In stock!! Just kidding...

[justinthunderliger]

This seems to happen to me a lot lately on estores and ebay. I've never run an online store, so is it really that hard to keep inventory up to date? VC seems to do it just fine.

NoIdea sent me an entire order of just the "free with $X purchase" stuff and charged me for it because the paid purchases were out of stock.

RevHQ waited a week to tell me that for my first order, they needed a scan of my CC and ID because it was $100+ and by the time they got to me, stuff was out of stock, causing the order to be under $100 anyway.

Some stores and ebay sellers list well out-of-print records as "coming in 4-6 weeks" yet are still listed as "in stock."

I don't get it.

Okay, /rant.

[adamlikesmusic]

It gets a bit irritating, but some don't keep stock on hand.

[faith]

how hard is it to create a database and manage it.

if you're too much of a newb for sql, MS Access does the trick. or the openoffice db software if Access is too expensive for you

It pisses me off too, justin

[kurtz]

The new Robotic Empire store has the quantity left in stock in the listing. A very cool feature.

[andrew13]

i wouldn't think it should be that hard. make a count of how many you have, and only allow that many to be sold. most store programs you can get for websites should do that for you. otherwise, you'd oversell every item you have.

[rafter242]

You can list many times more albums if you sell in advance, then try to get it from your distributor. I avoid those types of sellers. Usually a letdown.

[vincefeelsthat]

yeah, i have run into this problem a lot! i try to email them before i order, but sometimes the record i want seems to be too sweet of a find to just be left hanging around for somebody else to swoop up on... i try not too get my hopes up too much.

[gloamingtime]

Aquarius Records is a prime example of this too. I placed an order with them in the fall, after a couple of weeks they emailed me saying that none of the records were in stock. I bought one on another web site, then they emailed me again saying they got one in. When I told them I had ordered it on another site, they sent me to their mailorder guidelines page. Sorry guys, it's not my fault you said you had some and didn't. I'll pay less at another site instead.

[Guest scriptedrain]

This is one huge reason why I try to only buy from Virgil and my local record store.

[vinyljunkie]

my store has an exact database thats plugged in to the site.

i also HATE when places list stuff that is actually out of stock. My shopping cart software also shows how many are left in stock, but i keep it hidden.

when i enter the info in to put it up, i put how many copies i have. as each one sells it keeps track of how many remain, and once it hits zero it immediately disappears.

so the only way that something can be off is if i miscount and enter an incorrect amount myself, or if two people buy a record at the exact same time.

i think only once. or maybe twice, in all the orders/years have i ever had to refund someone for being out of stock on anything.

i also hate it when places list stuff for essentially a "pre-order", and sell a bunch of copies, only to find out they cant get that many copies, or whatever. dont list it until you have it, and only list what you have.

places are way too greedy, and impatient now. and just leads to wayyyyy to many problems.

[mcm1610]

I bought something on ebay and then was told it was on backorder, and over a month later I cancelled it. I was annoyed though.. you should have what you say you do, especially if its ebay.