Backorder,OUT OF STOCK Venting

[tonylumps]

Now it is going up my butt.I know that it does not bother a lot members here that only do Scroll Work.But because I also sell pens along with my Scroll Work.I am running into this more and more.Everything from pen refills that cost $.90 to a $60.00 Pen Kit. From 7.00 Pen Blanks to 50.00 Pen blanks.What is going on Some of these have been out of stock for months on end.I used to be Loyal to certain on line suppliers That is over with If I need 10 items and only 7 are in stock I look elsewhere for all 10 first.If you can not stock it you should not be in business.Only one company I deal with States we do not know when and if this item will be back in stock.All other post NOTIFY ME I am Done Venting Thanks for listening.My Wife won't

[meflick]

Sorry for your troubles Tony.  I can imagine that is quite frustrating.  I know when I need something, I need it NOW.  Not notify me and I don't even sell things.  Vent away. 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Tony, calm down. Not worth getting the blood pressure up. I too turn pens. With pens or any hobby never and I mean never put yourself in a must have to do now situation. It is a hobby and if it is even a business you are in control. It is you selling the finished product. You must explain to customers that your time is valuable and you are in demand. You will get the product to them as soon as humanly possible. If they have a problem with that then they are not a customer I would not want to deal with.

 

With pens you need to try to keep your best sellers in stock and all the side products that go into making them. Yes i know it can be expensive to have much inventory but think of the vendors you are buying from. They are in the same boat. Trying to manage your inventory better. There are various vendors today so you may have to shop around more. May have to go back to the customer and offer an alternative if possible. Remember relax and you are in control. Happy turning.    

[tonylumps]

13 minutes ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

Tony, calm down. Not worth getting the blood pressure up. I too turn pens. With pens or any hobby never and I mean never put yourself in a must have to do now situation. It is a hobby and if it is even a business you are in control. It is you selling the finished product. You must explain to customers that your time is valuable and you are in demand. You will get the product to them as soon as humanly possible. If they have a problem with that then they are not a customer I would not want to deal with.

 

With pens you need to try to keep your best sellers in stock and all the side products that go into making them. Yes i know it can be expensive to have much inventory but think of the vendors you are buying from. They are in the same boat. Trying to manage your inventory better. There are various vendors today so you may have to shop around more. May have to go back to the customer and offer an alternative if possible. Remember relax and you are in control. Happy turning.    

Yea I think a lot of these online stores show stock pictures just to make there website look pretty.But what it comes down to Take off the out of stock pictures.They will look pretty shabby

[tuner]

Try to relax a little, but I know venting does help a little. As far as the wife not listening ?  Do they ever 

[tonylumps]

Selling has nothing to do with this .So I wish you would quit telling me to calm down.It is just the way I feel about people who should not be in a sales business It is just a cheaper way to sell slow moving items It happens more online because they do not have a face to face contact with a customer.When enough people do catch on these so called retailers start heading down the tubes

[kmmcrafts]

I had an issue like this only one time with a supplier.. I now stock x amount of everything I may need.. and.. I set a certain amount off to a different side that is what I call my back-up stock.. When my inventory gets down to nothing or close to nothing in my regular stock I reorder and use off of my back-up stock.. this wouldn't need to be done if suppliers did something like this.. and if I was just a hobbyist I probably wouldn't worry about it much BUT.. selling online as I do.. customers typically order a week or better after they actually need it.. can't tell you how many customers I get a week asking if my made to order item can be shipped out the same day... while my listing shows that it won't ship for up to 14 days, LOL

That all said... The tables could be turned around and a customer could be mad at me because I have about 30-40% of the items I have on my web site are not in stock and are made to order..While I do my best to keep the more popular items in stock.. I also temporarily remove out of stock items from the site if I am backed up on orders ( mainly around the Christmas holidays ) because I can only produce and stock so many items.. I can tell you yes I do loose orders sometimes because the item isn't stocked and the customer wants it sooner than I can produce it.. I am only one person and most my customers understand that.. 

