Delivery dates in wholesale:what you can promise.

An exact date for every item sounds good, but it needs knowledge you often do not have: when the supplier's delivery arrives and how much of it is left after other customers' orders. It is more honest to tell the situations apart and say as much as you know in each.

Four situations to tell apart

• The goods are in your warehouse: you give the date directly, because it depends only on you.
• The goods are in a second warehouse: a transfer adds to the date and the customer should see it right away.
• The goods are on order from a supplier: you give an estimate, not a promise, and say so plainly.
• The goods are out and nobody knows when they will be back: no date is more honest than an invented one, and a notification sign-up helps both sides.

The cut-off time

"Same-day shipping" only means something with a time. An order at 3:05 pm with a 3:00 pm cut-off leaves tomorrow, and the customer should know that before confirming, not from an email the next day.

When a date stops being true

A delivery is late, a batch arrives incomplete, someone took the goods earlier. Then speed matters: the customer hears it from you, with a new date or an offer to split the order, before they call.

How it looks in Torveo

In Torveo you can sell below stock with planned availability on the product page, collect back-in-stock sign-ups and let the customer pick a delivery date at checkout. The customer sees the order status in their account and gets a notice of every change.

A date that holds builds trust faster than a date that is short.