SC Product Options

First of all, many people believe Bold have the monopoly on this type of App. Not true. I checked them ALL, and there is *one* other that is comparable. We went with Bold because we had less problems getting it to work to begin with. It is difficult, cumbersome and fiddly to get everything set up and working correctly if you choose the Auto option, but if you know your way around Liquid you'll get there.

Support genuinely seem to want to help, they're just not very good at it. I get the impression there are support personnel Tiers and when you get moved up a tier you have to re-explain the whole situation to them, despite a recorded history of text and submitted video files. One bug on their end that caused their backend to hang forever in certain circumstances took about a month to fix.

Swatches are nice, but very bare boned functionality. The boxes even at 'Large' setting are very small (about 50x50px) and there is no hover-over functionality allowing a better look at the image. When I suggested this basic user experience feature (which if I had access to the Liquid code I could have fixed in a single line) they said they'd pass it on, but ultimately it was a custom feature request we'd have to pay for. I eventually got a solution running in three lines of CSS.

While parts of the code are stored in your theme files, you can't improve them because they are overwritten by Bold sometimes multiple times a day, so you are at their mercy for basic functionality adjustments. You are given an outlet for custom CSS and that is all.

The most constantly noticeable issue is that the back end is hosted on Bold servers and is extremely cumbersome to load, and to navigate. You can have an Option Set, which contains a list of Options, and those Options can have a list of products (in the case of automatic price adjustments). You can't alter a product through Shopify normally because all the data for the Option Sets are stored on Bold servers and they don't know the change occurred. You are required to alter products through the interface provided by Bold.

Every time you make any change through the Bold interface, everything connected to that change needs to be updated. If you change a product in an Option, every Option Set that is linked to that Option needs to be updated. If you change a product in an Option and that product is also in other Options, you need to manually go into those Options and save them so the changes will be recognised.

Every change you make requires a long waiting period where the system goes up the tree and readjusts everything internally - the more Options in the Option Set, the more Option Sets the Options are used in and the more products within an Option, the longer the wait. We're talking a minimum of 5 seconds for the most simplistic of Sets, and a minute or two for complicated branches.

Finally, changes made (especially when actually applying these Option Sets to the store front products) take often up to 10 minutes to actually be reflected on the web site - and some times they just don't take at all. Some times you just have to go back in and save the Sets again hoping this time it will work.

Overall, the App works mostly well as far as front end code goes (although a lot of modifications were required to get everything working as expected on our non-Shopify bought theme, a task I expect most people aren't up to). Almost all of the issues come from a complicated and cumbersome imperfect back end, and Bolds reluctance to improve their product as noted by other reviews - which is inexcusable for a subscription product. But when it's working, it shows the potential to be something of great use.

I definitely don't use the app to it's fullest, but I love the ability to create seemingly endless product customizations. HOWEVER, the three star review is for their terrible customer service regarding a simple fix. I have since submitted negative feedback and was told (I kid you not...) to change it by the rep because it reflects on their performance. It was a simple fix that I resolved myself ("change the cart to Page instead of Drawer"... all I had to do). However, I was first told about "priced options" which wasn't my issue ... then the "buy it now" button on the product page, which related but didn't fix my immediate problem. I was also told that I needed to install their application after the rep took and sent me a screenshot of my store WITH THEIR APP INSTALLED?! Like... yes your app is installed, I don't need to give you admin access to install it. If you're looking to download this app for the upload feature... DON'T!!!!! Find another app. The upload feature doesn't seem to work with certain file types (or file size?? I don't really know) and never shows the image to the customer in their shopping cart. For a shop that has a ton of customizable products that requires photo uploads, this wasn't the best for me to choose. I've since downloaded a separate upload app but will continue to use Bold for it's customization features. I also doubt I will ever upgrade since certain features can be found in different Shopify themes, like swatches.

