To AW2K Support: My post titled "Bug: Unsold lot items wont uncommit even w/resync" has over 130 views. Posts on Jacki's board reflect the need for a fix for this issue.

Are there any plans for implimenting something to alleviate the need to "fudge" by changing the status to "sold and shipped" even tho' no items were actually sold?

Pls post here if there's a timeline and I'll post that good news on Jacki's board.

Thanks!
Lisa W.

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guitrldy

If an Auction Lot created from a Stock Inventory Item closes without selling, the stock stays committed to the Auction Lot. That allows the Auction Lot to be relisted for credit. That is not a bug. Auction Wizard 2000 was explicitly designed to work this way.

If you have no plans to relist an unsold Auction Lot, you can delete the Auction Lot or change its Status to "Sold Not Shipped". Either way the stock will be released back to the Stock Inventory Item. Deleting the Auction Lot is probably the better solution since you can create another Auction Lot from the Stock Inventory Item at any time.

-- The Auction Wizard Team

If this isn't a bug, then this "feature" is counter-intuitive.

I'm hoping that enuf other AW2K users will voice their opinion about this. There's a need for another Lot status of "none sold" so that one can save auction fees for lots that don't sell and still maintain their inventory's current status.

A Lot with no items sold is not "Sold None Shipped" or "Sold and Shipped". It's None Sold.

I cant understand the argument against this.
I cannot delete the lot because I need to save my fee info and other notes. I do not want to have to mark it Sold when it is not sold at all.

Lisa W.


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guitrldy

Lisa,

I am sorry if you find the way this process works to be counterintuitive. The Status for Auction Lots that close with no bidders is Off Line. Leaving stock committed to an unsold Auction Lot does not affect the Quantity in Stock of the Stock Inventory Item the Auction Lot was created from. The stock remains committed in case you want to re-list the Auction Lot again. This is a straight forward approach designed to prevent you from overselling your inventory.

I understand that different people like to do things in different ways. If there are other Auction Wizard 2000 users who want to express their opinions as to how committed stock should be handled for unsold Auction Lots, I invite them to contact us directly at info@auctionwizard2000.com and explain their viewpoint.

Regards,

Thom Withgott
President
Standing Wave Software, Inc.

-- The Auction Wizard Team

Thom, thanks so much for your personal response to this issue. And for the direct email address for those who want to request a change. I'm posting this and sending an email.

These are the issues that are of concern:

One is that AW2K requires us to set a status that is false in order to release data back to inventyro AND still be able to retain all the unsold auction lot's info (profile listed under, fees, notes ... etc.).

The other is that, while I understand the intent of keeping one from overselling inventory, AW2K doesn't allow us true control over our inventory.

Under the current method, if one has unsold Lots, inventory shows that items are committed and not in inventory. If one wants to create a new lot for a different auction site, inventory appears committed when it is actually physically available. If the lot status is set to "off line", items are still committted. If status is set to "sold...", items are uncommited but lot data is incorrect (since none are actually sold). If the lot is deleted, all data for that unsold lot is lost.

Here's an idea:
o Assign a new status of "none sold" to unsold Lots.
o Uncommite the inventory for this new status (or change "off line" to uncommit invntry).
o Display this lot in the inventory as having Zero committed.
o One could then either create a new lot or use the old lot to relist.

What's interesting is that "overselling inventory" is currently not prevented. Any number of lots for any active stock inventory item can be created thereby causing a negative qty available. AW2K does not previent us from overselling inventory so it's alreayd our responsibility to manage this.

Having the status of "none sold" that uncommits inventory would allow us to relist that lot later or be able to create a new lot to list... all with retaining our data from the unsold lot AND not having to falsely give it a status of "sold...".

Thanks again for addressing this!
Lisa W.

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guitrldy

I have to agree that fudging the system by identifying lots as sold and shipped or sold not shipped is a crazy way of releasing them back into inventory.

I too think that the program needs a further "category" added - I see the need for the way the program treats unsold auction lots - for the purposes of relisting they HAVE to go back into the auction lot section in order to let AW2K treat them properly for relisting purposes. However there IS a need for a category that CLEARLY shows the lot is unsold and that allows the user to release the lot so that unsold items are released to inventory from where they can be used in other auctions/lots without losing the data on auction fees etc.

Knowing which items have sold and which have not is an important part of on-line auctioning. By deleting an auction lot in order to release inventory means you lose this information, together with all the data on the costs associated with having tried to auction it in the first place.... the IRS will not allow a deduction as costs if there is no audit path to show the cost was incurred in the first place!

guitrldy is also correct in that at present AW2K does not prevent negative amounts in the inventory - this also IS a problem that should be rectified as a safeguard. I recently found I had negs in my inventory caused by me establisihing auctions for items that had recently arrived but I had forgotten to update the quantity on hand field in inventory... AW2K should force the user to ensure inventory never goes in to negatives unless an "overrride" is activated - the commercial inventory package I use in my business is like this - the override (max setting -5) is only activated if a "superuser" activates it - important if there is a need to sell inventory after it has been received but before I've had time to update the inventory records - personally I'd like to see the override removed (and can set the program up so that negs are not allowed) - in AW2K I don't see a need for the overide function but negs should not be allowed.

Cusinnz

I agree with the previous writers to this thread that the way unsold lots are handled is a bit troublesome. Personally I have not many inventory items for which I have more then 1 but when I have them the problems are the same as for those who hundreds or thousands of one item for sale. I do see however not a solution in having more status fields as this will make things even more complicated. Another thing to think about is that, when talking about eBay, you can only relist for free within two weeks after the closing of an auction. When that time has passed there is no need whatsoever to keep the auction in your database EXCEPT for keeping the fees related to that auction. For me an elegant and logical solution would be to have the fees also related to a commited inventory item. That way you can always delete the auction records from the database without loosing that important information. It will still be your own responsibility to release the item back to your stock by deleting the auction but that I find no problem and seems a logical way to go also.
This way having commited multiple lots for one inventory item also gives a direct insight in the total costs related to that inventory item. I also think this will be much easier to implement within AW2K although one still might want to distinguish the costs for single commited lots belonging to one inventory item and not just the grand total.