Status Code Guide

The HLJ FAQ

What Those Status Codes Mean

In Stock	We currently have plenty of stock of this item.
Low	Some stock is available, but we currently have more orders for this item than we have stock on hand. Stock is assigned to orders in the order that they ship (see below), so if you order this and request shipping now, there is a chance that you will receive one, but we cannot guarantee this.
Very Low	The same as above, but the number of orders we have for the item is more than double the amount of stock on hand. You may order this and/or request immediate shipping, but it is likely that we won't be able to send the item until more stock comes in.
Backorder	We currently have no stock of this item, or the stock we do have is already being prepared to ship to other customers.
Future Release	This item has not yet been released by the manufacturer.

Keep in mind that stock status of items changes on a daily basis, and whether something is currently low, or backordered has nothing to do with how long you will need to wait before we are able to get more stock.

How we assign stock to customer's orders: Overall, HobbyLink Japan assigns stock to customer's order on a "first come (ordered), first served" basis, but the principal of "first shipped, first served" also applies. The details follow:

Several times per week, we go through all customer orders in order from oldest to newest. If a customer's order is completely in stock, it will be automatically shipped. In addition, if the order is more than two months old and any part of it is available, we will make a partial shipment. However, we will also ship the orders of any customers who have requested a partial shipment of their available items.

What all this means is that if you're in a hurry to get your merchandise and don't mind the extra shipping charges, you should put the items you want quickly on separate orders, or you should regularly monitor your order status using the Account Maintenance System and ask for a partial shipment if you see any stock at all available. On the other hand, if you want to keep your shipping costs down, and don't mind waiting, go ahead and place one big order.

Lastly, regarding shipping costs, keep in mind that whenever we ship anything to a customer, we always check to see if there are any available items on any other orders in order to make the largest (i.e. most economical) shipment possible.