We get a lot of questions about how our reserve process really works. With the recent changes Baby, the Stars Shine Bright has made to their own process (essentially, store reservations now get priority over their web site), we thought it'd be a good time both to go over a few of those changes and give you a little more behind the scenes info, so you can feel even more assured about how your orders are handled and why we do things the way we do. While BTSSB's changes prompted us to write this post, we'll talk a little about Innocent World and Victorian maiden too - these are the other brands we take reservations for. Every brand's a little different.
You can click on the link for each brand name if you haven't read the general reserve process for each yet, and would like to.
BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT
The reserve process we use for all of our brands was created with the brands' involvement - we're not going rogue and just doing things our own way. We've worked things out together in a way that works for both sides. This has often resulted in a process that's very safe, but occasionally slow - we never collect money for items we're not sure we can get, but getting order confirmations can sometimes take a really long time. Until now!
So first, we want you to know that BTSSB's new reserve system should actually be a big improvement for our reserve customers. Here's how:
- We can now send them reserve orders when items are first posted to their site. Of course, we still can't guarantee availability of every item, but early reserve orders can be sent as soon as they post series information - not when their web orders begin. (This used to be the time that everyone, including individual customers and stores, could begin ordering.) BTSSB will still decide who gets what, depending on demand.
- We'll be able to invoice you sooner. Previously we needed to wait for individual confirmation of orders, which often took a while. This was at BTSSB's request, so we're not holding money or making promises for items we may not be able to get. Now, they've told us to consider orders confirmed unless they specifically tell us they aren't - and that's something they've always done quickly. There will still be a short wait before we can confirm your order, but it will not be as long as it has been. We're going to initially set the time limit at 1 week after their web orders start, so your total wait will always be less than 2 weeks. Hopefully we can tighten that up further later on.
Innocent World works similarly to Baby's old system, except that they take reservations immediately from everyone (stores and individuals) upon posting items to their own web site and they have a specific reserve end date for each item. We can take a reservation for anything on their site, and we're going to work on being a little more timely in posting our US price lists to the blog from now on. Typically they post new items on Fridays, so look for us to do it on Friday or Saturday US time.
We do need to wait for positive confirmation of orders from Innocent World before we invoice you, although they typically can do that within days. Availability is usually not an issue with Innocent World if you order early.
Victorian maiden's system is pretty different. For every group of reserve items, they send us a list of what's available to us and in what quantities. We need to wait for that list before we can post those products for reserve. As their only official English-language retail store, they also give us a specific reserve period that's unique to us - it's always a little bit after their own.
Typically Victorian maiden heavily discounts their reserve items, but they don't pass those discounts on to us. So any discounts you see on our site are coming out of our pocket and are just our attempt to match the experience their Japanese customers would have as best as we can. Occasionally, they will run a promotion that specifically applies only to their own web site - third party stores are actually forbidden from running the same promotion. We get questions about these a lot - sorry, but they want to keep certain things exclusive for their own customers.
However, the reservations we do list on our site are all pre-confirmed - there's no waiting at all. If you're the first to ask for a product you see on our blog in a colorway we're listing, you are automatically guaranteed to get it. This is because they actually hold these products for us during our reserve period, and release them only if we don't order them. So while they do have more restrictions on products in advance, they are more up front about the products that are available and you know that as long as you're quick enough, anything you see on our blog is actually obtainable.
We hope this answers some questions about how things really work - we'll be incorporating some of this info into our reserve pages shortly, as well as our extensive
FAQ.
Watch for new reserve items from all of these brands shortly!
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