fix(email): a demo purchase emails real customers to say an item sold, with no demo qualifier #206

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2026-08-28T11:54:11-05:00

bermudalamb commented

2026-08-28 11:54:11 -05:00

A demo purchase calls notifyFavoritersOfSale (backend/src/routes/cartCheckout.ts:251), which sends the favoriteSold template to everyone who favorited the item, through production's configured SMTP.

The copy (backend/src/emailTemplates.ts:72-82) reads: "An item you favorited has been sold to another customer, so it is no longer available… this one will not be restocked."

For a demo order that is a false statement mailed to real third parties. It is also the only outbound consequence of a demo purchase — everything else #195 and #203 addressed is on-screen, where the customer at least has the cart in front of them. These recipients never visited the cart and have no context at all; they just get told something they cared about is gone.

Production is in demo mode right now (#191), so this is live.

Notes for whoever picks it up

The item genuinely is marked sold in the database, so the email is not wrong about the inventory state — it is wrong about a sale having happened. Decide which of those the email is really reporting.
sendMail is fire-and-forget at backend/src/favoriteAlerts.ts:68, so the caller cannot currently suppress it. Suppressing demo sends means changing that signature or gating inside notifyFavoritersOfSale.
Options, roughly in order of preference: skip the notification entirely for processor === 'demo'; or send it with a demo qualifier; or leave it and accept that demo purchases have real-world reach, which seems hard to defend while the interim is live.

Found by

Code review of #195 (456e1aa), raised as Minor 4 — the reviewer noted it is the more serious of the two follow-ups in principle, because it reaches people who never visited the cart.

A demo purchase calls `notifyFavoritersOfSale` (`backend/src/routes/cartCheckout.ts:251`), which sends the `favoriteSold` template to everyone who favorited the item, through production's configured SMTP. The copy (`backend/src/emailTemplates.ts:72-82`) reads: *"An item you favorited has been sold to another customer, so it is no longer available… this one will not be restocked."* For a demo order that is a false statement mailed to real third parties. It is also the **only outbound consequence** of a demo purchase — everything else #195 and #203 addressed is on-screen, where the customer at least has the cart in front of them. These recipients never visited the cart and have no context at all; they just get told something they cared about is gone. Production is in demo mode right now (#191), so this is live. ## Notes for whoever picks it up - The item genuinely is marked `sold` in the database, so the email is not wrong about the inventory state — it is wrong about a sale having happened. Decide which of those the email is really reporting. - `sendMail` is fire-and-forget at `backend/src/favoriteAlerts.ts:68`, so the caller cannot currently suppress it. Suppressing demo sends means changing that signature or gating inside `notifyFavoritersOfSale`. - Options, roughly in order of preference: skip the notification entirely for `processor === 'demo'`; or send it with a demo qualifier; or leave it and accept that demo purchases have real-world reach, which seems hard to defend while the interim is live. ## Found by Code review of #195 (`456e1aa`), raised as Minor 4 — the reviewer noted it is the more serious of the two follow-ups in principle, because it reaches people who never visited the cart.

bermudalamb referenced this issue from a commit

2026-08-28 14:00:18 -05:00

fix(email): stop a demo purchase telling real customers an item sold (#206)

bermudalamb referenced a pull request that will close this issue

2026-08-28 14:01:45 -05:00

fix(email): stop a demo purchase telling real customers an item sold (#206) #211

bermudalamb closed this issue

2026-08-28 14:02:08 -05:00

bermudalamb referenced this issue from a commit

2026-08-28 14:02:09 -05:00

fix(email): stop a demo purchase telling real customers an item sold (#206)

bermudalamb referenced this issue from a commit