As mentioned in the other thread, the products shown when browsing are currently sorted in a manner that those making the most money to tindie will be shown first.
Several of my products recently got sold out and therefore are available through backorders. I just noticed today that they are nowhere to be found when browsing through the products, even though they always were in the first pages.
Did I miss something?
This has been the case for quite a while. The reason was so much was sold out early last year that it made browsing the site difficult. Customers actually emailed in that nothing was availableā¦
So from a seller perspective, I get it that you want your products as visible as possible. From a customerās view point, it gets very annoying when so much of the top products are sold out.
Emile,
That is a very very (very!) bad idea.
Most sellers like me only produce a batch when we see that there is interest in our products. Why not leave products on backorder available for browsing for 14days after theyāve been sold out? Maybe youād only allow this for top sellers?
Now I strictly have no idea if I should launch another batch as Iāve no way to ātest the marketā.
If you look at my seller history youāll see that many of my sales were done this way.
Iām currently hesitating to produce a batch but need a good way to see if itās worth it 
Mathieu
Ever wonder how many sales youāre missing out on using that method of market evaluation? The average buyer doesnāt want to sign up for a wait list for who know how long unless they REALLY want your product. I know I donāt do the wait list thing. If the item is in stock, I buy it. If there is a wait list I will look elsewhere.
You have been at this since the beginning of Tindie and have established product. With that in mind I would think that you should be able to predict your market and inventory levels quite well. I bet you would be surprised how much more you sell if you invested in keeping a small inventory.
Well it already happen to me that I had a few dozen backorders in less than 1 or 2 weeksā¦ Iād be interested in your experience, which makes you say that.
I donāt assemble my products by hand and am therefore constrained to launch batches of 50 at least.
These therefore represent a considerable investment.
I bet you would be surprised how much more you sell if you invested in keeping a small inventory.
Are you a seller? I canāt find your storeā¦
An investment for a couple weeks? Sounds like one with a great return.
Oh you got me thereā¦ good one. I guess a buyers perspective isnāt worth anything.
Iām not trying to tell you how to run your store/business, just voicing my opinion. Take it as that.
Cheers
I bet you would be surprised how much more you sell if you invested in keeping a small inventory.
This last sentence seems to express a fact when it actually is just an assumption. If you were a seller then I would have blindly trusted you as youād have had experience with this particular point.
We sellers need facts and real numbers to make informed decisions.
I guess because I donāt āpeddle my waresā on Tindie negates the 15 years of selling experience I have. (Shrugs shoulders) Seriously, do whatever you want. Just donāt whine then things change and your gravy train runs out.
Well Iāll lay it out for you. Since I donāt have your actual numbers you can substitute them after.
(Sell Price) - (Cost) = (Profit)
So the more you sell, the greater profit
http://www.talkshoe.com/custom/images/icons/TC-20332-MainIcon.jpg
391 orders and I missed thatā¦ thanks!
Alright alright lets cool the fireā¦
The reality is customer needs MUST be balanced with seller needs. That is the fine balance I walk, and regardless of a few backorders, the other 99% that donāt backorder a specific product should have a good experience. Is one order worth the well being of the other 99% who came to browse? How many disgruntled customers are worth a backorder? At the end of the day we need to have a great experience for all so they tell their friends, and that grows the pie for everyone.
@Limpkin I get it that you want as many backorders as possible before ordering another run. My goal is to eliminate as much of that risk as possible but in a way that makes sense for the entire communityās long term growth.
Seems you answered your own question.
Hey Emile,
Actually not really as many as possible, but at least a few so I know there is a continued interest.
Why not compromise between showing them and not showing them at all? Maybe just showing them for one or two weeks after theyāve been sold out? 
Iām putting up a PR weāll deploy today or tomorrow that will show the sold out products again. Weāll at least test to see what happensā¦
why not only the recently sold out?
Donāt misunderstand me, itās greatā¦ but still, you made a good point earlier.
Short answer- its easier to test that than products that recently sold out. Iām leaning on chances are if they are selling and sold out, the recently sold outā¦
Hey Emile!
Howās the experiment going so far?
Mathieu
Weāve actually dug a bit deeper. Weāre working with a data scientist right now who has been analyzing data throughout the marketplace to better understand what impacts a productās potential to sell.
Weāll have a blog post on the findings later this week but the quick answer-
After digging into the data, turns out backorders do very little to impact a productās potential to sell. After turning on backorders, a product sells very, very little - almost none. It seems that customers donāt like backorders - or at least donāt do it nearly as much as when the product is in stock.
Because of that difference, it may be that backorders hurt a productās longterm success. Displaying the āJoin the waitlistā button is the alternative. With the waitlist, customers buy in mass - and very quickly- once a product comes back in stock. My guess is fear the product will sell out again.
Itās a question of keeping backorders (and the few orders that come in while a product is soldout) vs default waitlist and the flurry of activity that comes once a product is back in stock. Hard to compare those against each other - but we know for a fact that backorders do very little across the marketplace.
Interesting! I must be the counter-example then :). I had quite a back orders these last daysā¦ but I guess mainly because I mention that the product is in production.
So the waitlist replacement is actually going to be the same thing like backorders only the customer will have to visit Tindie again and make the order. Or you can make an āautomated waitlistā, where customer joins the waitlist and when the product becomes available, it will automatically make the purchase for him. Oh wait no, that would be a backorder.
And for the data analysis. It is interesting. The things like good description, informative and nice photos and catchy title surely help. But isnāt something missing? Isnāt a product selling primarily because it does something useful? Isnāt the product itself the most important thing? I fully support the demand for clear photos and informative description. That being said, data analysis can turn into cargo cult quickly.
And a little off-topic, if I may. What about those custom works. Now with 14-day shipping time, it is very hard to fulfill custom requests (in my case). What if there was a possibility to extend shipping time specifically in case of custom work orders.
