TEquipment has jerked my chain with "in stock" for the last time.

[Rat_Patrol]

2 orders in a row, I order stuff that is "in stock". I check out, everything is great.

Then I get an email the next day with 'oh yeah, we actually are really backordered on that stuff. Maybe we can ship in March.'

I had a nice long chat with the CS guy that called me, and as politely as I could, I informed him to cancel my order, refund my card, and that I will take my business elsewhere.

It isn't that stuff was OOS, it was that the stuff was advertised and SOLD as in stock, when they clearly didn't have anything to sell me. They lied to me.

I believe his talking point was a "website glitch." No, there was no glitch. Software does exactly what it is told to do. There are only 2 options: They are either intentionally not keeping the inventory tracking up-to-date to get more sales they know they can't fill right away or they are grossly incompetent. No other possibility. Either way, I'll be ordering from another vendor.

[phil from seattle]

I don't see a benefit to telling people a given item is in stock when it isn't - I doubt the powers that be at the various distis see one either.  And, given the massive complexity of their business, I find it hard to believe they are incompetent.

I think there is a 3rd possibility.  They have a complex supply chain and disruptions upstream have caused them problems.  Since people are reporting similar issues with other distis, I suspect it is more that their supply chain software was not robust enough. Incompetence?  Overly strong characterization. Glitch?  Way underplaying the issue, I think.

[bdunham7]

Stuff I order from TEquipment seems to come from all over, some of it obviously drop shipped.  They've always managed to get the stuff here and almost always on time.  I suspect that they include as  'in stock' stuff that they believe is in someone else's stock that they have access to.  With the amount of supply chain disruption in almost every sector that is going on now, it doesn't surprise me that their business model is struggling.  Were you able to eventually get what you wanted?  Sometimes when one supplier runs out, they're all out because they were all selling the same stock in the first place.

[mairo]

I also had same experience with them few months ago - items advertised as 'in stock', but later got told that they are not. Was able to cancel the not in stock parts and buy them elsewhere as I needed them asap. Overall, I have no problem dealing with them, but agree that they need to fix this 'issue' on theirs side.

[james_s]

It's always annoying when stuff like this happens but I wouldn't be too hard on them, it's harder than you may think to track stock when dealing with stuff that they may not have a huge number of or as someone else mentioned stuff that may be normally stocked by one of their suppliers. While it's true that software always does what it's told, there is a human component too and as the saying goes "garbage in, garbage out", if somebody makes a mistake with the data going into the computer the result will be incorrect. It's also true that Covid has created a big mess with supply chains all over.

[Rat_Patrol]

If they want to run the model where items are drop shipped or shipped-as-needed, then they need to include that as a note. Such as "In stock from distributor" or something. Even then, I should not have to ASSUME they are lying about their stock status.

I ordered "In Stock" items and paid for air shipment because I needed the stuff. This isn't 1995, they can have this figured out if they want to.

When I tell a customer I have a product "In Stock", that means I'm looking at it and can ship it right out.

[bdunham7]

If they want to run the model where items are drop shipped or shipped-as-needed, then they need to include that as a note. Such as "In stock from distributor" or something. Even then, I should not have to ASSUME they are lying about their stock status.

I ordered "In Stock" items and paid for air shipment because I needed the stuff. This isn't 1995, they can have this figured out if they want to.

When I tell a customer I have a product "In Stock", that means I'm looking at it and can ship it right out.

As they say, you don't know who is swimming naked until the tide goes out.  I'm not disagreeing with your interpretation of 'in stock', but the model of selling other parties' inventory has become widespread.  I wouldn't rely on TEquipment for reliable next-day service, but they are a convenient all-in-one-place to shop.  Otherwise you end up going to 5 different vendors and hoping all 5 perform.  When the supply chain starts having an many holes as it does these days, there are going to be issues.

[james_s]

I buy from Tequipment on the rare occasion I buy new gear because they usually have the best prices and they seem to stand behind what they sell, I can forgive them for not having the absolute fastest service or for occasional snags like this, it's a fair compromise for my needs. If what they offer doesn't meet your needs then I suggest buying from a different supplier, there are many options, each having their own advantages and disadvantages.

