Said 'in stock' but it is not: an online order slip

A customer writes on Telegram: "Is this available?" You quickly answer "Yes, it is", the customer pays a deposit, and you go to the shelf to fetch the item and it is not there. It turns out it was sold in the shop yesterday, or it broke, or it was put somewhere else. Now you have to apologise and refund, and the customer is left with a sour taste. This slip is very common in online selling, yet it can be almost entirely prevented.

Why an item is "in stock" only on paper

There is usually more than one cause. The most common are these:

• the sheet or notebook has not been updated: a sale in the shop was not recorded;
• the item is on sale in several places at once, in the shop, on Telegram and on a marketplace, while the balance is shared;
• the item is held for another customer but still counted as available;
• broken, damaged or expired goods were not written off;
• the item was put on a different shelf or in a different box;
• a helper made the sale but did not tell you.

This happens especially often with small sellers, because the records live in one person's memory, and memory starts to slip at the end of a busy day.

All of these lead to one thing: the balance in the records differs from the balance on the shelf.

What this mistake costs

The costliest thing is the customer's trust. Having once said "yes" and been wrong, a seller is hard to write to a second time. Refunds also take time, and a customer may leave a review and tell friends. On many marketplaces, orders cancelled by the seller also harm the seller's ratings.

To a customer, the word "available" is not information but a promise.

A check before confirming an order

With every order, repeat four steps:

1. Open the balance in your table. Subtract reserved goods from it: only the part open for sale is available.
2. If fewer than three pieces remain, go to the shelf and count by hand. Trust your eyes, not the sheet.
3. Confirm the variant clearly: "Black, size M, 1 piece, available".
4. Reserve the item at once and note it in the table, and only then ask for payment or confirmation.

If the item is not with you but with the supplier, say so openly: "It is not on the shelf now, it arrives tomorrow evening." The customer decides for themselves whether to wait.

These steps take a minute. Writing "one moment, let me check" does not make a seller look bad; on the contrary, it raises trust.

The last-pieces rule

The most dangerous place in the table is items with a balance of 1 to 3 pieces. They sell quickly, and most errors happen with them. Add a "Minimum balance" column and change the cell colour when the balance drops to that figure. For a highlighted item, check the shelf every time before you reply.

Set a higher minimum for fast sellers and a lower one for slow movers.

If it turns out the item is missing anyway

Say the slip has happened. Speed and openness matter now:

• write to the customer at once, do not stay silent;
• explain the cause briefly, without excuses;
• offer an alternative: a similar item, another colour or the date of the next delivery;
• if payment was taken, do not delay the refund.

Many sellers in this situation say nothing to the customer and try to find the item. That is the worst path: the customer waits and knows nothing.

A sample message: "Sorry, when I checked, this colour turned out to be sold out. I apologise for the mistake. There is a similar light blue one; shall I send a photo? If it does not suit you, I will refund your payment today." A reply like this often keeps the customer.

Removing the cause

After each such case, note down the cause: the sheet was not updated, the item was elsewhere, a helper did not say. After a month look at the list: one and the same cause will keep recurring, and you fix that one.

Conclusion

Checking the balance before you say "available" takes a minute, and skipping it costs a customer and money. Keep the balance in the table current, subtract reserved goods and check the last pieces on the shelf. If you need a regular count so that the table and the shelf match, the Sanab team can count your stock and show the differences in a report.