Woodworking & Power Tools Forum - Festool Owners Group > OFF-TOPIC > General Friendly Chat > Online Dealers that sell items they do not have in stock.
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Author Topic: Online Dealers that sell items they do not have in stock.  (Read 948 times)
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JD2720

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« on: May 26, 2011, 12:03 PM »
What is with online dealers
« Last Edit: November 21, 2012, 11:42 PM by Chris Rosenberger » Logged
Wood_Junkie

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« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2011, 12:22 PM »
Not that it's entirely authoritative, but I found this info.


From:   http://www.creditinfocenter.com/cards/crcd_buy.shtml#Question9
Can mail-order merchants charge my card before they ship?
According to Janet Hug of Visa USA, "a merchant is not permitted to bill ahead of time" except in case of a deposit or down payment that the customer agrees to.

MasterCard said in a letter that a merchant can charge you before shipment only if s/he tells you and you agree to "the terms and conditions of the sale."

American Express said the merchant can charge your card as soon as you give your account number; but if you receive the bill before the merchandise, call Amex customer service and you don't have to pay while they investigate.
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Tom Bellemare
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« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2011, 01:11 PM »
Have they actually "captured" the funds or are they only "authorized" to charge you, Chris? If they have actually captured the funds, that is tantamount to thievery.

When someone orders something from me (and this is the officially prescribed practice), all I do is "authorize" the funds in the amount of the purchase. What that amounts to is that the funds are reserved and the customer's available credit is reduced by that amount. No money has actually changed hands yet. Only when the goods are ALL shipped, are the funds "captured", which means the money is transferred.

The reason to reduce the available credit is so that the card holder can't go on a spending spree and have no money left on the card when the goods ship.

Additionally, if someone attempts to use a card for a purchase and it fails, the available credit is reduced by that amount temporarily. If they do it again, the available credit is reduced again. The reason for this is to help prevent thieves from trying randomly to use credit cards that don't belong to them. If they try to buy something for $1000 five times using wrong information and the initial credit limit on the card is $5000, the card is locked up and they are out of luck.


Tom
« Last Edit: May 26, 2011, 01:12 PM by Tom Bellemare » Logged
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Wonderwino

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« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2011, 05:57 PM »
That happened to me with a Triton 3-1/2 hp router that was on sale in March.  I ordered it, but have not yet been charged, and have received emails stating that it was out of stock until June 1 and then September 1.  I could cancel my order if I wanted too and buy it somewhere else for a higher price.  I plan to dedicate it to my router table, so I think I'll wait it out.  I think they're hoping most of the orders cancel as the price was the lowest I'd seen for quite a while - $179.95.   Tongue Out

Anybody wanna bet when they'll ship? 
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WarnerConstCo.

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« Reply #4 on: May 30, 2011, 09:32 PM »
No one has anything in stock anymore.

Must be the new fad.
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RDMuller
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« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2011, 03:23 PM »
How I Help Protect Myself:


If the online order form does not address availability, I always call.

If while on the call, the dealer does not mention when it will ship, I ask (and specifically ask if he has it in stock).

My biggest disappointment -- some of the dealers associated with Amazon.com.   If the price seems ridiculously low, they probably made a mistake.  Amazon will not help you, or I should say they did not help me.  The promotion was ridiculous ---- 70% of on nice item so I guess I should have known better.

Another issue (both online and in brick and mortar stores):  Ask when the order will be sent --- sometimes there are minimums that they must build up enough $ before they can send it.  This may or may not have something to do with shipping costs.  In any event ask so you are not the one who is disappointed when you find out 3 weeks later that it has not been sent in.

And ---- ask when your credit card will be processed if the item is not in stock and will not be shipped immediately.

And --- if part of your order is in stock and part is not, ask if it will be shipped as 2 orders.  Who pays the additional shipping costs?

There are probably more "gotchya's" out there that I am forgetting.
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