Cave will Open For A Window 4/18

smallbearelec · April 16, 2020, 05:11:26 PM

The on-line store will open on Saturday, April 18th at 9 a.m., and will remain open until 9 p.m., Monday, April 20th. Orders that we receive during this window will ship during the week of April 19th.

I am doing this limited opening in order to have some control over our order flow and serve customers with reduced staff. I will re-open on-line as soon as possible as we work down the backlog, and expect to keep operating in this "survival mode" until the Quarantine is lifted and our staff can get to the shop. Thank you for your orders, and your patience, and we hope that you all stay healthy and safe.

Steve Daniels

EBK · April 16, 2020, 06:54:21 PM

I will do my best to place an order in that window. I just got some of my tax refund money the other day, and I need some stomps, pots, toggles, and enclosures so I can build more quarantine stuff.

EBK · April 18, 2020, 08:21:32 AM

Can I support your business while not stressing your temporary understaffing by buying gift cards or something? (Do you sell gift cards? Are they helpful from a business perspective?)

smallbearelec · April 18, 2020, 05:36:30 PM

Quote from: EBK on April 18, 2020, 08:21:32 AM
(Do you sell gift cards? Are they helpful from a business perspective?)

Thanks for the offer of support! We figure that the limited opening (to be repeated periodically) will give us some control over our work flow. We have never offered gift cards per se, but people do sometimes have us post store credit for friends/relatives to celebrate birthdays and holidays.

m7b52000 · April 19, 2020, 02:56:41 AM

I am trying to place an order and pay via PayPal but I get the following message:

Sorry, your request could not be processed as it contained an invalid security token. Please refresh and try again.

Any suggestions? Have sent email as well

EBK · April 19, 2020, 11:09:33 AM

Quote from: m7b52000 on April 19, 2020, 02:56:41 AM
I am trying to place an order and pay via PayPal but I get the following message:

Sorry, your request could not be processed as it contained an invalid security token. Please refresh and try again.

Any suggestions? Have sent email as well

Did you by chance fill a cart, proceed all the way through the payment process to where you are asked to choose the shipping option (i.e., after Paypal transferred you back to the store), then change your mind and go back to shopping? If you do, the store (via a browser cookie or the like) will try to use the same shopping cart token but PayPal will no longer recognize it as valid. At least, I think that is what happens. I had a similar problem with a BLMS order once. The easiset solution for me was to use a different computer to create the order again. You might be able to get away with an Internet cache flush, but I can't direct you any further there.

m7b52000 · April 19, 2020, 06:21:52 PM

Thanks
problem has been resolved by using another computer. I must have done something like what you have described above!

tubegeek · April 20, 2020, 06:34:44 PM

Steve - how did it go? Sorry I am late to the party, I will watch for further window announcements. Hopefully you got a bit of activity!

GibsonGM · April 20, 2020, 06:37:25 PM

It was a good party, ordered up a BUNCH of stuff, no glitches or other issues at all!

smallbearelec · April 20, 2020, 07:45:54 PM

Quote from: tubegeek on April 20, 2020, 06:34:44 PM
Hopefully you got a bit of activity!

The response has been huge, THANKS! I don't like being in survival mode. However, the good news is that we are likely to be able to maintain operations until we can open normally.

bushidov · April 20, 2020, 08:05:32 PM

Thanks again for temporarily reopening. Got some NPN Germanium items.

bluebunny · April 21, 2020, 03:52:29 AM

Good news, Steve. I've been conscious of trying to keep orders going to the smaller outfits here in the UK (not just electronics suppliers). It would be sad to see small local businesses go under because of a virus. Spread the love - and the cash.^*

___
^* Using a contactless payment method, of course. ;o)

EBK · May 08, 2020, 03:33:10 PM

Received my order. Now I have enclosures and stomps again! Thanks, Steve!

Now I just have to remember to order some pots during the next cave opening.

newjackruby · May 08, 2020, 04:25:52 PM

Hell, I'm ready to order again!

Steve, any chance you could keep the site open minus the cart and ordering, for price research purposes?

All the best to you...

GibsonGM · May 08, 2020, 05:17:47 PM

It all came today - see ya everybody, will be in my cave for the next few days - thanks Steve!

smallbearelec · May 08, 2020, 06:58:36 PM

Quote from: newjackruby on May 08, 2020, 04:25:52 PM
any chance you could keep the site open minus the cart and ordering, for price research purposes?

I apologize for not looking into this from the gitgo. I presumed that it would be complicated...Not! My shopping cart vendor's support desk pointed me to a one-click solution that leaves the store visible but disables checkout. I will implement this in a couple of minutes. To anticipate a question, we are probably still have about a week of backlog to work down before we can accept orders again.

SD

bean · May 08, 2020, 07:07:20 PM

Quote from: smallbearelec on May 08, 2020, 06:58:36 PM
Quote from: newjackruby on May 08, 2020, 04:25:52 PM
any chance you could keep the site open minus the cart and ordering, for price research purposes?

I apologize for not looking into this from the gitgo. I presumed that it would be complicated...Not! My shopping cart vendor's support desk pointed me to a one-click solution that leaves the store visible but disables checkout. I will implement this in a couple of minutes. To anticipate a question, we are probably still have about a week of backlog to work down before we can accept orders again.

SD

I was going to ask the same. It helps me out a lot. Thank you.

newjackruby · May 08, 2020, 08:03:17 PM

Awesome! Thanks Steve!

News:

Cave will Open For A Window 4/18