Our website will show you 3 possibilities for "Stock Status"...
- An actual quantity (example 5) being in stock at that moment (displayed in real time)
- An actual quantity of "0" meaning that we've sold out and when it shows zero stock the system won't allow you to place an order
- A "null" or empty stock quantity... this is a custom order. It means that we don't currently have any in inventory but you can place an order for the item and we'll get it for you. The estimated delivery time is just that: an estimate. We have to order it from the supplier (who may or may not have it in their inventory at any given time), then get it shipped to our US office, exported to Canada, received at our Canadian office and processed/shipped to you. The estimates we give are very realistic and in most cases we deliver in less time that estimated.
When you see an estimate of 6 - 8 weeks this is taking into account that the suppliers usually take 2 to 5 days to process our order and ship to our US office (that's IF they have it in stock... if they don't have it ready then it can take another 2 to 6 weeks for them to get it built/ready). It also takes time for export paperwork and to wait for our next export shipment. All of these steps add up.
Custom Order times will constantly change... even though we give the best info possible on the website, when your order comes in we'll send you a manually generated Sales Order and on that we'll update the estimate (up or down) depending on what the exact info is at that time. Quite often we are able to reduce the wait time based on info we've been able to confirm with the supplier in the US. Many other times we already have your item on order or in transit (for our own inventory) so we are able to reduce your wait time (often in half).
Custom Orders allow us to offer you the widest possible range of products and options... to suit your specific needs.
Mark