What are backorders?

At Fabric Online we source our products from a diverse range of mills and manufacturers, including many in Europe, China, Taiwan, Turkey, and Egypt. Some fabrics and furnishings, though, are a bit more local.

Where a product is sourced from a local manufacturer or supplier, we tend not to hold large amounts of stock. These products, however, can usually be restocked very quickly – often within a week.

When this is the case we open fabrics up to ‘backorder’.

What is a backorder?

A backorder is essentially an order for more fabric than we have available. At Fabric Online these can be placed on the understanding that the full quantity that you’ve ordered can be made available within a week, and sent out to you as soon as it hits our warehouse.

We try to maintain healthy stocks at all times, so quite often the product in question will already be on its way, meaning that you might get it even sooner. We might not be bringing in the quantity that you need, though, and other customers could have it on backorder already, so it’s always best to get your own order in as soon as possible–this puts us on notice to ensure that any delays are kept to a minimum.

That said, there are a few things that you need to be aware of.

1. Orders for multiple products

If your order contains a product on backorder, our standard procedure is to wait until we can complete the full order. This means that even if the rest of your order is in-stock a ready to go, we can’t dispatch the goods until everything is in-stock.

If you need to take delivery of other fabrics as soon as possible, then you’ll need to place separate orders.

2. Unexpected delays

While very rare, sometimes there are delays affecting the delivery of new stock that are beyond our control. Our policy is to advise customers of any such delays as soon as possible, but sometimes we don’t get the information ourselves until late in the process.

If you’re concerned about how long your order is taking to complete, please do feel free to get in touch with our support team at any stage.