Become a Patron!

Opinion Poll, online purchases

What are your thoughts?

  • Not cool, I had it in my cart so I should be able to buy it.

    Votes: 5 31.3%
  • It's no big deal, continue with the rest of the order.

    Votes: 8 50.0%
  • Don't care either way.

    Votes: 3 18.8%

  • Total voters
    16

Synphul

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Okay folks, ran across an interesting situation so thought I'd take a poll and see what people think. This is in regards to limited quantity flash sale items, first come first serve.

You go to a site featuring a special offer and added that limited quantity item to your shopping cart, then you proceed to checkout only to find that item had been removed from your cart before you could process your payment.
 

HondaDavidson

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Frustrating but what part of first come first serve did you miss.

Never had this happen... but then I don't do those sales unless qtys is shown.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
 

Teresa P

Senior Moderator
Staff member
Senior Moderator
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I've had it happen a few times and yes, it is frustrating. But it's like seeing something on a yard sale site and asking the seller to hold it, then you never show up to collect and pay. There were others in line and waving money, but the seller lost out because they got stood up. It's more like "first pay, first serve."
 

JMB17

Bronze Contributor
Member For 1 Year
I order online a lot and that has never happened to me. There was only this one time where I placed my order and a couple hours later the site emails me saying one of the items I ordered was out of stock so they refunded me the price of that juice and let me choose any other juice I wanted for free. So what was first frustrating turned out fine in the end. Free 120ml juice!
 

Letitia9

Citrus Junkie
VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
VU Challenge Team
First come first serve, not first maybe.
 

Synphul

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
For what it's worth, it didn't happen to me personally. I'm simply curious. Personally I think it's a bit of a dick move, in your cart while you're actively shopping at the site isn't exactly asking the company to 'hold it for you' like layaway. You obviously got there first or it wouldn't have been available to put in your cart. Some random Joe comes along, after you did - they snatch one and buy it and yank it from your cart?

The company already has a wish list so customers can save items they're interested in. It's also one of the few companies I've seen that hold items in your cart for weeks. I've seen sites (not solely vape related) that leave an item in your cart based on cache/cookies for maybe 30min to an hour, not weeks later. Typically you go back to a site and view your cart, it's empty again. Why? Because it's a shopping cart, not a wishlist.

I found it a bit ironic, the company claimed there's no simple fix around it. And yet 90%+ of other online etailers have done just that, found a simple fix for it.

Using the yard sale analogy, it's like you're walking around interested in multiple items. You pick up an antique clock, you walk over and start looking at a couple of end tables debating which one you want. Some asshole walks up, jerks the clock out of your hand and runs up to pay for it. Sorry but that person would be leaving with a boot in their ass and I'd be walking home with a clock. I've bought multiple items at yard sales numerous times and never bought each item individually, that's stupid. If it's a fair and you're moving booth to booth, sure, that's involving multiple sellers though.

With that sort of analogy, grocery shopping would suck. You run up and buy a pack of soda, buy it and take it your car. Run back in, grab a gallon of milk, rush to pay for it and take it to your car. Run back in.. You get the idea. That's literally where the concept of 'shopping cart' came from. You gather all the items you're planning to buy, then buy them.
 

skt239

VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I don’t understand the in’s and outs of how an online shopping cart works but I’d have to say “not cool”. It was in your cart so it should be yours unless you remove it.
 

Letitia9

Citrus Junkie
VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
VU Challenge Team
I don’t understand the in’s and outs of how an online shopping cart works but I’d have to say “not cool”. It was in your cart so it should be yours unless you remove it.
Many people abandon carts online. Agree they shouldn't be able to take anything from the cart for say 24 hours, but I do understand from a retail point of view why they don't hold the items.
 

JuicyLucy

My name is Lucy and I am a squonkaholic
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
ECF Refugee
VU Challenge Team
Member For 5 Years
Many people abandon carts online. Agree they shouldn't be able to take anything from the cart for say 24 hours, but I do understand from a retail point of view why they don't hold the items.

