First Paid First Served changes how your shop reserves inventory for shoppers. When enabled, CommentSold will not hold inventory for the first shopper to cart an item. Instead, the first customer to pay for the item will receive it.
Expected Behaviors
Here's how inventory and cart behaviors are affected by this setting;
- Carted items show as “not reserved.”
- Inventory is not adjusted when items are carted by the customer, only after checkout. The first customers to checkout, get the item. Because of this, you may see the item carted more than the available inventory. The item stays in the customer’s cart until it is paid for or it expires from the cart.
- Inventory is adjusted if items are carted for the customer by an admin or team member.
- When restocked, waitlist items are carted/order created for pre-authorized customers.
- When restocked, waitlist items are not carted for customers that did not pre-authorize and these customers will not be automatically notified the item is back in stock. You can notify customers of restocked items via email.
- For customers with First Paid First Served enabled at the customer level (See "Enable First Paid First Served for Specific Shoppers"
below);- Cart expirations will not show on the website or mobile app, however their shopping cart will expire at the end of the expiration window.
- CommentSold will not automatically add restocked products to the customer's cart if the item is waitlisted.
- You have 1 pair of large denim shorts left in stock.
- Shopper A and Shopper B both cart the same pair of denim shorts.
- Both receive a notice on their cart page that the item isn't reserved. (see “What the customer sees in their cart”)
- Shopper A pays for the item.
- Shopper B will still see the item in their cart until they attempt checkout.
- At checkout, Shopper B will see the option to waitlist and will see the option to pre-authorize (if enabled).
- You add 15 denim shorts in large to stock.
- Your waitlist for that item in that size has 20 people on it.
- 3 of those customers pre-authorized that item.
- 17 of those customers did not pre-authorize that item.
- ONLY the 3 customers that pre-authorized that item will have it carted and their card will be processed, creating an order.
- The remaining 17 customers on the waitlist will not have the item carted for them.
How First Paid First Served Benefits Your Shop
- Improve inventory availability for those shoppers who are ready to purchase an item.
- Prevent inventory hoarding during live sales.
- Manage individual shoppers who repeatedly hoard inventory by applying this setting to them alone.
Enable First Paid First Served for All Shoppers
You can enable First Paid First Served system-wide meaning this feature will apply to all registered shoppers who cart items.
- Select Setup in the side menu of your CommentSold dashboard.
- Select Shop in the menu at the top of the page.
- In the Selling Preferences section on the right side of the page, locate Enable First Paid First Served.
- Select the toggle to appear as Enabled.
- If desired, enable the Disable Cart Timers setting.
- If enabled, shoppers will not see a cart expiration countdown on the webstore and mobile app.
- Additionally, products will remain in their shopping cart until removed by either your team or the shopper.
Enable First Paid First Served for Specific Shoppers
If you have specific shoppers who have a tendency to cart and horde inventory without completing the checkout process, then you may choose to enable First Paid First Served for that specific shopper.
The shopper would still be able to cart items, however, CommentSold would not reserve those products for that customer. They would need to check out to ensure they receive the products, but inventory isn't guaranteed if the product sells out before then.
- Select Customers in the side menu of your CommentSold dashboard.
- Locate the shopper record and select the three dots to the left of their name, then select Customer Details.
- Locate and select the Enable Forced First Paid First Serve Mode toggle so it appears as Enabled.
- Confirm your action by selecting Enabled on the confirmation pop-up.
If you wish to filter your customer records to show those shoppers with Forced First Paid First Served enabled, select the Filter button at the top of the customer listing, then select the Forced First Paid First Serve Enabled checkbox.
What Your Shoppers Experience
If you enable First Paid First Served, then shoppers will see a message in their cart warning them that items are not held until checkout is completed.
If the product is in stock when they attempt to check out, they'll see the normal Thank you for your order! banner.
If the product is no longer in stock when they attempt to check out, they will see a message informing them that the item has been added to their waitlist.
FAQs
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What is the benefit of NOT carting the waitlist items for the other waitlist customers?
The purpose of First Paid First Served is to prioritize & incentivize customers that are ready to pay.
Carting restocked items for the customers that did not pre-authorize eliminates the incentive for the customers that did pre-authorize.
Learn More
- Train Your Customers How to Comment Purchase. Learn how to train your shoppers to comment purchase during live sales and on Facebook. This is a great opportunity to also teach them how inventory holds work!
- Enable Waitlist Preauthorization. Learn how to enable waitlist preauthorization for your shoppers.
- How a Shopper Can Preauthorize Waitlist Items. Learn how shoppers can preauthorize waitlist items to automatically process once you restock the item(s).