Title Availability Information
One of the benefits of Pubeasy is that suppliers provide our retailers with title availability information so you have an idea of when a title might ship prior to placing your order.
Pubeasy provides you with two pieces of information: a color-code circle and an ONIX availability status.
The circle is a traffic-light system of red / yellow / green to indicate how much confidence we have that a title will ship. Green titles should ship quickly. Yellow indicates a backorder status for out of stock or not yet published titles. Red means the supplier considers the title cancelled, out of print, or otherwise unavailable for order on Pubeasy.
The ONIX availability status, such as "Print on Demand", is the specific status the supplier sent us.
How Accurate is Availability Information?
Some suppliers provide real-time personal price and availability information. See our Supplier Lists for a breakdown of which suppliers support this feature. Our other suppliers generally update us every 24 hours.
However, if a title has just won an award or otherwise become newsworthy, we suggest backordering the title even if the Pubeasy status says Available or In Stock.
How Do I Know What a Particular Status Means?
It can take time for a retailer to learn what suppliers mean by their statuses. The one we get the most questions about is "To Order". ONIX says this means that "Product is available from the supplier as a non-stock item, by special order." Simon & Schuster US tells us that they use this status for products they distribute when the item is on order at the publisher, so S&S can accept orders for the item, but it will be back ordered until it comes back into stock.
"Available" seems very straightforward, but keep in mind that this is a broader status than "In Stock". Some suppliers keep the status as "Available" even if they are temporarily out of stock rather than using more granular statuses and switching back and forth from "In Stock" to "Temporarily Unavailable" and back to "In Stock".
However, if a supplier status seems incorrect to you, please contact Support and we are happy to follow up with the supplier for you.