Items That Are Out of Stock

[whimsywhim]

When an item is out of stock, whose responsibility is it?  Is it the manufacturer?  Tissue paper, at a certain size, is out of stock again.  This is a popular item.  When the manufacturer (or whoever) sees that it's getting low, why don't they manufacture more at that time or whoever is responsible re-orders it?  Perhaps Zazzle can urge the manufacturer or the party responsible to track this when supplies are getting low.  

[Roberta]

Hi @whimsyshim,

 

Thank you for your inquiry! There isn't really a short/straightforward answer to this question unfortunately, because an item being marked as Out of Stock on the marketplace, does not always necessarily mean it is due to supply/supply chain issues or that it is any one department's responsibility. Items can be marked as Out of Stock for a number of reasons, with the most common reasons listed below:

• Of course, supply and/or supply chain issues can result in an item being marked as OOS. When this is the case, our production department will be in direct contact with the manufacturer to determine whether this is short-term/long-term, and to advise on whether there is an ETA. In the case of long-term OOS with no ETA, this is often down to an unprecedented issue that will significantly impact/potentially cease production of this product for some time, so it is better to mark OOS rather than have a backlog of orders that cannot be produced.
• Severe weather events may disrupt manufacturer supply/result in temporary facility closure, so may result in a product being marked short-term OOS.
  • An influx of customer orders/significant increase in demand for any given product may potentially result in order/production delays. When it reaches this point, manufacturers may request that a product be marked as OOS temporarily, to not only avoid disappointment for our customers but give the manufacturer a chance to prioritize order fulfillment before accepting new orders/creating a backlog.
  • Finally (and less often), products may be discontinued but marked as OOS as we work to locate a new supplier to take over on production of this specific product type.
    In the case of your example mentioned (Tissue Paper), colored tissue paper is short-term OOS and we are looking into sourcing additional options in the interim.

    I hope this helps! 🙂

    Roberta 🌷

[PAZP]

Oooh, thanks for that detailed and educational explanation, Roberta. 

[1234Shine]

@Roberta , Thank you very much for taking time writing this.  It would be nice, really really really nice, if Z can notify its designers when a product or color is marked as OOS, even just a short note in the "Creator News" of the store backend home page or in the "Latest Creator Update" section on this forum will be greatly appreciated.  Do you think that's something that Zazzle is able to do in the future?

[whimsywhim]

@Roberta Thank you for the detailed information.  It seems to me it's the weight of the tissue paper that is out of stock.  The heavier weighted tissue paper are in stock.  I'm very glad to hear it is short-term as tissue paper is quite popular with customers.  I greatly appreciate the awesome information you provided.  Thanks again.