WDOnline Product Enquiries for WooCommerce

FAQ

Can customers receive a back-in-stock notification?

Enable Offer optional stock notification under General. Customers selecting Ask about delivery time can tick Email me once when the product is in stock, if their product or selected variation is currently out of stock or on backorder. The checkbox is unchecked by default. One email is sent after a published product becomes in stock and is no longer on backorder. Merely enabling backorders does not trigger a stock notification. Standard WooCommerce stock updates and saves are supported, including variants with stock inherited from their parent. Failed emails stay pending for the next eligible stock update/save. The Email tab has a rich stock notification template using the shared logo, signature and styling. Saved consent and mail status appear in the shop notification and Enquiries. Disabling the form option prevents new opt-ins; existing subscriptions are honoured.

When is an automatic price notification sent?

Enable Offer optional price notification under General. The customer can tick a separate unchecked box after choosing Request a price, only while the product or selected variant has no price. A published product saved through WooCommerce with its first price triggers one email; zero is a price. A selected variant is monitored separately. Later price changes do not send another message after the mail system accepts the notification. Failed messages remain pending for the next product save. Direct database edits do not trigger this workflow. The Email tab includes a formatted price notification message and subject using {product_name} and {product_url}; shared styling, signature and logo apply. Disabling the form option prevents new opt-ins; existing opt-ins are honoured.

The shop notification and Enquiries overview/detail display the saved image, price and stock opt-ins and their mail outcomes. Automatic notifications cover only the corresponding product update; other questions may still require a reply. Mail-system acceptance does not guarantee inbox delivery.

How do I add a signature, logo and personal sender name?

Under Email, set Default sender name, edit Shared email signature and use Upload or choose logo to upload a public brand image or select an existing media-library image. Choose the logo width and save. The signature supports {sender_name}; this is replaced by the name entered in Reply sender name on an individual response, or by the default name for automatic image, price and stock notifications. Clear the signature and click Remove logo if you want to omit either. Removing the selected logo does not delete the media attachment.

The footer is appended automatically; do not copy it into each reply. The editable reply body is stored separately from the full submitted HTML email, so retrying a failed response does not append a second signature. Failed responses retain their sender name. Email programs can block remotely loaded brand images until the recipient enables them. The mail history records the HTML submitted to WordPress, rather than a delivery receipt.

What shortcode can I use?

[wdonline_pe_button] on a product page, or [wdonline_pe_button product_id=”123″] elsewhere. Choose Shortcode only to avoid automatic placement.

Can the shop answer from the dashboard?

Yes. Open an enquiry, write the subject and format the reply in the WordPress editor, and click Send reply. Bold, italics, headings, lists, links, text colours and alignment are supported. Background, default text colour and font size for customer emails are configured under Email. The Image notification message field also uses the formatting editor. Only safe text formatting is retained: scripts, remote images and executable links are removed. Existing plain-text replies remain readable. Replies and automatic product notifications are HTML emails; shop notifications also use formatted HTML. The customer email is taken from the saved enquiry. Tick the optional close checkbox to close the enquiry after the mail system accepts the reply. The dashboard records outgoing replies; incoming replies sent by the customer to the shop email are not imported automatically.

Are customer images uploaded?

Yes, if the owner enables Allow a customer photo under General. One JPEG, PNG or WebP photo can accompany an enquiry. Uploads default to disabled. The default maximum is 2 MB, configurable from 1 to 5 MB; hosting PHP upload/post limits can impose a lower maximum. Files are checked for genuine upload origin, extension, actual MIME type, dimensions and size. SVG is not accepted.

Photo bytes are Base64-encoded in a separate private WordPress record, outside the media library and public uploads directory. An administrator can view a private preview, open the full image in a new tab and download the original from the enquiry detail page. Every image request requires the same capability and nonce checks. The customer photo is attached to the shop notification email using WordPress’s PHPMailer mailer, including notification retries. No public image URL is created. The attachment is not sent in replies to customers or automatic image, price and stock notifications. Mail plugins that replace WordPress’s mailer must support the phpmailer_init hook to include this attachment. Photos are included in privacy export as lossless Base64 data and are removed by enquiry deletion, retention and privacy erasure. Encoding adds approximately one third to database storage, so account for photos in database backups and retention settings.

What has not been implemented from the broader proposal?

Per-product visibility overrides, a missing-data-only display scope, a live styling preview, customizable notification templates for administrators, custom form labels and product-ID filters are not included yet. Searching the overview searches the product title and enquiry message.

What happens to data?

Enquiries, emails, messages, reply history, customer photos and internal notes are stored privately in WordPress. Only administrators with manage_options can view the plugin dashboard. The email address is sent to the shop’s configured recipient via WordPress mail; automatic image, price and stock emails are sent only after the customer opts in to the corresponding notification. No telemetry is sent by the plugin.

The remote address and email are keyed-hashed for the cooldown. An additional attempt limit restricts repeated verification/upload attempts from the same network address. Raw IP addresses are not stored by the plugin. Existing WordPress hosting/mail infrastructure may maintain its own logs.

The daily task deletes up to 100 expired enquiries per run. With retention set to 0, automatic enquiry deletion is disabled. Associated image, price and stock subscriptions are removed when their enquiry expires. Privacy tools export and erase matching enquiries, outgoing replies and subscriptions. Deactivation or uninstall retains plugin settings and data; the daily task is removed. Delete unwanted records or use privacy erasure before uninstalling.

What if an image notification fails?

The address stays subscribed for a subsequent image change. The plugin does not retry image emails automatically. Shop enquiry notifications can be retried from the enquiry detail page.

Is the image notification about stock or delivery?

No. Only featured-image attachment changes trigger it. Replacing bytes in the same attachment does not trigger a notification. An image removal does not send an email.