Our first full stocking on twinkietush.com!!

Tonight we will have our first full stocking on www.twinkietush.com!  I wanted to go over a few key points with everyone before tonight, and of course if you have any questions please feel free to email us or comment on this blog post! :)

I want to make sure to reiterate that while we have tested the site extensively, nothing can come close to equaling a real, full stocking.  We are prepared to learn a lot about the site and any areas of needed improvement tonight! :)  We ask for your understanding and patience with this first stocking and ask that you remember we are still in beta mode – we do not expect everything to run completely perfectly. :)  Now to go over some very important points about stockings on the new site:

As you likely already know if you participated in any of our site testing, there is no longer any need to refresh your browsers when waiting for an item to become available either initially or from a pending status!

Now, when you are on a specific listing's page and you do not see the Add to Cart button, three possibilities exist:

1. The item is not yet available.

 - If it's more than 1 hour from the available time, the date and time of availability will be posted.

 - If it's 60 minutes or less from the available time, there will be a countdown clock running. When that clock reaches 0:00:00, the Add to Cart button will automatically appear. Refreshing is not necessary! :)

2. The item is carted by another shopper.

- In this scenario, you will see the window of time in which the item may become available for sale again. If the item is not purchased by the original customer, the Add to Cart button will automatically appear. Refreshing is not necessary! :)

3. The item is sold out.

We understand that not refreshing will take some getting used to, but we truly believe this will help everyone have an equal opportunity to cart items successfully at stockings. Refreshing your browser, while on a specific item's page, will in fact lessen your chances of successfully carting the item.

* A note about items with multiple quantities: we recently began listing items with multiple quantities in a single listing, except in rare cases (like Rainbow Games and Aviary tonight) where we separate them out with a, b, c, etc. listings.  When an item has a quantity of >1, the listing will not go to “pending” until the full quantity is carted.

Once you have clicked “Add to Cart” and have been taken to your cart:

1 - Look at your cart carefully.  If you have successfully carted the item, you will see a running clock on the righthand side of the screen (counting down the 10 minute payment window).  If you do not see a running clock, it means that you have not in fact successfully carted the item, and that it is carted by another shopper.  In that case you will also see an error message in your cart, letting you know that the item is in fact in another shopper’s cart.  I know this may take some getting used to, but it was the best workaround we found in order to allow the dynamic clock and other key site features to function well.

Another thing to look at is the quantity you have selected.  If you clicked “Add to Cart” quickly and repeatedly, you may have inadvertently added more than one of the same diaper to your cart.  If you add more than what is available, the action will fail.  Again, in that scenario, you will not have a running clock.  The lack of a running clock means that the attempt to cart the item has failed.

2 – Once you have ensured that you have the correct quantity and a running clock in your cart, you are ready to proceed!  You have 10 minutes to complete your transaction before the carted item is placed back into the available inventory. A running countdown clock is present in your shopping cart, and a message providing a specific window of time that the item may become available again is shown on the listing page for all remaining shoppers.  You are ready to click “Check Out” and complete your order!

3 – Proceed with checkout as outlined in this flickr album!  Should you need to change your shipping address, you must do so ON twinkietush.com, as shown in the album.  Please also note that while multiple people can sign into the same account, the cart contents will not transfer from computer to computer or even browser to browser.  If you want to ship to another party you must change the shipping address on twinkietush.com and check out on their behalf.

A few other things to note:

- Item statuses are shown on the product main pages as well as the All Items page for quick reference. You do not need to go into the specific item page to see if it is available for purchase. However these pages do need to be refreshed to see status changes.

- Past Items will now be saved and viewable in the Past Items category.

- Again, a major change to note with the new cart system is that shipping addresses must now be changed during the checkout process on twinkietush.com - NOT IN PAYPAL. Once you reach PayPal, no changes should be made. Any attempt to change a shipping address or order information once in PayPal may result in your losing the item.

- If you haven’t already, please make sure to check out the flickr album we created to illustrate the checkout process.  Here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/twinkietush/sets/72157632180627116/

We are looking forward to tonight and hoping to learn a lot and have a really great stocking!  See you at 8pm EST on www.twinkietush.com!