How do I know if an item is in stock?
Why is a product in the catalogue if you are completely sold out?
Why don't you order more stock?
Why does it sometimes take so long to get more supplies of an item?
99% sounds good, but why can you not put systems and processes in place to give a 100% guarantee the item is in stock if it is showing as in stock?
By using the product size and colour selection grids found on each product page. These can be found by clicking on the green 'Select Size and Colour' button right hand side of the product page, next to the main image and looks like this:
To use the grids:
Find your preferred colour and size by finding the corresponding little square box directly underneath the stated size. 
A green box with a tick means the item is very highly likely (99%+) to be in stock at that moment in our warehouse, ready to be despatched. Payment is only taken when we actually despatch your item from our warehouse.
A blue box with a 'P' means that you can 'pre-order' the item which reserves your item exclusively for you and will automatically be despatched the day it arrives in our warehouse. Payment will only be taken when the item is despatched and you will be given notice of the date we expect the delivery in, although this is subject to the manufacturer delivering on time.
An orange box with an envelope means that we are expecting a delivery in the future and that you can choose to be informed by email when your size is back in stock. You will be notified of the next date we expect a delivery although this is subject to the manufacturer delivering on time.
A grey box with a cross means the item is no longer in stock in our warehouse and no longer available for us to order from the manufacturer either.
If you have any queries and need to speak to someone, please call customer services on +44 (0)121 237 5510.
I'm afraid we cannot ensure permanent availability of all our items, although our buyers try their very best. Some goods sell much better than we predict and lead times in the industry are also irritatingly long. If something is out of stock, we'll always give you the best information we can on anticipated delivery dates.
We know it's disappointing when items are out of stock and we really do try to make sure this doesn't happen. Having good stock availability not only means happier customers but also more sales and a happier accounts department. We have a team of staff dedicated to trying to predict sales and how much we should order of a particular product. But sometimes we do get caught out if an item proves more popular than expected. In addition, since popular seasonal styles that have even run out at the manufacturer's and sometimes need to be made from raw materials, it often takes three or four months to get repeat deliveries. We do sincerely apologise if an item that you want to order is out of stock. We hate this problem as much as you do.
The most common cause of bankruptcy among retail companies is holding too much stock. Even if we wanted to, we couldn't order much more stock than we do currently as we couldn't afford it. It would also mean more 'Sales' periods which is nice for you, but suicidal for us. In addition, it wouldn't really solve our stock problems, which are dominated by a few styles outselling our predictions (and historical trends). We therefore try to order a realistic amount, but as mentioned above, certain items shoot out of the warehouse far quicker than anticipated.
If it looks like an item will run out, we do try and re-order in plenty of time but footwear and clothing can still take some time to arrive with us. As well as having to have the products made, checked, delivered, and checked again, we also often have to have individual items checked once they arrive, all of which can take weeks. For example, we launch our Autumn range in July. Although we get quite a good idea of what is selling and we place top-up orders of items which we predict we'll not have enough, in most cases, these top-up items will not be delivered until up to four months later! We have more clout with some manufacturers than others but until we grow large enough in importance we are still small fry especially with a lot of the more popular brands we are trying to develop.
For telephone orders, we advise our operators to warn customers there's a chance that an item might not be available if there are is only 1 showing as "in-stock" on our database. Although we do regular stock-takes and the level should be extremely accurate (99% or more), there is occasionally a small discrepancy. But on a database of 100,000 items, this means 1,000 items could be inaccurate. If some of those are really popular the effect would be more pronounced for customers. We do, in fact, have very sophisticated systems, processes and regular checks in place to ensure that the database is as accurate as physically possible. Human errors are sadly unavoidable in this area however. Computers and databases containing 10s of 1000s of data points are notoriously difficult to keep completely correct despite the very best endeavours of a huge team of people and the very best intentions to keep everything completely accurate every single working day. Aswell as this huge effort to keep and maintain accuracy to the highest possible level, we also have a very sophisticated backorder process and always offer goodwill discounts where there has been an inaccuracy in stock levels displayed. You will be offered a date at which your item will come in or an alternative in all cases. It is also important to note that we never take payment from your card or PayPal account until your items have been picked, packed and despatched from our warehouse, so there is no benefit to us whatsoever from taking orders we do not actually have in our warehouse and cannot fulfil. Your bank may 'reserve' the funds, but this is very different from the money being cleared into our bank account.
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