US product availability and US dealership stock explained

[AeroGator]

It will perhaps take more repetitions before people get used to the new reality but I don't mind repeating!

1 - US dealer has no stock. Never had. Hardly ever will.
US dealer ONLY collects and processes orders. All orders to the US are sent directly from China.
2 - There is NO shortage of bases. Neither there is of grips. Neither, of base+grip sets.
US dealer sometimes gets late with site stock updates/refreshing, hence the goods appear "out of stock". It does damage our reputation some, as it contradicts to what I have written above but little we can do about it, at least now (we're working on it though).

Now, to the point. If some goods appear out of stock in USA store, chance is pretty high it is only due to technicality. Contact the dealer, and ask him to update the shop information, and place the order. We will ship it out within 36 hours.

[DinoMight]

Hi,
I've been on the waitlist in the VKB NA store for some time for a 200mm gunfighter gen 1 curved extension.

Response from the store is that they are waiting on a stock update notice and cannot order them.

I'm not given any phone number or other means of submitting an order. Is there any way to get an extension ordered?

Thank you.

[rrohde]

Hi,

As AeroGator already eluded to, we at VKBcontrollers.com are sales partners (independently owned and operated) for VKB HQ, facilitating orders from retail customers, fulfilled by VKB HQ in China.

That said, right now we're just waiting for quantities updates from VKB HQ on items that currently appear out of stock.

In case anyone is curious about the process: Our webshop's software automatically sends emails to VKB HQ when product quantities run low, and once again when quantities run out. We then have to wait until VKB HQ provides new product quantities based on their warehouse inventory allotment for VKBcontrollers.com, so we can plug these numbers into the respective product page for products to appear "In Stock" again for customers to be able to place orders.

VKB HQ providing product quantities allotted to VKBcontrollers.com is *not* automated, so it sometimes takes a while before we get updated numbers from them.

The reason why VKBcontrollers.com relies on accurate numbers of available products from VKB HQ is to prevent overselling items, which would lead to frustration if we showed an item "In Stock", while the warehouse doesn't have it on hand for delivery.

Thanks.

[DinoMight]

Apologies, but I am still not understanding where the hangups is with product availability, other than, "we are waiting on responses to automated emails."

I finally decided to just order a full mcg pro setup with gunfighter rev b, because I will eventually need a whole second HOTAS anyways. Of course, once I finally decided to do this, the product input of stock.

Based on the above:
"There is NO shortage of bases. Neither there is of grips. Neither, of base+grip sets.
US dealer sometimes gets late with site stock updates/refreshing, hence the goods appear "out of stock"."

It sounds like US sales are held up because VKB HQ hasn't replied to a request for quantities updates. Is there communication actually going on between people at HQ and independent US reseller? Is everyone waiting on automated email bots pinging each other back and forth without resolution? Or is there some actual shortage of units overseas, which is why there hadnt been an update to the quantities available on the US side?

The original post and the reply taken together make it seem like this is simply an administrative problem because someone isnt answering an email.

[PhoenixCNE]

Hi,

As AeroGator already eluded to, we at VKBcontrollers.com are sales partners (independently owned and operated) for VKB HQ, facilitating orders from retail customers, fulfilled by VKB HQ in China.

That said, right now we're just waiting for quantities updates from VKB HQ on items that currently appear out of stock.

In case anyone is curious about the process: Our webshop's software automatically sends emails to VKB HQ when product quantities run low, and once again when quantities run out. We then have to wait until VKB HQ provides new product quantities based on their warehouse inventory allotment for VKBcontrollers.com, so we can plug these numbers into the respective product page for products to appear "In Stock" again for customers to be able to place orders.

VKB HQ providing product quantities allotted to VKBcontrollers.com is *not* automated, so it sometimes takes a while before we get updated numbers from them.

The reason why VKBcontrollers.com relies on accurate numbers of available products from VKB HQ is to prevent overselling items, which would lead to frustration if we showed an item "In Stock", while the warehouse doesn't have it on hand for delivery.

Thanks.

I have to reluctantly agree with Dino that this does sound kind of odd they way you have both posted things …. why is there an allotment for VKBcontrollers specifically, when all orders come from VKB HQ in china? If there is stock, there is stock no?. I understand not wanting to "oversell" but if we in the US can't buy product that is sitting in the same warehouse as other unsold product simply because it is not "allotted" for us, what is the reason? It does start to sound like we can't buy things because there is not enough communication. Please explain how this is wrong, I'm not trying to attack just understand.

[rrohde]

When VKB HQ has products to allocate to VKBcontrollers.com, they will communicate that to us in due time, and we then act on that by opening up ordering swiftly. That said, we're not privy to how VKB HQ handles their inventory allocations and allotments internally for their international outlets, as that's their prerogative - not ours.

Thanks.

[DinoMight]

AeroGator,
Can you clarify what's going on here? Your original post and Rrohdes' posts contradict each other.

Thanks.

[AeroGator]

If there is stock, there is stock no?

Can you clarify what's going on here?

Gentlemen thank you for your interest.
If you have any problem trying to buy VKB products in the USA, please simply contact the dealer.
As explained above, the only reason for product being out of stock in the US is its absence in VKB main storage in China.
Or, an update glitch - happens seldom but no store management system is perfect. If the latter is the reason, the product will be back in stock as soon as update takes place (usually within 24 hrs). If the former - well, just sit back and wait a bit, we're busy making more to stock up.

Oh yes, talking stocking up... You may notice the Gunfighter2-based joysticks are indeed out of stock.
We sold out all Gunfighter2, and the next re-stocking will be guess what, Gunfighter3.
Worry not, Santa won't come empty-handed - GF3 will arrive before Xmas.

When GF3 is ready to be mailed out, we will announce its arrival. Upgrade kits will be announced at the same time.