See Stock Levels Before You Order Promotional Products
Every product page on hotline.co.uk shows the number of units we're holding, so you can check availability against the...
Every product page on hotline.co.uk shows the number of units we're holding, so you can check availability against the quantity you need before you commit to anything.
Every product page on hotline.co.uk shows the number of units we're holding, so you can check availability against the quantity you need before you commit to anything. On the Deluxe 10oz canvas tote that currently reads "In stock (33,950)". On clothing, the figure breaks down by size, so the Urban Women's Hoodie shows 40 in small, 41 in medium and only 6 in XL.
Choosing a product, uploading your logo, approving a proof and then finding there are 40 units available when you need 200 is a bad afternoon. It also tends to happen at the point in a project when there's least time left to fix it.
Where stock is shown
Stock sits on the product page itself, near the starting price and the minimum order quantity. You will see one of two things.
In stock (33,950) means we're holding that many units.
Low stock (16 left) means the number is getting short, and it tells you exactly how short.
Both give you a real number rather than a tick, a traffic light or a vague "available". If you need 250 units and the page says 240, you know that before you start rather than after you've committed. On clothing the figure is shown against the size you've selected, so it changes as you work through the size run.
Stock on clothing, size by size
Clothing is where availability catches people out, because a garment can be well stocked overall and short in the two sizes half your team wears. Here is how the Urban Women's Hoodie reads today:
| Size | Availability |
|---|---|
| S | In stock (40) |
| M | In stock (32) |
| L | Low stock (16 left) |
| XL | Low stock (6 left) |
| 2XL | Low stock (15 left) |
If you were ordering 30 hoodies for a team, that table tells you in one glance that small and medium are comfortable, that large is tight, and that XL needs a conversation. It also points at the practical lesson: collect sizes from your team before you order rather than after. Guessing the size split and finding out later that you needed nine XLs is one of the most common ways a clothing order gets held up.
The Urban Women's Hoodie has a minimum order quantity of 5, which means small teams can order clothing at all. Minimums are set per product rather than by blanket policy, and they range from 5 units on some clothing up to 100 on printed sweets.
Stock and speed are different questions
It's worth keeping these apart, because people often assume that in stock means fast.
Stock tells you whether the blank product exists today. The delivery date on the same page tells you when the branded product reaches you, and that includes the time it takes to print. A product can be sitting in a warehouse in its thousands and still take ten working days, because the printing has to happen either way.
The two figures work together. Stock tells you whether your quantity is achievable at all. The delivery date tells you whether it's achievable in time. Our guide to guaranteed delivery dates covers how that date is worked out.
If you're working to a fixed event date, look at both numbers on the page before you get attached to a product. Our branded hoodies and sweats range is a good place to see size-level stock in action, and the tote bags range shows what deep stock looks like on a high-volume product.
What to do if there isn't enough stock
Tell us the quantity and the date and we'll tell you straight away what's possible.
In most categories there's a similar product with deeper stock at a comparable price. On clothing there's often the same garment in a different colourway with the sizes you need. And on some products we can bring stock in, though that takes time that a deadline may not allow, which is exactly the sort of thing worth finding out on the phone rather than discovering later.
The one thing we'd ask is that you tell us the real deadline rather than a padded one. If we know the actual date, we can tell you honestly whether it works.