We have been burned many times before by taking pre-orders for stuff that we don't have direct control over. The last chargeverter order got delayed many times, including FedEx getting it stuck at one of their hubs. We had many upset customers and really just didn't feel the situation was handled properly.
Now, with the mailing list, we are getting names, and when the inventory actually makes it to our warehouse, we make a hidden listing that we blast out to the product-specific mail-list subscribers, and give them 24-hours to place an order before opening up inventory to the general public. I think this is very fair, because then we are never taking a penny from anyone for product that is not on our shelves. That's been a pretty common complaint of some vendors on this forum.
This will be standard operating practice for us from here on out. Yes, it will cost us some sales to other vendors that do take pre-orders, but that's ok. It's our job as a warehouse distributor to bridge the gap between manufacturing runs and customer demand, and using pre-orders as a crutch at someone else's expense just doesn't settle well.
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