The ‘Available to ship’ quantity is now visible on all Smart Doll product pages. We’ve moved away from the term ‘ready to ship’ due to confusion it caused, as it implied our products were pre-packed and ready on shelves for shipping or in-store pickup. The new ‘Available to ship’ term indicates that although we have all necessary components, assembly is still required.
We opt not to pre-pack dolls because many of our customers request customizations, such as swapping purchased busts, creating amputee limbs, or attaching wigs to meet accessibility needs like arthritis.
This change is a response to your feedback, which highlighted that unclear availability often made purchase decisions challenging. It’s important to note that the displayed numbers are not real-time stock; adjustments may be made for quality control, to prevent overselling, or in response to fraudulent orders.
We avoid displaying real-time inventory to prevent overwhelming our small team and to preserve the efficient shipping process we’ve honed over the years. While tactics like ‘only a few left!’ can create a sense of urgency, we consciously steer clear of them to foster a thoughtful, pressure-free shopping experience. Nevertheless, following a majority vote from you, our customers, we’ve decided to implement this feature.
Please remember, the availability count is merely indicative of how many items we can assemble and prepare for shipment. Items shown with low availability might be restocked on the same day, while others may take longer if their components require extensive preparation.
We aim to prevent situations where customers feel they were rushed into buying something that was restocked soon after, which can be frustrating. Given the bespoke nature of our products and our no-returns policy, we encourage thoughtful decision-making.
Deciding which items to stock depends on several factors, including scheduling, logistics, and the inevitable challenges—like broken paint masks or slush molds.
We also prioritize characters that contribute to the diversity of Smart Doll, even though they may require more effort and don’t sell as well as others. For instance, creating vitiligo characters involves additional painting, but they are still priced the same as other characters. While these diverse characters demand more time and resources, we believe their importance outweighs sales performance.
This rollout begins with Smart Dolls, with plans to extend it to other product lines soon.
