Online music retailers listing items "in stock and ready to ship".....
 

they get your payment and tell you it's backordered. Happened to me three times in the last two weeks.

You would think in this computer oriented age there would be a way to stop that, if that was their intention. Seems like it's probably not.....GET THE MONEY.
:(

I order my music supplies and accessories online pretty frequently, and I haven't had that happen to me...

If a site says what I want is out of stock, I don't order from them at that time, but I can't say I've ordered "in stock and ready to ship" that it wasn't...maybe I'm just lucky so far...

Does this happen with regularity from a particular online retailer you use?

Hasn't happened to me but then I no longer order all that much .
A number of possible reasons some legit and some not so much.

It could simply be the web sight is not being kept up to date with actual inventory.

I am no computer wiz but while probably doable, a system that not only tracks inventory against shipments daily and recalculates daily, BUT also then purges the entire website inventory listings daily , is likely a fairly complex algorithm. And also likely and added expense of updating software and or computers which many businesses are well behind the curve in doing

On the other hand it could be another form of bait and switch and would seem to skirting the edge of possible fraud ???

As was asked is this from one particular retailer or several ?

And WHO was it. This is the kind of information that should be passed along. Or why even bother to post in the first place.

Guitar Center (major screw up with them), Front End Audio, Lunchbox Audio

In the case of GC, the item in question was a closeout, but even after a week after telling me they had no stock left, the site still said "in stock and ready to ship" (even after I told the CSR's - 3 of them - what was going on)

Yeah, that sucks if they do that.

I've gotten to the point that if the website doesn't show actual pictures of the guitar I want, they don't get my order....

Bought a guitar a few weeks ago from a mom-&-pop place in the Midwest - I went back to the listing immediately after my order was confirmed (we're talking maybe five seconds here) and it was marked "out of stock"...

The big-box operations have no excuse whatsoever... :mad:

My impression of Front End is they very legit so must have been a screwup

They were the quickest to let me know and offer options.

In the case of the GC order, it showed "processing" 5 days after the order was placed and I never got the normal "order confirmation" email or "receipt for your Paypal payment". It was just sitting there and if I hadn't called it would still be. Unfortunately, when I made the calls, things got even more screwed up. (still not fixed yet and it's been 3 weeks)

Golf equipment retailers are the same. At least the golf guys don't misrepresent their wares.

I only buy used golf gear, so I've not run into it, but it doesn't surprise me.

Big companies can be pretty bad when it comes to this sort of behavior because they know people are unlikely to cancel an order that's already paid for when they find out it's backordered....

If they list it as "In stock" - you are likely to order the item... And if they subsequently tell you it's backordered after you already paid for it - they know you are unlikely to cancel that order.... So they still get the sale....

If they list it as "Out of stock" - you are unlikely to order the item..... Most likely you will buy from somebody else rather than picking something equivalent or waiting for the backorder... So they don't get the sale...

Given the choice between sale and no sale - most sales organizations choose a sale.

I wish they would clarify a little. Like, Musician's Friend will say something like "Available 08-09-2018."

I remember when those Danoblaster Danelectro guitars came out in the early 2000's. When those sold out, all of the big box stores simply said they are back-ordered when what they should have said is "We are sold out and we are never ever getting any more. Ever." One of those places hung onto my money for months. I eventually cancelled my order.

People hate seeing things out of stock. I presume that’s part of why they do it.

When a large retailer started (I believe it was Home Depot), one of the owner’s tactics was to go to the local competitor hardware store and buy up every single (insert item here). It might be light bulbs or paint brushes. Something very common that would cause people to be really annoyed to come in and see every one gone. That gave people an aversion to that store, because something was out of stock.