It’d be nice if Purism had a preorder option on our of stock items that they plan to restock.
This would allow customers to get in a queue (in case not enough items are stocked to meet demand), show Purism the amount of demand (so they can calculate stock needed), and provide a mechanism for customers to be notified when stock arrives (or when restocking is decided to be cancelled).
I would rather only see a “Notify me” option as that accomplishes the primary goals without the transfer of funds. The current refund policy is… less than desireable… and extremely unfavorable to the consumer. Also Purism has a less than stellar track record when it comes to estimating when something will be in stock.
I personally would prefer Purism show continued improvements with their estimates and a more balanced refund policy that they actually honor consistently and reliably before opening up something like backorders or pre-orders.
Depending of course on what business rules Purism decided to apply to this hypothetical functionality.
Yes, if they wanted full payment up front, that could raise issues about refunds.
If they wanted a nominal partial payment to verify that the customer is bona fide then not so much of a drama.
If they wanted no payment at all (so it is just a queue, and just an indication to Purism of demand) then there is no issue at all.
(In turn, this is going to depend on the price of the item in question.)
Conversely, it depends on what commitment they expect from the customer i.e. how “change of mind” is handled. So, yes, it could bring back some of the same issues about refunds.
They could introduce a two-stage back order queue where it costs nothing to be in the queue initially but at some point when it gets the attention of Purism, and Purism is thinking of acting, it will cost at least something to stay on the queue for the second stage.
Was there something specific that you had in mind?
Nothing wrong with that option. It is possible to have both options though.
I was looking at the breakout board.
As far as payment goes, I only suggested preorder, not prepay. I really wasn’t looking to spawn a rant. 