Allow cart expiration to happen without managing being enabled
- Add countdown timer instead of just displaying static string
- Added 'wc_csr_expiring_cart_notice' filter to allow changing of countdown text in cart
- Moved expire notice to 'wc_add_to_cart_message' filter so it get appended on the existing message
- Added 'wc_csr_expire_notice' filter to allow changing of expiration notice displayed after adding item to cart
- Added 'wc_csr_expired_cart_notice' filter to allow changing of notice displayed when item expires from cart
0.5
- Handle variable products
- Add cart expiration
0.1
- First initial release
TODO
- Make expiration strings nicer
- Test with backordered products
- Setup sanitizer for admin fields
- Look into adding ajax and mini-cart notices
- Take some screenshots for wordpress.org
- Add option of displaying when an item might be available in addition to the 'stock_pending' message
- Add some kind of indicator to cart so you know what items will expire
- Add "Pending orders include X items added to your cart" to 'stock_pending' message