SHIP ASAP
To reserve a backorder via SHIP ASAP: We need your full credit or debit card info. The website does not store this info, and we can't see it even for current orders.
You can transmit credit/debit card info to us in a variety of ways ... phone call, text, email, WhatsApp, messenger ... You can send photos, PDF, split the information over different messages .... whatever works for you. We will not process payment until we ship. And of course you can still cancel anytime.
People with SHIP ASAP backorders are protected from any price increase.
It's also good to know if the package can be left without a signature and if you have a preferred carrier. We can ship however you'd like, but special shipping may cost extra.
If you have a backorder that is not SHIP ASAP, we will contact you after all the SHIP ASAP backorders have been processed.
We understand that some people don't want to leave credit card info with us, so we will also try to reserve (or make) garments for people who convey serious intent, and of course for our established customers. But we'll still mostly process the pieces reserved by credit card first for the enhanced efficiency.
BACKGROUND:
It would be great to have large and regularly replenished inventory and simply fill orders as they come in. But we are very far from that situation, and so we are trying to handle backorders as efficiently as possible.
We are happy to receive no-obligation backorders, and although we do not accept advance payments or deposits, we definitely invite SHIP ASAP backorders, which are shipped with priority to other orders:
- Place a backorder
- Follow up separately with your payment information. Typically, this would be a credit card
- We'll keep the credit card on file and when we ship your garment we'll charge your card
- You can still change or cancel your order anytime, even after it ships. But if we don't hear from you, we have our marching orders
Setting up SHIP ASAP reserves your garment because SHIP ASAP orders are processed first. After all SHIP ASAP orders are filled, we'll then contact the other people who have backorders. Experience has shown most of these orders are frivolous ... our emails, texts and phone calls mostly get no response.
We try to fill backorders in temporal sequence. But SHIP ASAP orders are filled in priority to other orders because we know these are serious orders and because we have all the information needed to fill them already at hand. After the SHIP ASAP orders are all filled, then we will begin contacting the other people on the backorder list.
It's easy to understand why people would not want their credit card info stored somewhere, and so we also invite people to contact us and let us know they really mean the order. We'll make a note and get back to these SERIOUS people as a second level of priority, right after the SHIP ASAP group.
In the best of times, we are so specialized that I'm not willing to promise delivery dates. And these are not the best of times. There are a great many uncertainties.
I've learned the hard way that until something is in my hand, it can still somehow be delayed or turn out to be other than what I anticipated.
So, we don't accept advance payments or even deposits except in the most unusual circumstances. And only if that will somehow really help our customer. People have needed to pay in advance in order to receive a receipt for an insurance claim. Others have wanted to pay before the end of the tax year.
In 2020 and early 2021, I did accept a relative handful of advance payments because people wanted assurance they were going to get a garment from a limited supply. But even when I was confident of what was coming, the virus made a fool out of me. So that's a problem we will avoid.
Very sorry for all this bureaucracy/red tape.
THANKS!
4 June 2023 --- Ralph