MarketTime offers a few ways to display an item's availability, usually by utilizing dates.
When importing/managing products, there are various status/date fields available for your use. The information below describes each field, and shows how they interact with each other.
Status
Show on Website - This toggle determines if the item should be allowed to appear on a B2B Website.
Available - This toggle determines if the item is available to order. This is usually coupled with a Next Available Date or Default Ship Date. NOTE: This toggle is meant to be used in conjunction with others, and does not function on it's own.
Discontinued - This toggle determines if the item has been discontinued. Discontinued items can not be added to orders. For those with a B2B Website, there is a setting that prevents Discontinued Item shopping on the B2B Website Settings page.
Dates
Next Available Date - This date determines when the item is next available. This is an informational field that will display on the PO, does not split orders into new POs, and does not change the ability to add an item to an order. This field currently does not appear in the MarketTime Pro app.
Default Ship Date - This date determines when the item will next ship. When this date is used, the following situations may occur:
- Within the Web App (https://apps.markettime.com) it will offer Salespeople the ability to split the items onto a different PO than items with immediate availability. When a Retailer places a B2B order, it will force the items onto a different PO.
- Within the MarketTime Pro mobile app, it may split the items onto a different PO than items with immediate availability depending on the Manufacturer's settings regarding the ability to split orders by Default Ship Date. See the "Advanced" section of this article for additional details on the "Split by Available" and "Override Available Date" settings.
Default Cancel Date - This date will determine the Cancel Date of the PO the item exists on.
Discount Start Date - This date determines when an item's discount begins.
Discount End Date - This date determines when an item's discount ends.
Interactions
The table below describes a few common combinations of the status/date fields available to you for reference.
It also references the Split by Available Date/Override Available Date settings found on the Advanced tab within Manufacturers or Manufacturer accounts
| Status | Date | Split by Available Date | Override Available Date | Result in MarketTime Pro | Result in Web App |
| Available = Yes | Default Ship Date is present | Enabled | Enabled | Item can be ordered. Item will split into a separate PO based on the Default Ship Date set for the item. | Item can be ordered, but will be split into a separate PO based on the Default Ship Date set for the item. |
| Available = Yes | Discount Start/End Dates are present | N/A | N/A | Discount Start/End dates do not appear within MarketTime Pro. | An automatic discount will be added to the item within the dates specified |
| Available = No | N/A | N/A | Item can be ordered | If IsAvailable = No, the item can be ordered. | |
| Discontinued = Yes* | Next Available Date is present | Enabled | Enabled | This combination will allow the Discontinued item to be ordered. Next Available Date does not appear on the item. | This combination will allow the item to be seen, but not ordered until the Next Available Date passes, which will automatically switch the item to Discontinued = No. |
* NOTE: mtPro allows Discontinued items to be added to an order.
Ways to Restrict Retailers from Purchasing 'Sold Out' Items on Your B2B Site
To allow Manufacturers and their Agencies flexibility in presenting their products, MarketTime provides multiple ways to edit the item status fields and limit an item's visibility to the shopper.
- Remove the item / request that your brand partners remove the item from their product listing completely
- Mark the item / request that your brand partner mark the item as "Discontinued." You can then decide if these products are visible (but not orderable), or completely removed from your B2B site, based on how you toggle the "Hide Discontinued Items" option on the Settings tab of the B2B eCommerce mgmt page
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Mark the item / request that your brand partner mark the item as Available = No, then toggle on the "Instock Only" option on the Settings tab of the B2B eCommerce mgmt page for the relevant brand
- NOTE: While unavailable items will not appear when searching on a B2B site, the item may still be added to a cart from a hot-spotted catalog, using this method.
- Mark the item / request that your brand partner mark the item as "Show on B2B Site"= No