Make an Offer for OpenCart

Overview

Let shoppers propose their own price. A Make an offer button below Add to Cart opens a short dialog for the selected options and quantity. You accept the offer, decline it or answer with a counter-offer. Once an offer is accepted, the shopper adds the item to the cart with one click and checks out as usual: the agreed price is applied as an Accepted offer line in the order totals, for that shopper, that product, those options and that quantity, once and until a deadline.

• Make an offer dialog on the product page: accessible (keyboard, screen readers), full-screen on phones, for guests and signed-in customers
• Offers inbox under Sales > Offers: status tabs, statistics (acceptance rate, average discount, ordered offers, revenue at offer prices), filters, CSV export
• Accept, counter or decline with a message; the customer accepts or declines your counter-offer or makes a new, higher offer, up to the number of rounds you allow
• Automatic answers (never shown to shoppers): a hidden minimum price per product, auto-accept and auto-decline percentages per category or store-wide
• Rules per product and per category (with subcategories): offers on, off or inherited
• Single use, enforced on the server: signed link, owner check, exact options, up to the offered quantity, deadline; a second order with the same offer goes to the fraud status like a used coupon; a canceled order gives the offer back until its deadline
• E-mails for every step: received, accepted (with the add-to-cart link), counter-offer, declined, expired, messages; new offers and customer answers for your staff
• Anti-abuse: one open offer per product and options, open offers per customer, offers per product in 30 days, guest offers per connection per hour, a hidden spam trap
• GDPR-friendly: consent checkbox with your privacy page for guests, no raw IP addresses stored, automatic erasure of personal data of closed offers after a retention period, one-click erasure per e-mail address
• No core file changes and no OCMOD: OpenCart events plus a standard order total
• OpenCart 4.0.2.0 – 4.1.x and 3.0.3.x – 3.0.5.x, one license for both

Installation

Requirements

OpenCart 4

1. Extensions > Installer: upload kv_make_an_offer.ocmod.zip, then click Install next to it.
2. Extensions > Extensions, type Modules: find Make an Offer and click Install (green +).
3. Click Edit, set Status to Enabled, enter your license key on the License tab and click Save.

Installing the module also installs the order total Accepted offers (Make an Offer) (sort order 3, before taxes) and an hourly job in System > Maintenance > Cron Jobs that closes expired offers. Make sure OpenCart's cron runs (php cron.php from your server's crontab); without it, offers still expire when you or the customer open them.

OpenCart 3

1. Extensions > Installer: upload kv_make_an_offer-oc3.ocmod.zip.
2. Extensions > Modifications: click Refresh (the package contains no file patches; this only lists it).
3. Extensions > Extensions, type Modules: install Make an Offer, then Edit, enable it and save.

OpenCart 3 has no cron table: expired offers are closed whenever an administrator opens the admin panel, and whenever an offer page is opened.

After installing

• Sales > Offers appears in the admin menu (with the number of offers waiting for an answer).
• The Make an offer button shows on product pages with a price.
• Extensions > Extensions > Order Totals lists Accepted offers (Make an Offer); keep it enabled, it applies the agreed prices.
• Signed-in customers find My offers on their account page.

Upgrading

OpenCart 4: Extensions > Installer, uninstall and delete the old package, upload and install the new one. OpenCart 3: upload the new package over the old one and refresh the modifications. Your settings, rules and offers stay as long as you do not uninstall the module.

Uninstalling

Extensions > Extensions > Modules > Make an Offer > Uninstall removes the events, settings, the order total, the cron job and the offer tables (offers, history, rules). Export the offers first (Sales > Offers > Export CSV) if you want to keep them. Orders already placed keep their Accepted offer total line.

Configuration

Extensions > Extensions > Modules > Make an Offer > Edit. Amounts in rules are unit prices excluding tax in the default currency, like the product price field.

General

Automatic answers & deadlines

The current price is the unit price the shopper would pay for the selected options and quantity: special price, quantity discount and option prices included. Shoppers never see your automatic thresholds.

Limits & privacy

Rules per product and category

Catalog > Products > Edit > Make an offer and Catalog > Categories > Edit > Make an offer:

Each field is resolved on its own: product → the nearest category of the product (its own categories first, then their parents) → settings. The product tab tells you whether customers can make offers for the product.

Order total

Extensions > Extensions > Order Totals > Accepted offers (Make an Offer) is installed with the module (sort order 3, before taxes). It turns the agreed price into a negative total line Accepted offer #12 (Product) and lowers percentage taxes on it, like a coupon. Keep its sort order below the tax totals.

E-mails

Mails use your store's mail settings and your store name. Customer mails: offer received, accepted (with Add to cart at offer price), counter-offer, declined, expired, messages from you. Staff mails: new offer (with the automatic decision), customer accepted or declined your counter-offer, new offer after a counter-offer, offer withdrawn. Every text is in the language files and can be changed in Design > Language Editor (keys kv_mao_mail_*). The offer history shows e-mail sent for every mail that went out.

License

Enter the license key from your purchase e-mail on the License tab and click Save; Check now verifies it at once. Without a key the extension runs for a 14-day trial.