 

 

 

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, tonylumps said:

It is just a cheaper way to sell slow moving items It happens more online because they do not have a face to face contact with a customer.When enough people do catch on these so called retailers start heading down the tubes

I understand the frustration.. however coming from someone that sells online crafts as one business and also sells retail of supplies for music equipment.. most business's loose money holding inventory that is sitting around taking up warehouse space collecting dust.. Products that sit around are money tied up in stock as well as warehouse space.. that space is better of for storage of products that move at a faster pace.. Most business's I know do not stock a slow moving product.. then the product becomes hard to find.. in stock anyway..

 

 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

2 hours ago, tonylumps said:

Selling has nothing to do with this .So I wish you would quit telling me to calm down.It is just the way I feel about people who should not be in a sales business It is just a cheaper way to sell slow moving items It happens more online because they do not have a face to face contact with a customer.When enough people do catch on these so called retailers start heading down the tubes

Well Tony alot of info is left out here also. You do not mention who the vendors are and what exactly you are buying. To keep inventory updated can be tricky if you are relying on others and they are a reseller. I blame you also for not having the foresight not to stock up when the item is available if it is a big seller for you. As I said inventory is money tied up and some vendors can not operate such as a Penn State Industries who has unlimited cash flow. Vent all you want but will not change things and if you are disatisfied just stop using that vendor. God knows there are way too many pen supply vendors on the market these days anyway. Good luck.

[tonylumps]

4 hours ago, JTTHECLOCKMAN said:

Well Tony alot of info is left out here also. You do not mention who the vendors are and what exactly you are buying. To keep inventory updated can be tricky if you are relying on others and they are a reseller. I blame you also for not having the foresight not to stock up when the item is available if it is a big seller for you. As I said inventory is money tied up and some vendors can not operate such as a Penn State Industries who has unlimited cash flow. Vent all you want but will not change things and if you are disatisfied just stop using that vendor. God knows there are way too many pen supply vendors on the market these days anyway. Good luck.

I will stop using that type of vender.I always supported the small guy .I started with PSI .Still use them .But now I  even more.But the fact is .It is not only this type of vender Online sellers are taking a step backwards.They should take a lesson from the Brick and Mortor Stores.I will not mention any Names Because I do not care if these type of places stay in business or not.

[zimmerstutzen]

When it comes to specialty supplies, I think many supply houses get their materials from the same few sources.    There was a fellow that flaked special flints for long rifles of chert.  Superior flints in every way.  When he retired, no one could get them.  The fellow was talked into coming out of retirement for a few months and then stopped again and the supply dried up.    Another fellow I dealt with about 13 years ago, had the market cornered on certain parts made for some obsolete rifles fo they could be fired again with modern ammo.  The guy's wife sued for divorce and the wife's attorney froze all the guy's assets and had him locked out of his own shop.  Re-supply depended on the mercy of the wife letting him back into the shop or him getting a $30,000 loan to get replacement machinery.  .  He never did recover after that.    Another I knew made old style colonial shoes.  He sold literally a thousand pair a year and many re-enactment suppliers sold his shoes.  He was very sickly his last few years and sometimes was ten months behind in production.  When he died he had orders outstanding for approx 1500 pair.  His children actually steps up and together with former two former employees, finished out the orders.    

 

Stuff happens and the suppliers do not like disgruntled customers.  But they also can't (in most situations) control their supplier. 

[Rolf]

Tony I will not suggest you calm down. I also get frustrated when I want or need something so I like sites that indicate their stock levels. 

I have had items that were discontinued by the manufacturers that were needed for some of my regular sales,  I will look for other suppliers if I need to.

This shop is owned by a friend maybe he has what you need. http://www.thewoodturningstore.com/

[Roberta Moreton]

I have also seen things and/or tools I want/need out of stock for months! Frustrating 

[Woodmaster1]

The best wood blanks are the ones you make from scap wood or wood you buy. I would never pay for a wooden pen blank. I have never had any trouble with psi, but I do not buy in large quantities.

