Shipping/backorders/available but not in stock

Available but not in stock means:

• We don't have the item on hand and ready to ship, but...
• We can still get the item from the supplier

Most suppliers deliver to our location in less than a week; in a pinch, we can pay extra for faster shipping and get it here sooner.

However, most suppliers also have an order minumum (typically $100-150), which means that we have a choice when we place an order from them:

• we can wait until we have enough customer orders for that particular supplier, or
• we can fill out the supplier's minimum order requirement by ordering things for stock and hoping that they sell quickly.

The latter option has proven to be a great way to use up large amounts of money very quickly and get it back very slowly, so we tend to avoid doing it – but we will sometimes do so rather than miss a customer's deadline, if it is feasible; it all depends on a variety of factors which change from day to day.

There is some related information on our shipping policy page.