Out of Stock item from your Supplier? What do you do?
If an item goes out of stock or increases in price, here is what to do:
See if you can find it elsewhere. Another website amazon.com, overstock.com you can also search for the item via a Google search to see what you can find.
Contact your supplier to see if they know when it will be back in stock. You can contact them through their website or by phone.
Find a similar item to the one ordered. In a different color or slightly different style perhaps) that is priced the same or similarly for example.
Send a message to the customer informing them that the item went out of stock just before they ordered it and let them know their options like when the item will be back in stock (if your supplier can tell you anyway), offer the customer the option of just getting the similar option if it is agreeable, or offer a refund. Something like this will suffice:
"Hi (insert customer name or username here),
Thank you for the order you placed with us Unfortunately, the item you ordered sold out just before you placed your order. We do apologize for the inconvenience. There are a few options we have for you though. We will be back in stock in 5 days, and we can ship it out then, or we do have the same item in green instead of blue, so we can ship you the green one today if you would prefer. We can also issue you a full refund. Again, we apologize for the inconvenience, please let us know what you would like to do."
Obviously, if the suppliers do not know when the item will be available or if you cannot find a similar enough item, then you would take those parts out of the email. When possible, give the customer options so that they feel they are deciding what to do and you are not forcing anything on them.
Then let them make the choice, and do what they ask you to do by refunding the order, placing an order for the similar item or simply wait for the item to get back in stock.