[tequipment]

Hello.  Our website does not advertise items as in stock that we dont have.  Can you shoot me a DM with the item you were looking at so I can see what happened?
Thank you

Evan Cirelli
Vice President and Co-Founder

"Buy from people, not just the Internet"™

[Stray Electron]

   This should be interesting.  I wonder if either party will actually bother to post the results of of TE's inquiry?

  I understand today's "supply disruptions" but that doesn't seem to be the issue here which is that TE is reportedly selling items that aren't in their possession and that they THINK that is in the possession of one their suppliers but it appears that often it wasn't.  If TE is going to use that business model then they should make absolutely certain that the item is in the possession of their supplier and that the supplier can and will ship it in a timely fashion before they sell it to someone else.

    IMO there are altogether too many "sellers" that are selling items that they don't own and that aren't in their actual possession and that wait until they get an order for an item and are then calling all over trying to get the requested item and at a price that they can make a tidy profit on.   

   I used to work for a TE supplier and we were constantly getting calls from "flippers" of that sort. All of them expected us to stock the item, test it and warranty it, pack it and then drop ship it immediately to their customer and, BTW, give the flipper a hefty discount on the price of the item. There is an entire industry in all levels of electronics that operates like this.

[Rat_Patrol]

So after a VERY long talk with a CS rep, who agreed with me 100%, this is the issue:

I JUST NOW took this screenshot from TEquipment's website. I know for a FACT that this part won't ship until April, at minimum. How do I know? This is one of the items I attempted to order.

Nowhere does it say 3rd party shipping, manufacturer shipped/stocked, anything about NOT IN STOCK for TEquipment to ship. There is LIVE INVENTORY mind you, supposedly, on their website.

When I shop at a website with live inventory, I expect an OOS or BACKORDERED or MANUFACTURER SHIPPED or something telling me that there is a chance that the order won't ship as I expect it will ship (as in right after I order it). There was no warning on checkout pages, nothing. Just take my money for the order, air shipment, that you are GTG. Then a day later, I get an email saying 'oh yeah, those items are backordered, we don't know for how long, we don't actually stock this stuff or keep in touch with the manufacturer about inventory, but thanks for the order. Hope you didn't need your shit right away that you paid air shipment for.'    Geeee, thanks.

One of the items I had tried to order showed "1 left" and it wasn't apparently there. Inventory management issues, I can get it.

However...

For this issue of displaying NOTHING to the customer to have ANY idea that these items are or possibly are NOT available is just not acceptable this century, much less in 2021 when we are putting robots on other planets regularly. I'm not ordering out of a Sears catalogue (Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery) from 1985.

If you are going to drop ship it from a vendor/manufacturer, and for whatever reason you can't/don't have live inventory tied in with them, a very simple note that the item is "shipped from manufacturer" is extremely easy to put on the product page.

[NorthGuy]

I JUST NOW took this screenshot from TEquipment's website.

In all honesty, I couldn't see where it says the item is in stock. Many sellers do not show inventory or lead times on their Web sites. You can always ask, or you can cancel the order if the lead time is too long. Most vendors won't even charge your card until it ships.

[JohnnyMalaria]

If you click on Product Details, it takes you to a page that shows the stock. In this case, it's blank so I would assume it means not in stock.

Items they do have in stock appear to show how many are in stock on the initial page.

I would therefore assume for this particular site, that no indication of stock level means it's not stocked. That's a particularly dumb way to do it but I suppose it's all part of the sales funnel.

[Rat_Patrol]

Yup. As I found out, blank means OOS or ships-from-vendor.

NO mention of either on the product info page. I guess you just have to be 'in the know' on that little factoid. 

Not the most open way of saying an item is OOS, but if it gets in the sales, better to deal with pissed off customers who felt kept in the dark than being up front? Not the way I run my biz, but their business, their rules.

[james_s]

It really doesn't seem like that big of a deal. It's not fantastic, but it's possible that it isn't something they're aware of. I know I've had people point out bugs in my stuff that I'd just been putting up with for so long that I didn't notice it anymore. You could try pointing this out and request that they make it more clear when something is in stock or not, or you could call or email them prior to ordering if it's a situation where you're in a hurry. Or you could shop somewhere else if it offends you greatly enough.