[amazingkevin]

On 6/29/2017 at 9:25 AM, tonylumps said:

Now it is going up my butt.I know that it does not bother a lot members here that only do Scroll Work.But because I also sell pens along with my Scroll Work.I am running into this more and more.Everything from pen refills that cost $.90 to a $60.00 Pen Kit. From 7.00 Pen Blanks to 50.00 Pen blanks.What is going on Some of these have been out of stock for months on end.I used to be Loyal to certain on line suppliers That is over with If I need 10 items and only 7 are in stock I look elsewhere for all 10 first.If you can not stock it you should not be in business.Only one company I deal with States we do not know when and if this item will be back in stock.All other post NOTIFY ME I am Done Venting Thanks for listening.My Wife won't

I go thru this a lot at any store or resturant what ever i want they are out of!

[Phantom Scroller]

Try ebay there's pen kit sellers on there. Roly

[Rolf]

Fortunately or unfortunately, most folks that decide to take up wood turning will start out making pens. It is easy and safe. There are so many people making and selling pens now that I am afraid it will pull the prices down. This has also created a big demand for parts and kits, since all of the kits are the same with a few exceptions there must be one primary supplier and the rest are re-sellers who are at the mercy of the big MAMA supplier.  I suspect that PSI is the big MAMA. I know two local pen kit sellers that get their supplies from PSI.

[Scrappile]

Holy cow.  I went looking at pen kits yesterday, I need a certain kit to make some rifle cartridge pens.  I can't remember the name of the kit, but it is a cheap kit, along the lines of the "Slimline".  I just use some of the parts from the kit..  Anyway, I haven't done a pen in years.... and wow the prices has really gone up from when I was into it.  Talk about "sticker shock"!!

Glad I lost interesting that hobby.

Edited July 28, 2017 by Scrappile

[tonylumps]

9 minutes ago, Rolf said:

Fortunately or unfortunately, most folks that decide to take up wood turning will start out making pens. It is easy and safe. There are so many people making and selling pens now that I am afraid it will pull the prices down. This has also created a big demand for parts and kits, since all of the kits are the same with a few exceptions there must be one primary supplier and the rest are re-sellers who are at the mercy of the big MAMA supplier.  I suspect that PSI is the big MAMA. I know two local pen kit sellers that get their supplies from PSI.

There are many Suppliers out there They sell kits from 2.00 up to 150.00 just for the kits There are so many kits out there that in over 250 pens i have made .I have only duplicated about 10%.Only because i was asked to. When I bought my lathe it was for pens and ornaments Not for anything larger.I never figured on selling pens.But last Christmas my wife took a about 10 Pens in a pouch to work just to see what would happen. Well she sold close to a 100 Pens I have been selling them by word of mouth since then And the more expensive pens sell themselves.So far I have paid for my tools and over 100 kits that i have in stock.One member of SSV said never lower your prices and I don't

[Rolf]

Tony good for you! it is nice that your was and is appreciated. Do you think that all of the kits came from different manufacturers or just re-branded?

The most challenging and fun pen I ever made had a laser cut horse and Jokey on it. Had to assemble it under a microscope with tweezers.

[tonylumps]

23 minutes ago, Rolf said:

Tony good for you! it is nice that your was and is appreciated. Do you think that all of the kits came from different manufacturers or just re-branded?

The most challenging and fun pen I ever made had a laser cut horse and Jokey on it. Had to assemble it under a microscope with tweezers.

I did one of them it was a USMC. Nobody said anything about the 20 rubber bands around the blank.So I started taking them off before the CA was applied I don't how I found all of those little pieces.The three pen kits that i use are PSI,Berea,and the really high end kits that are hard to come by are Dayacom.Because they only wholesale And places like Exotic Blanks Have a tough time buying a high quantity of 100.00 pen kits.

Edited July 29, 2017 by tonylumps