How do I use the shared cart?

1. Opening the shared cart

Open the shopping cart. At the top you will find the tabs for the personal cart and for shared cart. Under shared carts all shared carts you are assigned to are listed. If you have been assigned the buyer role in a shared cart, it is marked accordingly.

If you do not see a tab for shared carts, you have not yet been assigned to one. In that case, contact your administrator.

2. Adding articles to the shared cart

Articles always reach the shared cart via your personal cart.

1. Search for the article as usual and add it to your personal cart.
2. For the article, click Move to shared cart. If you want to move several articles at once, select them using the multiple selection and use the action in the footer bar.
3. In the Cart field, select the shared cart you want. For each entry you can see how many articles and how many members it has.
4. Optionally add a comment on the article, for example the intended use or a machine number.
5. Click Move articles.

A confirmation reports which shared cart the article was moved to. Use the button in the message to jump straight there.

Good to know

• When you move articles, a note points out that your individual budget is used for the selected articles at checkout.
• Articles from a request for quotation (RFQ) cannot be moved into a shared cart. In a multiple selection these articles are listed separately as “Cannot be moved”; the remaining articles are moved anyway.

3. Editing articles in the shared cart

For every line item you can see who added it and when. You can also see the comment that the contributor added. Use Add comment or Edit comment to update the comment.

What you may edit depends on your role in this shared cart:

• As a buyer you edit all line items. You change quantities, set account assignments, delete articles and maintain the details at cart level such as requested delivery date, your own order number and order remark.
• As a contributor you edit only the line items you added yourself. Where functions are blocked, a note explains the reason as soon as you hover over them with the mouse.

4. Moving or withdrawing articles

The Move articles action gives you two options:

• To another shared cart – move them there. You can only move articles you added yourself. The current cart is marked in the selection with the addition “(Current)”.
• Back to the personal cart – move the articles back. As a contributor you can only withdraw your own articles. As a buyer you can move back the articles of any contributor. The article then lands in the personal cart of the person who added it, not in your own.

Please note: Comments are not retained in the personal cart. When an article is moved back, the comment on the line item is lost.

5. Checking budgets

Use the Budget limit button to open the overview of the budgets assigned to the members of this shared cart. There you can see:

• Account assignment based budgets with name, period, amount used and amount remaining
• Individual budgets of the members, grouped by person. Your own budgets are marked with “By me”.

Exceeded budgets are shown separately, together with the articles that exceed the respective budget. If you do not have viewing permission for a budget, a note appears instead of the amount.

6. Placing the order

Only a buyer can start the checkout.

1. Check the entire content of the shared cart.
2. Complete the details at cart level, that is account assignment, requested delivery date, your own order number and order remark.
3. Check the notes in the header area. Errors and warnings are shown there. As long as a blocking error exists, the order button is not active.
4. Click Continue and select the delivery address.
5. Place the order.

After a successful checkout the shared cart is empty again and the next shared round can begin. In the administration the time is logged as Last checkout.

If you are a contributor, the order button is greyed out. The note explains that checkout is not available for this cart because you are currently assigned the contributor role.

7. Frequently asked questions

The shared cart is empty although I added something to it.
Check whether an orderer has already placed the order. After checkout the shared cart is emptied.

I can no longer find my article in the shared cart.
A buyer can move articles back to your personal cart. Have a look there.

I cannot change the quantity of an article.
As a contributor you only change the quantity of your own line items. For line items of others, contact the buyer.

Summary

Articles move from the personal cart via Move to shared cart into the appropriate shared cart, optionally with a comment. Every line item remains visibly assigned to the person who added it. Contributors maintain only their own line items, the buyer maintains all of them and places the order. After checkout the shared cart is empty again.