Prep time doesn't seem to be working right

[MCD2020]

I have my shops prep time set at 4 weeks. That is the time frame I need for items that are made to order. I also have items that are available to ship or pick up right away. The issue is that the prep time is defaulting to the shops 4 week prep time, even for the items that are available right now and have the "Available immediately (no prep time)" option selected for the prep time. How do I get the individual items to show the correct prep time?

[AdamB]

Welcome to the Seller Community and thanks for your question, @MCD2020! 

Prep times for items can be set at the item level, and that should override what you have set broadly for all items. Go to Items > Item Library (or Items > Site Items if you have more than one site) in your Square Online overview page, edit an item and scroll down to the Fulfillment section. There is a dropdown which by default uses the Use location default option. You can change this to available immediately. 

[MCD2020]

That is what I was doing, but when I would go back to my website and put the item in my cart the prep time was not what was set at the item level. It was the shops set prep time. So then I would go back to the item and the prep time was set properly, it is just not overriding my shops set time. 

[AdamB]

Hmm... That doesn't seem to be working as I would have expected it to work. You could try disabling the shop prep time and then just setting prep times only at the item level.

[MCD2020]

How do I disable the shop prep time? 

[isabelle]

You can edit your prep time by going to Square Online Overview page in Settings > Pickup & Delivery @MCD2020.

[MCD2020]

Yes, I know I can change prep times on that screen, however, I need to turn them off for my shop because I have certain items that are available now, and some that take up to 4 weeks to make. Currently the individual Items prep time is not overriding the Shops prep time. So how do I turn off the shops prep time? I don't want to set the shops time to 4 weeks and lose sales for the items I have ready now, and I don't want to set the shop time to available immediately and have angry customers when I have to tell them their item will take 4 weeks after the website tells them otherwise. 

[isabelle]

Got it @MCD2020 ✨

At this time, the ability to disable prep times entirely is not a feature we have available. We're tracking that feature request within this thread. Sorry about that. 

[thesunshinejar]

Are you seriously kidding me? We can't disable store prep time, but using item-specific prep time isn't working. My prep times are all over the place. I'm forced to pick one option as my default (I put a week), but I have items that will take 4-8 weeks and the default is overriding what I've set at item level. I am floored this isn't working correctly!! 

[faheem]

@thesunshinejar For items with item-specific prep time, have you tried adding them to the cart? Does the item-specific prep time calculate correctly in the cart?

[thesunshinejar]

@MCD2020 

I am having this exact same issue. There isn't an option to disable store prep time but store prep time is overriding any item-specific prep time I set! Did you come up with a work around??

[BernadetteA]

Hi @thesunshinejar I'm sorry to hear you are having trouble with your store. I definitely suggest reaching out to our support team if your item-level prep times are not working. The setting you choose on the Edit Item page should automatically override the setting you choose under Settings > Pickup & Delivery. 

You can reach the team with this link here.

[thesunshinejar]

This is not how it works. I don't understand why no one is listening. I've been in touch with the team via email and they agreed that's not working correctly but now won't update me. This is insurmountable to me and I'm about to migrate to another host.

[MCD2020]

I have not really found a decent work around. I had to shut off delivery and pickup. I can't have my ready to go items showing a 4 week wait time even if it is just an estimate. It will drive sales away from my items. And if I make my prep time shorter then I get angry customers asking why the estimated time is 1 week and then they go to buy it and the time changes to 4 weeks. It is very unprofessional looking.

[Marker99]

There are a few other threads that relate to this.  We have the same issue with our inventory being time sensitive and the current format not being inclusive to our needs.  

In addition to "No Prep Time Needed" which defaults to the next time the store is open I would like a "disable" feature.  This will allow us businesses to schedule pickups with our customers directly.  

[Berolina]

Just came across this old thread while researching why I can’t change the prep time on individual items, I’ve talked to tech support several times now and I guess this is an old issue that still hasn’t been solved.  

[Marker99]

I noticed they did improve some of the functionality but not near enough.  We still use the "Service" type for all our items.