30 day time out finishing, what do I do now?

[triber]

My time out finishes in a couple of days when the 30 day runs out. What are my options now? The CP strike doesn't look as if it is ending any time soon and I have no shipping options.

[ricarmic · Accepted solution]

I do this all the time because I close for two months in the summer.

Simply reopen your store then immediately "time away" it again.

The longest your store will be open is for an hour, mine usually seems to pick the XX:30 time as the reopening time, so I try to reset as close to an XX:30 as I can, but the least amount of time I've been able to achieve of the store being open is just over half an hour.

If someone buys you can use whatever version of stalling the sale that you prefer. (Mine is to ask the buyer if they are ok with me cancelling the sale (which allows me to use the non destructive "buyer asked to cancel"), I'll hold the item for them and when the PO is functioning again, I'll create a special only for them item to purchase it again). So far nobody in the last couple years has purchased something during the interim time so I haven't had to use my stalling approach.

[triber]

Thank you SO much, I'll do it early tomorrow morning, I don't want any sales!

[byto253]

This is The Way 

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

I would consider leaving your orders active and setting them to have the max handling time (40 business days). 

You can use the bulk editor to add a disclaimer at the top of the listing that says something like "Purchase your item today to reserve it for when the Canada Post strike concludes. Your item will ship as soon as the Canada Post strike ends." - On top of that, send the buyer a short message confirming that they understand that it won't ship until the strike is over, and invite them to contact you any time to cancel. 

Will you get a lot of sales that way? Probably not. But depending on the type of item you sell, you might get a few here or there. Sending a single stock message and/or having to cancel an order here or there won't be a lot of work.

40 business days is about two months. It is unlikely Canada Post will still be on strike at that time. If they are on strike in two months, you can figure out what to do with any pending orders (cancel, reach out to buyers, batch ship to Chit Chats if there is one in your province, etc).