Recently I did create only 1 plan for all vendors, and I am wanting to set to each Subcategory a % to be charged from sales. What is happening? Ok. I did recently a sale of Marble and the price for sale is $67.49. Ok. I have the Marble in a Subcategory where the fee to be taken from the sale is 25.90% and after the sale was completed I found that the system is not discounting that %, also, I have no idea what % it's deducting from sales, I did calculate, and it's taking around 11%.
The system is not properly working in reference to how much it should deduct from sales. I am attaching pictures of everything.
How do I have structured the Categories, Subcategories and the % to be charged
Marbles are under
Categories
Hardware Store > Building Materials > Marble
Hardware store is the Main Category and I have not set to any Main Category a % if this one has a subcategory and a child category. Building materials is a Subcategory and the same, I have child categories and I have not created any %. So, Marble department has a 25.90% that should be deducted from final sale and instead of use this % established to this product, it's using the Main Category %. Why? The system it's supposed to use the % that is under Marble Category. I have lost a lot of money since I did change everything trusting that the system will deduct the % properly and instead of that it's using the % that I have set on the plan for 11.20%
Do I need to set the plan to 0% to make this work or what? Is this a malfunction? Because if I tell to the system "I would like to take 25.90% from all the products that under this Child category been the last one on the chain it should not be using the Main Category %.
Let me put it in another way.
I say that the main category could use the plan % by default
Hardware Store (taking the plan % by default)
Building Materials (But then I add a child category, so it's taking the plan % by default)
Marble (I have set that from products sold under this Child category it should be charged. 25.90%)
The logic indicates that the Child Category governs the final % to be applied, not the Hardware Store %.
I have set the plan to 0% because I have no idea what is happening here and I am loosing a lot of money from sales. My concern now is that the system will not charge vendors the fees because the plan has 0%.
Hi. I'm sorry to hear you ran into this issue. But I think I see the culprit.
The screenshot with categories caught my attention. It shows that the primary category of the product is Building Materials. According to the documentation of the "Vendor plans: Commissions by category" add-on:
3. The commission for each product is determined by its primary category. You’ll find the primary category on the product editing page: it is the first category in the list and is highlighted in bold.
The add-on was introduced a while ago, and I think it works that way to accomplish 2 things:
- It helps with performance: there is no need to calculate commissions for multiple categories and determine which one is bigger. After all, product can theoretically end up in multiple category trees, and even in multiple child categories of the same level&
- It helps with navigation: when an admin opens a product editing page, the bold category is the one that the admin needs to check to find out the commission.
P.S. I also removed the screenshots with the admin panel from your post, to hide the address bar and the name of [b]admin.php[/b] in your store, just to be safe.
I am in shock right now. So, When I am creating a product for a vendor store and I add the categories where the item is going to be listed I should put on top of the categories the one with the % that will take from the sale? I am attaching a picture with a circle. Is that what I have to do??? It doesn't make any sense, I mean, it's more complicated than telling the system that the % to be charged from the sale will be the last level created in categories. Example, if I create a single Category will use the % that is on that Category, if I create a Sub-Category and I put items there, then the % under the Sub Category will overwrite the Category % and if I create a Child Category, the system will overwrite the Category and Sub Category % using the Child Category % to charge the fees. I believe this way is easier than organizing on the product for sale the Child Category that the system will use the % to charge the fees.
So, to fix the mess I have will all this, what is your recommendation? I have over 1000 products on my website right now and I am at the border of a shock with this.
P.S. I also removed the screenshots with the admin panel from your post, to hide the address bar and the name of [b]admin.php[/b] in your store, just to be safe.
So, this is what I need to do to use the % applied to the child category? I need to set in the top while I am creating an item for sale the child category with the % applied?
Please check picture attached
I really appreciate your support on this, I have no idea what to do :-( I have more than 1000 products on my website right now
This is the way my store it's structured. https://ponloencasa.com/categories-catalog-es/
Will be great if the add on can be modified to the way I am mentioning, will be more effective. At the end each product for sale will have a Child Category in an online store. That's because is the best way to organize an online store, everything where they belong to.
P.S. I also removed the screenshots with the admin panel from your post, to hide the address bar and the name of [b]admin.php[/b] in your store, just to be safe.
So, this is what I need to do to use the % applied to the child category? I need to set in the top while I am creating an item for sale the child category with the % applied?
Please check picture attached
I really appreciate your support on this, I have no idea what to do :-( I have more than 1000 products on my website right now
Yes, the category highlighted in bold is the one that will determine commissions for the product. In your screenshot, the category structure is "Beauty and Health / Personal Care / Bath Soap". Category Bath Soap is selected as the primary category for the product, so it will determine commissions.
This is the way my store it's structured. https://ponloencasa.com/categories-catalog-es/
Will be great if the add on can be modified to the way I am mentioning, will be more effective. At the end each product for sale will have a Child Category in an online store. That's because is the best way to organize an online store, everything where they belong to.
If absolutely necessary, a third-party developer should be able to modify the add-on that way. I can't promise making that the default behavior in the near future, because I haven't found any other requests to alter the behavior of "commissions by category" that way.
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P.S. Could you tell me why you also put the product in "Beauty and Health" and "Personal Care" as well? I've just checked our demo, and it should be enough to put the product in "Bath Soap". The product then shows in all its parent categories too.
Sometimes vendors create the products packages called COMBOS, and they put there a diversity of products. When it's food it doesn't matter because I have a whole department for food only, but sometimes they create combos with Personal Care products and Cleaning Products. If they are mixed I need to show that COMBO in both Subcategories or both Child Categories. What I did was, put the same % in both Child Categories. The Cuban market is a little different to the rest of the markets. I am trying to create an Amazon structure for Cuba. It will be a website where people will be able to commercialize everything. Because of that I think that the best way to set the % it's using the last category level where the item it's set, a single mistake not putting the category, sub category or child category while creating the product for sale can affect my %.
Other problem I have is that when you set a specific % to the Category tree, vendors doesn't know how much they must pay in fees. CS Cart should provide that information to vendors while they create the product for sale. I mean, I can set for Cleaning Combos 25% as a fee for products sold under that Category, but vendors don't know it. One option could be to show the % next to where vendors set their prices in a small block. This % will appear when vendors set the Category where the product is going to be hosted.
I really appreciate your help!!!! I don't know how to thank you for that. I have been losing money for around 3 months and I had no idea why!!! Thanks a lot!
Yes, the category highlighted in bold is the one that will determine commissions for the product. In your screenshot, the category structure is "Beauty and Health / Personal Care / Bath Soap". Category Bath Soap is selected as the primary category for the product, so it will determine commissions.
If absolutely necessary, a third-party developer should be able to modify the add-on that way. I can't promise making that the default behavior in the near future, because I haven't found any other requests to alter the behavior of "commissions by category" that way.
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P.S. Could you tell me why you also put the product in "Beauty and Health" and "Personal Care" as well? I've just checked our demo, and it should be enough to put the product in "Bath Soap". The product then shows in all its parent categories too.
Happy to help! It's not always that we can give advice on the forum. Usually such troubleshooting requires access to the admin panel (that's what our Customer Care specialists can do, if you contact them via Help Desk). But this time, you provided abundant information with the right screenshots, and the documentation had the answer.
As for your two suggestions, I've listed them in our issue-tracking system. Showing vendors the commission that they'll pay next to the product price is something that could be done in one of the future versions. Though I'm in doubt, and have another question.
If your vendors see how much they pay to your marketplace every time when they edit their products, wouldn't it lessen their desire to sell in the marketplace? Perhaps a single page with terms per category would work better?