Proof delay days - 1 day = 24 hours?

BeachBill

I recently changed my proof days from 0 to 1. Got my first order since the change and I noticed the following:

date order placed: 2006-11-01 17:57:13
status: Delayed for proofing & touch-up, processing begins on November 2nd at 09:09:09 PST.

So one proof day does not equal 24 hours. Not a problem in this case as I caught it prior to processing. But what if the order was placed at say 11pm and I didn't notice until after 9am?

What's the [SIZE=-1]algorithm [/SIZE]that decides when the proof delayed order begins processing?

If we want/need at least 24 hours, do we need to set the delay to 2 days? I set it to one day because I want the customer to get the order as soon as possible and I don't want the e-mail that smugmug sends out making the customer think there will be a long delay.

Andy

Hi Bill,

I've asked for some assistance here, Stay Tuned, thanks.

marlinspike

BeachBill wrote:

If we want/need at least 24 hours, do we need to set the delay to 2 days? I set it to one day because I want the customer to get the order as soon as possible and I don't want the e-mail that smugmug sends out making the customer think there will be a long delay.

On the second part I can't help you, but on the first part once you've made your corrections you can click Ship It so that it ships as soon as its ready.

BeachBill

marlinspike wrote:

On the second part I can't help you, but on the first part once you've made your corrections you can click Ship It so that it ships as soon as its ready.

The reason I set it to one day is because of the e-mail sent to the customer when proof delay is on.

http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=352942&postcount=3

The customer will be told it will take the defined proof days + 2 days to process the order (before shipping it out). The thread referenced above mentions the customer is told this before ordering, so it's possible that a customer might decide not to order if it's going to take 9 days or 7 days or whatever just to process the order.

So I decided to set my proof delay to one day so the customer would be told 3 days. 24 hours (if one day does indeed equal 24 hours) should be enough time most of the time for me to check the order (cropping specifically) and then allow it to ship.

BeachBill

So last night, I just left the order sitting there to allow the automatic proof delay to start processing the order automatically on November 2nd at 09:09:09 PST

Well, I just looked at the order again to see if it has processed. Here is something really strange. I have not hit the ship it button because I want Smugmug to see this.

OrderID 198198

View the order and note that the processing start time is now the *current time*. Reload the page and note that the processing start time changes again to the current time. Looks like a bug to me?

Smugmug feel free to ship this order once you have seen and duplicated the issue. I'm all done with it and it's ready to ship...

dogwood

What I do is set the proof-delay to the full amount-- seven days. I understand your concern about people not ordering if they're told it will take a week and half-- but they are photos and hopefully they're something folks will want for a long, long time-- and hopefully won't be something they need quickly.

Anyway, once I get an order, I immediately e-mail the customer a personalized thank you note and explain that I'll do my best to send the photos to the lab that night so it should take about a week for them to get the order. That way they're happy it's faster than they originally thought, I still have a chance to re-tough and replace, and they've heard directly from me about what's going on.

Ironically, I have the opposite problem as you-- my customers often wait and wait and delay ordering (I only post print ordering for my event photos for 30-days after the event to try to encourage timely ordering) and then contact me several months later wondering if prints are still available. Those folks are in no rush to get their prints!

Andy

I have been trying to replicate, can't.
If you can/do replicate it, please advise, thanks!