Customised chargeable options

[Mike]

I'd like to add a chargeable option of Engraving to a couple of my products. This would need to have an area for customers to add the wording to be engraved up to a maximum number of characters. Can this be done and if so how?

[little-linguist]

Yes it can. First of all, use the form manager to create a form with all the details you need from the customers to do the personalisation (this could be a one-field form with just name or initials).
Once that's done, you need to go to the addition manager (under the catalogue tab) and create a new addition. Give the addition a name (e.g. "Personalisation Details"), choose how the customer will select the personalisation option, add the extra cost and then near the bottom, add the form that you've just created to capture customer information. The last field in the addition manager lets you select how many forms required per order. I guess you'll need to offer one form per unit so that if a customer orders several at a time, each can have different personalisation details.
Finally, go into your product that you're offering to be personalised and under the additions tab, select the new addition you just created.
It sounds complicated, but it isn't really and once you've set up the form and addition, you can use the same one for lots of different products.

We're using this as we offer personalised posters for schools. Please feel free to have a nosey to see how it works!
http://www.little-linguist.co.uk/category-136/personalised-welcome-poster.html

(You are asked for personalisation details during checkout)

[Rich]

It is indeed possible to do this, using the very flexible Addition system. In the example given above, there are 3 key stages.

Firstly, visit Content -> Form Manager. Create a new form, call it something like "Engraving Message", this will be used for the data collection (i.e. the message to be engraved). Add just one field to the form, either a small (one line) or large (multi-line) text field. Save the form.

Secondly, visit Catalogue -> Addition Manager. This is the feature which makes it all work. Create a new Addition, call it something like "Engraving". As you want to give the customer a choice, make it Selectable - setting this to Yes means it will be selectable from both the product detail page and the shopping basket, but you can also set this to Shopping Basket Only. If you'd set it to No, the Addition would be selected automatically.

In this case, choose whether the Addition should be Selected by Default and assign any Additional Cost (the price you want to charge for the engraving service). The form you created earlier will appear in the drop-down list for the Include Form field, make sure it's selected.

Thirdly (and finally), visit Catalogue -> Product Manager and assign the Addition to the relevant products - in the same way that you would assign an Attribute or Option.

The Addition will be selectable where you have specified, and will increase the price of the product as per the additional cost. The form will be displayed during the Checkout process, directly after the Personal Information section, in a new section entitled Additional Information.

--=--

Another decision you can make in the Addition Editor is whether the form should be displayed:


Once per order
Once per product line (no matter how many have been ordered)
Once per unit

[Rich]

Yes it can.

Absolutely right! I was composing my reply at the same time! :D