As frustrating as the disappearing flash deal is, I see why they stick to first pay, first serve
 

Letitia9

Citrus Junkie
VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
VU Challenge Team
Online shopping is not like your local markets where you are known and trusted. Entirely different experience.
 

CrazyChef v2.0

Gold Contributor
ECF Refugee
VU Challenge Team
Member For 5 Years
Reddit Exile
VU Patreon
I don’t understand the in’s and outs of how an online shopping cart works but I’d have to say “not cool”. It was in your cart so it should be yours unless you remove it.
The thing is, the item may also be in someone else's cart at the same time. If there's only one left, and the other person pays before you do, then it's quite fair. A vendor can't (or shouldn't) make more inventory occur out of thin air to fill eveyone's cart.
 

Lady Sarah

Platinum Contributor
Member For 5 Years
I've had times at grocery stores, Walmart, etc, where someone would snag an item out of my cart. At least I got the opportunity to give those people a peace of my mind when I took it back. Online, you cannot do that. If it's limited quantity, and you really want it, check out as fast as you can.
 

bobnat

VU Donator
Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
It's an imperfect world. I'm happy that the Chinese companies exist and are able to sell all this shit around the world.
When I first moved to the Gulf in 99 I couldn't even get Amazon to ship here. Now I can get just about anything. Of course, getting it past customs is a whole different story.
 

Ryedan

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Okay folks, ran across an interesting situation so thought I'd take a poll and see what people think. This is in regards to limited quantity flash sale items, first come first serve.

You go to a site featuring a special offer and added that limited quantity item to your shopping cart, then you proceed to checkout only to find that item had been removed from your cart before you could process your payment.

Ya, I don't do that.

I don't need the aggravation of trying to make that deal, so I don't take part in these sales. There are better or similar deals out there if you look for them.

That's just me though :)
 

Blargh23

Member For 1 Year
Similar thing happens with clearance items. First-come-first serve also applies.

A moment of vague disappointment, then I'll either move on or if I *really* wanted whatever it was: resort to "well waiting a month for it to get here from Asia was cheaper than their clearance price anyways..."
 

Vape Fan

_evil twin_
Staff member
Senior Moderator
VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Press Corps
Member For 5 Years
Another reason is their website doesn't update fast enough to show true quantities, or if there is really is stock or not. More so with a flash or popular discounted item. It's being bought left and right, looks like it's available when you cart it and sometimes even check out/pay. But demand was greater than supply and the website couldn't keep up. You might pay for it and they didn't have it 5 buyers ago.

Would be nice if online stock updated with each order, but doesn't work that way in most cases. If it's a weekend or holiday, it might even take human intervention the next work day to get the website's stock updated.
 

Just Frank

Platinum Contributor
Member For 5 Years
I have a similar situation going on. I ordered some items from a store. One of the items, I really want. Its old. Lets call it item X. I paid for my cart. Then I got the receipt email. Next I get an email with a tracking number. Yeah, I know that doesn't necessarily mean squat.
It's been six days and my order hasn't moved. I think to myself, " I bet they don't have item X to send to me". So I went to the site to see if item X is still for sale. Nope, its "no longer in stock".

I think it's best to just cancel the whole thing. I can get the other items cheaper elsewhere. It IS frustrating.
 

Lady Sarah

Platinum Contributor
Member For 5 Years
Another reason is their website doesn't update fast enough to show true quantities, or if there is really is stock or not. More so with a flash or popular discounted item. It's being bought left and right, looks like it's available when you cart it and sometimes even check out/pay. But demand was greater than supply and the website couldn't keep up. You might pay for it and they didn't have it 5 buyers ago.

Would be nice if online stock updated with each order, but doesn't work that way in most cases. If it's a weekend or holiday, it might even take human intervention the next work day to get the website's stock updated.
My husband actually calls the numbers for the sites, to make sure they have the item. He tells me that they often show that they do not have any of an item, when in fact, they have a lot of it. If they have less than 10 of something, he tries to order it over the phone, just to avoid getting screwed out of it. This is mostly with the factory coils he uses.

Sent from my NS-P10A7100 using Tapatalk
 

VU Sponsors

Top