What happens without a valid license: the Make an offer button is hidden and no new offers or counter-offers can be made; accepted offers can still be bought at the agreed price until they expire, you can still decline offers and send messages, and all offers stay viewable and exportable. The admin is never blocked.

Usage

The shopper

1. On the product page the shopper selects the options and the quantity and clicks Make an offer below Add to Cart.
2. The dialog shows the product, the options and the current price. The shopper enters a price per item (with tax when your store shows prices with tax) and an optional message. Guests also enter their name and e-mail and accept the data processing (with a link to your privacy page). Changing the quantity updates the current price.
3. Send offer. The dialog confirms the offer and the date by which you answer. If an automatic rule applies, the shopper sees Your offer was accepted! with Add to cart at offer price, or a polite We cannot accept this offer.
4. Opening the dialog again for the same product and options shows the open offer instead of a new form.

The offer page (link in every e-mail, and My offers on the account page for signed-in customers) shows the prices, the deadline, the history and the next step:

• Waiting for answer: Withdraw offer.
• Counter-offer: Accept, Decline, or Send new offer (higher than the last offer, lower than your counter-offer) while rounds are left.
• Accepted: Add to cart at offer price until the deadline.

E-mail links are signed: they open the offer without an account. Please ask customers not to forward them.

The cart and the order

Add to cart at offer price puts the product with the offered options and quantity into the cart. The line shows Accepted offer: $194.00 each for 1 item(s) and the totals show Accepted offer #12 (Product) with the difference to the current price:

• the agreed price applies to the offered product, options and up to the offered quantity; more items are sold at the normal price;
• only the shopper who made the offer (account, or the browser that opened the signed link) gets it;
• after the deadline the line is sold at the normal price;
• the offer is used once: when the order reaches a processing or complete status it is marked Ordered; a second order with the same offer is set to your fraud status (System > Settings > Option > Fraud Order Status), like a used coupon;
• if the order is canceled (leaves the processing and complete statuses), the offer can be bought again until its deadline.

Answering offers

Sales > Offers lists the offers with the tabs Open, every status and All, statistics for the filtered period (offers, waiting, acceptance rate, average discount, ordered offers, revenue at offer prices), a search (product, model, customer, e-mail or offer number) and dates. Export CSV downloads the filtered list.

Open an offer to answer it. The page shows the product and options, quantity, current price, the offer with the discount, the history (with e-mail sent marks), other offers of the customer and the automatic rules that apply to the product.

• Accept: the customer can buy at the offered price within Hours to buy at the accepted price.
• Send counter-offer: a unit price between the customer's offer and the current price (a value halfway is suggested), with an optional message.
• Decline, or Send message only.

Privacy (GDPR)

• Guests confirm a consent text; the time of consent is stored with the offer.
• IP addresses are stored only as a keyed hash for the guest limit.
• Erase the personal data of a customer (bottom of Sales > Offers) erases name, e-mail, messages and the IP hash of every offer of an e-mail address and closes its open offers.
• The retention setting erases the personal data of closed offers automatically.

FAQ

Does it change OpenCart core files or use OCMOD?

No. It uses OpenCart events and a standard order total. Your theme does not need changes: a small script places the button below the core Add to Cart button (#button-cart).

Why is the agreed price a total line and not the product price in the cart?

OpenCart has no event inside the cart library. A total line works on every OpenCart 4 and 3 store, together with coupons, vouchers and other extensions (also extensions that replace the cart, such as our Sell by Weight & Length), and payment gateways receive the correct order total. Taxes are calculated on the agreed price.

Can a shopper reuse an accepted offer or share it?

No. The agreed price applies once, to the shopper who made the offer (or the browser that opened the signed e-mail link), for the offered product, options and quantity, until the deadline. A second order with the same offer is set to your fraud status, like a used coupon.

What if the product price changes after the offer was accepted?

The customer pays the agreed price. If the product becomes cheaper than the agreed price, the customer pays the lower normal price.

Do coupons and specials work together with an offer?

The offer discount is calculated against the current cart price, which already includes specials and quantity discounts. Coupons apply on top like on any other order; restrict your coupons to other products if you do not want that.

Are prices with or without tax?

Shoppers type the price they see (with tax when your store shows prices with tax, in their currency). In the admin all amounts are excluding tax in the default currency, like the product price field.

Which products show the button?

Products with a price where offers are on (settings, category or product rule). It is hidden when the store hides prices from guests and the visitor is not signed in.

Can customers make offers for products with options?

Yes. The offer stores the selected options; the agreed price only applies to that option combination. File upload options are not part of an offer.

What happens when I uninstall?

Events, settings, the order total, the cron job and the offer tables are removed. Placed orders keep their total lines. Export the offers first if you need them.

What do I need for e-mails?

OpenCart's mail settings (System > Settings > Mail). If no mail engine is configured, offers still work; the history then shows no e-mail sent marks.

Which license do I need?

One license covers OpenCart 4 and 3 for one store, with 12 months of updates and support. The admin is never blocked; without a valid license the storefront button is hidden.