deciding best product creation

[Snostar]

I am using joomla 2.5 and Virtuemart 2.0.  i am also using csvimpoved for importing products.

I am so new to this deciding which way to go with the products is difficult. 

We have products that can have up to 3 attributes size, color, quanity (each, dozen or case)

I have set up products up using custom fields for each of the attributes differentiating price differences on the quantities.  I like the look and ease of the drop downs for the options to the user, but do not like the fact that the price difference shows up in the drop down.

Most prodcust only have 1 or 2 of the attributes, very few have 3. Would it be better for me to create child products for each of the attribute combinations? I am not sure why to use child products except that a separate sku is used for each, where as the custom field creates an option not a sku.

I am trying to figure out in the long run (we would like to eventually have a few thousand products online)and really don't understand the possible repercussion if any of the choice I make now. I'd appreciate suggestions or opinions.

[balai]

If you don't need stock control you should definitely use cuctom fields.

If they will be radio buttons, select lists or whatever is another issue.
You will find custom field plugins or you can create your own to achieve the exact display result.

[Snostar]

I hadn't even thought about stock control, I had only gotten as far as importing products.
Eventually we want this connected to our inventory management system (Stone Edge) for ordering purposes and stock control, would that mean child fields would be better?

I thought that .......say the cart returned a value   sku:100  cust field size: small
I would then have to have a programmer take that info, create the sku :100-sm for the order in our system and reduce the stock in our system accordingly when the order was placed.  We definitely have no interest in the user knowing our stock levels. I hope my novice confusion is understandable.

Thanks!

[balai]

Yes if you need stock control for the product variants you should use child products.
The stockable variants custom field can help you on that