Old request maybe? Good for customers, even if it means more work for store.

It would be 'very very very nice' if there was a system in place that allowed us reserve stock to fulfill an order.
I'm in Canada, and I'm not going to split an order at $40 per shipping to get things piecemeal. Not if the shipping would cost more than the parts times several shipments. As a result I don't order as often as I might.
If I have an order, then a "fill this order when its complete" option would be a very good feature for the store.
Perhaps more labor involved for the company, but i expect with the proper coding the site and inventory control system could handle the mechanics of it by 'reserving stock numbers and notifying the store owners when an order is theoretically able to be completed.
Yes, I'm sure there are lots of ways this can fail, or be abused, but it can also work and result in many more sales which might be good for growing the business.
Either way, with big orders there is hardly ever a time when all the parts are in stock and checking my wishlist every day is a waste of my time. And just discouraging.

Now, on a happier note, I'm not knocking Tim and the gang. Far from it... great work helping us geeks ( is that the proper term :) fulfill our dreams. :)
A true Jedi makes his own light saber. And we can't do that without TCSS.

Al

There is a store wishlist thread, this might be a good suggestion for it.

I think this has been requested a few times to save on shipping for folks.

May be an issue with space for storage?

There's another alternative if you live near the border that will cut the cost down a bit.

I've been using https://www.kinek.com/ . They basically give you a US shipping address then receive and hold the package there for you.
So you end up with $8 shipping + $5 Kinek fee + Nothing for duty/taxes across the border if you forget to mention things :P.
And you can wait for a couple orders to arrive to pick them up with a single trip.

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Originally Posted by Darth Nurse

I think this has been requested a few times to save on shipping for folks.

May be an issue with space for storage?

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I imagine thats the issue at hand: Storage. Do you know how many people would order if they could wait X amount of time for all parts to show up at the same time? A lot of people. I think Tim would run out of room! No joke, there is a reason most saber sellers are out of stock (Checked "those guys" too.. Looks like they still have a majority of stock on backorder)- it seems the hobby is growing.

Beyond that.. It is a good idea, I would totally agree; but it may not be doable as mentioned above. Yeah- I'd like to save $8 per order. But quite frankly, until more stock shows up, I'm happy to DIY my first few hilts. Now, $8 shipping for two parts.. I can get over that real quick.

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Now, $8 shipping for two parts.. I can get over that real quick.

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Yes but you live in the same country as the manufacturer. The Original Poster here is from Canada. Now think about someone from Europe or Australia placing multiple orders. You can easily be talking about and extra $100 and that will seriously impact your customers decision to place an order.

I highly doubt STORAGE is the issue. I can't imagine a single parts order taking up more room than a shoebox, one tall rack should hold them (sans blades). Instead I think the problem is reconfiguration time. Tim may spend a whole day or more making one item (or similar items). Then he has to spend who-knows-how-long resetting his machine(s) for a 1 off item? Multiply that by hundreds of orders and you lose the efficiency of an assembly line.

I agree, I would preferred to send in an order with the instructions "ship after all parts are available" but in order for that to work well He has to predict what his customers will order so he doesn't end up with his capital tied up in a bin of parts that no one is buying -- and that, kiddies, is the brass ring all companies have been chasing since before "supply/demand" and "marketing" were even a concept. You also have billing issues. Do you pay when you place an order, like now? If so how long (legally) can the company have your money before filling the order? Conversely, if the store finally fills the order and then asks for payment, only to get a response of 'never mind, cancel the order' or worse yet no response. Running a small business is a serious headache, I owned a computer VAR/Systems Integrator for 7 years.

Maybe though, if there is enough interest, TCSS might be able to implement something.

I would love to have this implemented, possibly just for international customers. I also have to pay $40 to ship a single order and it's really just not worth it sometimes. It must be a nightmare to try and build a saber if you live in Australia.

Not too sure how the logistics would work out though.

this is why im trying to get parts before I move to Europe this summer. cooooome oooon sleeve material.....

IMHO..

this is just too flawed to be practical/implemented..

keeping track of who is 'reserving'? real name? forum name? order id wouldnt work as each order is 'new/unique'.. (not to mention the time doing this)

space to store these ever growing reserve requests?

that stuff aside.. the cost and time to 'hack' the store/cart system..etc

How do you know when said 'reserved order' is complete and is ok to ship? How do 'connect the dots' (so to speak)

By the time all this was done a proper system in place.. stock will probably be back and plentiful like the 'old days'....

My suggestion would be to have a reward program for shipping.