Many of our items are “in stock” - especially infant and Christening items and also Clearance items. Quantity is limited on stock items, of course. In fact with Clearance items, it’s almost always “1″.
We know that you are entrusting us with your most special occasions in life and take that very seriously. So, we work faithfully to keep the inventory/availability information up to date by updating the shopping cart daily Mon-Fri (and often on Saturdays, too).
What we don’t do is “pre-sell” a shipment. What is that?
Well, have you ever ordered something - say, from a catalog - and were given a date 5 or 6 weeks from now for when it will be available to ship? That’s pretty common.
And then 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 weeks from now you get a card in the mail saying “availability date has changed” and it gives you another date several weeks out?
That approximate date was nothing more than a best guestimation. They want to get your order. They’re pre-selling the next shipment to arrive.
If anything goes wrong, it’s late and you get a card in the mail.
Truth is, they may actually be hanging out to see if there are enough orders to justify having that shipment actually made by the supplier. In other words - testing whether sales justify placing the order to have it made. Meanwhile, you’ve made plans and think it’s all taken care of, but maybe it’s not.
So the cards come unilaterally changing the delivery. Take it or leave it. Eventually, you might get one that says it isn’t going to be available and your order has been cancelled. Why? Either they pre-sold the entire shipment and not enough people cancelled to fill your order — or — not enough orders came for that item to justify placing a wholesale (read: bulk / large volume) order. So they cancel on you.
We don’t do that. If it’s expected to be available now, we take the order. If it’s not, we don’t. If we get more orders than we have stock items (shopping cart is updated daily, but this can happen over night and does some times) - we notify you right away and ask if you would rather select another item or cancel.
We don’t string you along.
We frequently get inquiries “when will this (not available now) size be available?” That’s asking you to give them one of those guestimation dates in the scenario above.
But we value our customers’ special occasion trust far too much to make up something to get that order. We feel it is better to be bluntly honest and let you know it’s not available now - we cannot pre-determine when/if it will be again - and encourage you to select something that IS available rather than hanging on to the hope that it might become available in time for your occasion.
We don’t pre-sell hoping to get that item in again.
In fact, most stock items won’t be available again. They’re made for a “season” and then are gone. There are some exceptions, of course - especially with the styles that are made exclusively for us.
Example: Style #WB-06181 - This is one of the gowns that we keep restocking. Size 6M is sold out right now. When can we expect more to arrive? Approximately - some time around - mid-December. Can we promise you they will get it by then? No. Will we take an order in hopes to fill it by then? No. It’s currently available in sizes 3M & 9M - and many other styles ARE available in size 6M. Our website will be updated as soon as size 6M is available again. We cannot predict with any accuracy when they will arrive.
Why? For one, the amount of hand work that goes into many of these gowns is extensive. So, production can - and does - vary. That’s just the way it works.
We’re watching out for you rather than trying to build our bottom line and risk dashing your hopes.
