Thanks for all of your replies. All the input has been truly helpful. I am not the type to ask publicly what I should do, but in this case, I thought it was appropriate to get some input from other collectors.
The store I have been a client for 11 years, scalemodelstore.com from the Netherlands,
uses a clever reservation system to avoid this. Basically you reserve a future release, free of charge, and when available you have a two weeks to buy it or you get a penalty. That time period is extendable depending on your customer history (the more models you have bought the more you can extend it without penalty). You can also reserve available models following the same criteria. It’s all made in-web and related to your account. Their policy is
this if you wanna have a look.
This helps both customers to secure models, and the store to not have to deal with the usual delays. The thing is, that I believe their website is programmed by themselves (they don’t use any third party builder) so they are able to modify their web as they wish, which I assume is not your case, but maybe it helps and you can implement it too.
Thank you so much. This is quite similar to my current pre-order system, so it is nice to see that other stores have been successfully implementing a similar strategy.
The thing is that it takes time for a new shop to fully develop such a practice since it takes ages for pre-orders to arrive. So far, I have only dispatched one batch of "reserved" models via my pre-order forms, and the transaction went very smoothly. Maybe it is just a matter of giving the system time to mature, and for the voice to spread out among collectors.
I regularly shop at Aviation Retail Direct here in the UK and the pre order process just does my head in. You do a pre order and then they take the money from your account, but if it’s after 90 days and you still haven’t received the model they will send the payment back to you and then when the model becomes available, they say they are ready for payment and you can sometimes think (like I have many a times) that I’ve already paid for it.
I do a lot of internet shopping and places like Amazon don’t do this and if it’s a pre order item, they take the money and will release the item when it becomes available which to me makes so much more sense.
This reason has put me off shopping with ARD and I prefer to order elsewhere, however sometimes my hands are tied and I have to order through them, but the pre order process I just find ridiculous.
Thanks. Well, my platform offers an even worse arrangement; the money has to be sent back if the order isn't dispatched within 7 days. While this satisfies the customers who do not like to have their funds trapped for an extended period, it has other complications.
I recall one time I had the same issue with JetCollector, funds were sent back to my CC, and when the model was ready, I had to pay again, this time for real. It wasn't fun going through my CC statements to make sure that I wasn't being charged twice.
In fact Aviation Center Berlin doesn't charge the fee until the model (or the batch of models) Is available and ready to be shipped! Great thing.
Thanks, this is the reason I am investing so much time to see how I can approach this issue. I know a good number of collectors appreciate not being charged for pre-orders until the models are ready to ship. I am one of them...
This would be more complex but-
GJ/NG are pretty good about getting their stuff out quick, you can charge customers right away for a preorder from them.
JC/ (sometimes??) Phoenix you have no idea when they’ll come out so if you could reserve an order and be charged later that would be ideal.
Probably way too complicated for a small store but ideally I wish all stores were like this lol
Thanks, bakejobb. Not as complex as you think (good news for
@JJ Skippy as well). As I said above, my platform allows me to hold a payment for up to 7 days, then I need to either capture the funds or release them back to the customer. I could capture the funds for brands with predictable and reasonable wait times, while releasing the funds back for other brands with no timeline.
Pros: The orders get recorded in the system automatically, and all pricing, including discounts and shipping, gets locked in.
Cons: When the model arrives, and it is time to re-bill the customer, they might not want the model anymore and just decide not to pay. This is why a seller protection system needs to be in place, as mentioned by
@Redrado above, and as implied by
@Rrrk below.
Another con is that I still lose the ability to offer PayPal, Apple Pay, etc. to customers who want/need to pay right away.
I may be the only one, judging by the comments here, but I much prefer to pay when I preorder. Its just simpler and gets payment out of the way. When I decide to preorder a model, that's when I have allocated to money for it. Nothing worse than a tough month, and then someone wants payment for a model I decided I wanted 6 months ago. So far I've only been burned once, with an inflight200 NASA DC-3 i preordered in June 2024, but im still hopefull that one will show up. On the other hand, I preorderd the JC wings 1:400 Ukranian Rescue plane that I couldent find a place to prepay from, and now I have a $50-$70 commitment out there with no idea when that going to come due. Then again im probably not as financially sound as the average collector, I've been out of work for 2 years due a disability.
Thanks for your input. You are not the only one. You do have a valid point, and this is a risk that sellers take with reservations and/or delayed fund capture systems. I know exactly what you mean by this: "Nothing worse than a tough month, and then someone wants payment for a model I decided I wanted 6 months ago."
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Thank you all for your very valuable input. I will use this info to formulate my way forward. As it turns out, it seems that I might not need to modify much at this point.
