With Express as part of our name, we prefer to only accept orders for items that are available for immediate shipment; although offering "pre-orders" for high demand out-of-stock products is commonplace among other dive equipment on-line retailers. Accepting orders for items with uncertain shipping dates has become even more widespread as dive retailers struggle with recent supply chain issues. While our website may publish the anticipated availability as provided by our dive equipment suppliers, in our experience those estimates are often too optimistic with subsequent delays. When we do finally receive product, the quantity can sometimes be significantly less than was expected or does not pass our quality assurance inspection. Therefore, the Dive Gear Express general policy is not to accept orders for products where demand exceeds supply yet the product is not actually in our warehouse or at least in-transit to us.
Some divers have learned the hard way that the pre-order practice can be deceptive. While the pre-order does allow the retailer to capture new customer information for the purposes of extended marketing, pre-orders are not a guarantee of delivery date. Further, the specifications may change between individual production runs or if manufacturing issues are encountered; what you saw before may not be what you get in the future. Unless the retailer has explicitly stated pre-orders will be processed first-in-first-out then a pre-order also does not ensure a "place in line" as retailers will usually process in a sequence that maximizes total order revenue. Accepting pre-orders for a product the dive equipment retailer doesn't have in-stock yet knows the demand exceeds availability is a form of overselling and, while not illegal, in our opinion is unethical practice simply to maximize cash-flow and profit at the expense of consumers.
We know it is frustrating trying to purchase a product that is in short supply. We go to extremes to make sure our website product descriptions accurately indicate the stock status for each of our products and their status is updated daily. In rare circumstances our inventory count might be inaccurate, or we might receive multiple orders for the same item at roughly the same time when we have limited inventory. As a general rule, if the status is "In-Stock" on our website, then as far as the best information we have at the moment, the item really is in our warehouse. Instead of accepting pre-orders, our product description pages will usually include a link titled "Notify me when this product is in stock." located near the out-of-stock product name. You may click on the link and enter your email address to register to receive an automated email alert when the item becomes available to order for immediate shipment. You may also wish to add our divegearexpress.com domain name to your contacts whitelist so the email will not be sidelined as spam. If the product is high demand, once you receive the alert we recommend you act fast to place your order as the item may rapidly sell out.
