Do Your Vendors Charge You For This?

[ItsAllBallBearings]

Say one of your vendors back orders a product without telling you and they ship the order to you incomplete. When they ship the remainder of the back order, do they charge you for shipping on that 2nd delivery?

[Leosghost]

by vendors do you mean your suppliers? or your resellers?..

if you mean the former it is incumbent upon you to check that they have the stock before you order if you are reselling to an end customer whose order you have accepted ..

or you have to keep cushion stock ( inventory ) and or explain to your end customer that delivery is subject to the item being in stock ..

if the former ..your business model should already be structured so that you can absorb shipping charges for items that are out of stock at your supplier at the time of you placing an order ..

or you should keep inventory ..

we ship some stuff JIT ..
some we order when we receive or order from customer ( the customer knows this )..
some stuff we have limited inventory on hand ( and if the item is not on our shelves we immediately tell customer ) ..and ask if they wish refund or are prepared to wait ..
some stuff we actually have to make ..and customer accepts this ( or not ) when placing order ..

if you order and your supplier does not tell you that certain items are not in stock and then they ship only a partial order and send the rest with separate shipping that should normally not change the total shipping invoice except in regard to any customs duties etc on imported items ..if that is your case then it depends if they think they can jerk you around without you going elsewhere ..it pays to have more than one supplier ..and to let each one know that you have the others ..and tell each ..who some of the others are ..it may happen that for big orders you may need for them to work together ..

honesty is best ..and in the long run makes for greater profits for all concerned

[edited by: Leosghost at 11:25 pm (utc) on Dec. 9, 2006]

[ItsAllBallBearings]

i mean suppliers (we buy from them to resell).

And what if they ship with a MFG lead time? say they ship orders in 4-6 weeks. Since they make the product, they should have it "in stock" and therefore, it shouldnt be our responsibility to "check stock"...right?

Also, the product is licensed/patented/something like that to this company and therefore, they are the only supplier and know it.

[edited by: ItsAllBallBearings at 11:27 pm (utc) on Dec. 9, 2006]

[sandyeggo]

somebody has to pay the shipping

if your vendors are not clear on your policy, on your PO make sure you tell them that all orders must ship complete - no backorders

[julesn]

and ask if they wish refund or are prepared to wait

Refund for what? You should never have charged the customer until you were confident you have the goods available to ship.

[julesn]

When they ship the remainder of the back order, do they charge you for shipping on that 2nd delivery?

Depends on the supplier. Some won't ever charge for delivery, some won't charge as long as the order value is over a certain amount, some will charge for all orders in all cases but not on seperate backorders, some will charge on all despatches incuding backorders.

Don't assume anything, ask your suppliers their policy, and negotiate with them if you're a regular customer.

[Leosghost]

julesn ..in our case sometimes two people will order the same custom item ( item is in stock but only have one peice in custom hand finish ) within 24 hours ..we usually ship a small freebie with the delayed order if the customer accepts the delay ..or refund if they dont ( we cant tell that an order has been placed until the end of each working day on that particular site due to cross continental cc billing and our bank ..USA to Europe..

happens about 3 times per year ..no one has ever asked for refund ..they always wait the little extra ..the items are worth it and they cant get them anywhere else ..and we dont promise immediate availabilty or despatch anywhere ..

[julesn]

But why do you charge a customer if you don't know whether you can ship the goods?

The correct thing to do is to authorise the card initially, but only capture the funds when you have checked stock.

[Leosghost]

lets try to see one more time if you can understand this ..
the customer orders via a CC processor who tells what they ordered from us 24 hours after the order is placed..

our stuff is hand made ..each peice unique with the customers able to supply part of what will be in the final design ..we dont make more than one of each design ( and all designs are slightly different due to the handmade nature ) ..and if we just sent out an item ..we dont have second one on the shelf ready to go ..you want that you go to walmart ..and you get mass produced junk for your instant gratification ..

but we produce unique , quality items ..

so if two people order ..it's first come first served ..get it? ..

if not ..I'm glad we never got an order from you ..and should you ever order from us ..be sure to have read our T and C before telling us how to run our business ..

BTW ..

But why do you charge a customer if you don't know whether you can ship the goods?

it's not

wether

it's when

and we dont charge them ..our CC handler does ..

edited for clarity

BTW this is just one of our businesses ..the others have totally different models and products and or services .."eggs and baskets" ..

[edited by: Leosghost at 4:16 pm (utc) on Dec. 10, 2006]