I love this app but there is a major problem and the reason I left a 3-star review instead of a 5-star review. When ever I add options to a product I have to go through this lengthy trial and error process to get it to show on the page. It includes changing the last 2 digits of the cache params as instructed by Bold (window.BOLD.common.cacheParams.options) and having to add and remove the product from the bold options page in the app. I have to do this 10-20 times before the options show on the live site. SOOOOO SICK OF IT. I love the app, it is unfortunate this problem has not been resolved.

Good luck trying to get help from customer support when you need it or how about when your store starts slowing down because their app is lazy loading or when you are running a sale and your store is flooded but the app doesn't keep up. After 2 years of heavy monthly subscription fees and mediocre customer support, I decided to uninstall the App and try something else and boy did I NOT regret it. A $5 dollars App solved my 2 years of worry and the app name is G:Variants & Product Options

The app itself is a great add-on to Shopify. My only two issues are 1. There are a lot of steps and screen hopping to setup product options. 2. It sometimes takes FOREVER to display on product. That's a pain when you are doing webwork and would like to see it. This morning it took over 15 minutes to display. I'd love to give 5 stars, just can't.

The Earphone Guy
http://www.earphoneguy.com

I'm not in love with this app BUT when it works, it works. I've contacted support several times - Tamer is helpful and aside from some limitations on their end, he was able to make some requested changes. I would not suggest their chat feature as the customer support rep I spoke with there was very rude and unable to provide any assistance at all.
The app is very time consuming when updating or creating many options for products. They have a time out feature of one hour - so if you are working on something longer than that (which I do often), you will lose any work when it times out. That is very frustrating and something that really needs to be addressed, as in completely removed!
The app doesn't appear to work on older version of IE. I've had several customers contact me that they were unable to view the form which means they are unable to order a product.
I'd like to see a way to copy product conditions and set options. This would be helpful as many times I am using several of the same options with one or two changes. Instead of having to recreate the ENTIRE set, being able to copy it would help with the one hour time limit.
It would also be very helpful to be able to assign the options directly from the Shopify products page instead of spending so much time in the app with a time limit on your work.

It does most things it promises but not all. I could not customize pricing especially if linking to inventory. The initial customer support was okay but I had to contact them thru chat after having a ticket opened. And when they had to refer me to a higher tier for help, I didn't hear from anyone until 8 days later. But by then I ended up having to remove pricing and using quickbooks for inventory tracking.

It's limited and you have to rebuild links to options for separate products even if the have the same basic options.

Great option app and does most things that you would need I have the Premium versions so customers can edit product details within there cart and this works well.

I'm using the Grid Union Pixel theme and it seems to integrate well however I did need support getting it to work.

The support staff are VERY good and really make an effort to sort out any issues. Talking to them via online chat is very quick and easy.

Only 3 stars Because...

Applying options is a pain in the backside they take a long time to appear so you need a lot of patience. Bold says its a Shopify issue and can do nothing about it.

If you need an options app and can afford the price then its worth giving it a go just be prepared to view a million ads and wait for the option to appear!

5 Star to MC - Support Team
She sorted out a lot of issues that I had with the Union Pixel Grid Theme and nothing ever seemed to much trouble her support was the best I have ever come across.

I like the idea and it seems to work ok. The biggest issue I have is that it has a conflict with ajax so you have to turn off your added to cart notification and have it go straight to cart. Unfortunately, this is a known conversion killer. I'm not sure at this point if it's worth doing that. Our sales have dropped since adding this app. Still looking for a work around.

Generally as advertised and the support was quite good. Certainly a useful app for many reasons...but unfortunately we can't give this a great review overall.

-The app costs money to install, which isn't the case with several of the alternatives.
-The app was more tedious and cumbersome to use than the app we ended up going with.
-More expensive per month than the app we ended up using, particularly if you need the "premium" features.
-Not as versatile at modifying prices as the app we ended up using.
-Charges extra for features that are included as standard with some other apps.
-Bold repeatedly asks people to write 5-star reviews, which gets a bit annoying.

We fiddled around with this app for a while and ultimately ended up going with Unlimited Product Options by OnlyGrowth.