FAQ
Do I need cron?
Section titled “Do I need cron?”No, but it is recommended. Without cron, alerts are sent in batches while someone works in the admin panel (Also send on admin panel activity). On a quiet store that can mean a delay. With cron every 5 minutes, an alert goes out within about 5 minutes of the change.
Why did a shopper not get the price-drop e-mail?
Section titled “Why did a shopper not get the price-drop e-mail?”Check, in this order:
- Subscriptions page: is the alert Active? Waiting for confirmation means the guest has not clicked the confirmation link yet.
- Is the drop at least Minimum price drop (default 1%) and at or below the target price?
- Is the product in stock? Price-drop alerts wait until the product can be bought.
- Send queue: is the row Queued (not run yet), Failed (see the error) or Sent?
- Does the store send other e-mails? Alerts use the normal store mailer (Settings → E-mails).
The price changed through an import or the API. Will alerts fire?
Section titled “The price changed through an import or the API. Will alerts fire?”Yes. Product saves through fn_update_product (admin, vendor panel, REST API, most imports) are detected at once. Anything else is caught by the rolling re-check within a few queue runs (Products checked per run).
Does a sale (catalog promotion) count as a price drop?
Section titled “Does a sale (catalog promotion) count as a price drop?”Yes, when Include catalog promotions in the price is on (default). The comparison uses the guest price for one item, so prices for specific user groups, quantity discounts and option modifiers are not taken into account.
What happens to the core “Notify me when back in stock” button?
Section titled “What happens to the core “Notify me when back in stock” button?”With the default Replace mode it is hidden on product pages and the widget takes over; requests that still reach the core form are stored as add-on alerts. With Keep, both exist and the widget does not offer back-in-stock on products that show the core form. Existing core subscriptions can be copied or moved from the report’s gear menu, and they are counted in the demand report either way.
Will a shopper get two e-mails if they used both the core form and the widget?
Section titled “Will a shopper get two e-mails if they used both the core form and the widget?”Only if you keep both and the shopper subscribed in both places. Use Move core “Notify me” subscriptions to avoid that.
Can vendors see who subscribed?
Section titled “Can vendors see who subscribed?”No. Vendors see the demand report for their own products: counts, target prices and dates, never e-mail addresses.
Is it GDPR compliant?
Section titled “Is it GDPR compliant?”The add-on gives you the tools: double opt-in for guests (or everyone), consent checkbox with the core GDPR add-on, one-click unsubscribe in every message, a self-service page, automatic deletion of unconfirmed, expired and finished alerts, and GDPR export/anonymization support. Your privacy policy should mention product alerts.
Can I change the e-mail texts?
Section titled “Can I change the e-mail texts?”Yes. Edit the four templates in Design → E-mail templates, or the language variables kv_price_stock_alerts.message_title_*, kv_price_stock_alerts.message_text_* and kv_price_stock_alerts.email_* in Administration → Languages.
How do I add SMS?
Section titled “How do I add SMS?”Write a small add-on with a channel class and register it through the kv_price_stock_alerts_register_channels hook. See the Developer guide.
The widget does not show up
Section titled “The widget does not show up”- The product page template must call the
products:product_detail_bottomhook (Responsive and Bright theme do). - For themes not based on Responsive, copy the templates as described in Installation.
- Disabled or hidden products, and products where no alert type applies, show no widget.
- Without an active license the widget is not shown and the admin panel shows a license notice (see License).
Does it slow down my store?
Section titled “Does it slow down my store?”The product page loads one small AJAX request. Saving a product adds one query when the product has no alerts. Sending never happens in a shopper’s request: it runs in batches from cron, or at the end of an admin panel request (at most Messages per run messages, once per Minutes between runs).
The widget disappeared, no alerts are sent and the admin panel shows a license notice
Section titled “The widget disappeared, no alerts are sent and the admin panel shows a license notice”Open Add-ons → Manage add-ons → Price Drop & Back-in-Stock Alerts. The License card at the top of the add-on page says what is wrong: no key, a key for another add-on, a revoked license, or a domain that the license does not cover. Enter or change the key on the License tab and click Check now. See License.
Does the add-on work on my staging copy?
Section titled “Does the add-on work on my staging copy?”Yes. Subdomains of your licensed domain (for example staging.example.com) and local development hosts (localhost, private IP addresses, *.local, *.test) are covered by the same license.
What happens if your license server is down?
Section titled “What happens if your license server is down?”Nothing visible: the add-on keeps the last verified result and keeps working for 14 days while it retries. The admin panel shows a notice from the first failed check.
Does the license check slow down my storefront?
Section titled “Does the license check slow down my storefront?”No. The check runs in the admin panel or from cron, once a day. The storefront only reads the stored result.
Still stuck?
Section titled “Still stuck?”Work through the troubleshooting guide, then contact support with your CS-Cart version, edition, PHP version and the add-on version (1.1.1).