Make item 'disappear' after 1st purchase of it?

[jimchicago]

Hi, I am going to create a page of items for sale on my site, but I have only one of each item sell. Once a given item is bought, how can I make that item either "disappear" from the page, or disable the PayPal "Add to Cart" and "Buy It Now" buttons ONLY for that item? Thank you!

[jimchicago]

Re: Make item 'disappear' after 1st purchase of it?

Hoping to hear (soon) from a brilliant "Vodamaster" on this question. I really need a hand with this one. THANK YOU!

[Karen Mac]

Re: Make item 'disappear' after 1st purchase of it?

Thats going to be difficult without running a database to control the purchase or custom scripting of your paypal button. Might find naval and see if he has any suggestions for you on this.

Karen

[navaldesign]

Re: Make item 'disappear' after 1st purchase of it?

There is no way to do it with PayPa's cart because it doesn't control stock. You need a shopping cart that can do this (or, at least, a simpified "inventory" control).

So you neeed to either install a shopping cart that supports inventory control (I believe that OSCommerce does) or a custom made one (script or inventory control).

[jimchicago]

Re: Make item 'disappear' after 1st purchase of it?

Thank you, Karen and Naval. Instead of trying one of those 'advanced' solutions you mentioned, I probably will rely on PayPal to e-mail me when a given item has been purchased, reminding me to delete the item from the page.

Now I have a few NEW questions:

1) Will the purchase-notification e-mails from PP come to me automatically, or do I have to do something (perhaps in my PP account) to ensure they come? Likewise, will the buyer automatically receive a purchase-confirmation e-mail from PP?

2) When I click any of the "Add to Cart" buttons on my PP-enabled page, http://www.retrobash.com/gifts.html, the PP page that I land on allows the customer to select a quantity of the item listed, even though I have NOT checked the box to "Allow Customer to Edit Quantity" in the button setup window. FYI, the only PayPal buttons used on my page are the ones in BV.

3) Also on the PP page I get after clicking "Add to Cart," there is no button for the user to click in order to continue shopping. What to do?

THANK YOU!

[jimchicago]

Re: Make item 'disappear' after 1st purchase of it?

Re #3 in my previous post: Hmmmm . . . today when I go to my PP-enabled page and click either "Add to Cart" or "View Cart," the PP page I land on DOES have a "Continue Shopping" button. But when I click that button, it takes me to . . . this Vodahost forum page! Very odd.

Could someone please check it and see if the "Continue Shopping" button is taking them to a page other than http://www.retrobash.com/gifts.html? If you could also answer questions #1 and 2 in the previous post, I'd appreciate it!

[Karen Mac]

Re: Make item 'disappear' after 1st purchase of it?

Well.. I dont get a continue shopping button at all..in 3 browsers..hmm not sure how to really help u here as i dont do much with the paypal buttons. Are you getting these from bv or copy n paste from paypal? Try getting them from paypal and see if changes anything.

Karen

[jimchicago]

Re: Make item 'disappear' after 1st purchase of it?

Thanks for trying the page, Karen. All my PP buttons are from BlueVoda. Here's what I'm getting in each browser:

IE: "Continue Shopping" button shows on the PP page, but when I click it, I get either "The window you were browsing has closed. Please open a new window . . ." or it takes me to this VH forum page.

Firefox: No "Continue Shopping" button appears at all.

Safari: The "CS" button is there, and changes color when I click it, but otherwise is totally unresponsive.

Annoying. Can you give me a link to the page on PayPal where I can download their versions of these buttons? And if that doesn't work, most people know to use their browser's "Back" (left arrow-head) key to go back to the previous page, right? I hope??!!

Any thoughts for me on #1 or #2? Thanks again.

[LadyEye]

Re: Make item 'disappear' after 1st purchase of it?

Try getting them from paypal and see if changes anything.

Karen

Yes Jim, Karen is right - go to paypal directly please, this will resolve the continue shopping ..

Sign into your paypal account and choose the merchant tab .. you will be able to set this up there ..

[jimchicago]

Re: Make item 'disappear' after 1st purchase of it?

Thanks, LadyEye! And no need to reply to #1 after all, as they are discussed in this thread (one that I forgot I had started several months ago--must be my old age):

http://www.vodahost.com/vodatalk/various-shopping-carts/29408-create-autoresponders-confirming-paypal-orders.html