At Little Bird, we pride ourselves on shipping almost instantly!
We want to ship fast as humanly possible, and we take unreasonable steps to do this, including:
- engineering robots to automate picking orders
- building shipping scales and label printers
- provide you with a photo of the items we've sent you ahead of time
- automatic document printing, barcoding and weight checks etc
- software that means we can track and receive supplier orders faster than anyone
- more software to keep an eye on orders once they've shipped (the job isn't done when we ship, it's once you've recevied your order)
We genuinely care about our customers. We can't think of another company that builds shipping robots and shipping software/hardware just to get orders out the door faster!
Therefore, if an order hasn’t been dispatched immediately, it’s most likely because you ordered a part with a lead time.
So what is a lead time?
A lead time is the amount of time between placing an order and when the item is ready to ship (or sometimes when it actually arrives).
In other words:
Lead time = how long it takes the supplier to dispatch the product after you order it.
It does not include courier transit time. That’s the shipping method.
Example:
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Lead time: “Ships in 5–7 business days”
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Shipping method: “Express Post: 1–2 business days transit”
How does Little Bird show availability?
We display our availability in numerous places on our website:
On Collection Pages: Inventory information is displayed on product collection pages.
Quick Search Results: Inventory information is displayed in our Quick Search Results.
Product Pages: Inventory information is displayed on product pages.
We also indicate how a product will be delivered to you.
If a product is shipping directly from our Sydney warehouse, we note it on the product page with the following text: "Ships direct from Sydney."
If a product is coming from a supplier, or is on backorder, we indicate this with the wording: "Ships from OS via Sydney."
The stock delivery path is indicated on the product page.
Both the "Ships direct from Sydney" text and "Ships from OS via Sydney" link to our Shipping & Delivery information page, which includes clear explanations about the meaning of the text.
In addition to differentiating the two states with different text, we also highlight the differences between them by using different icons and colors.
In addition to displaying our live inventory numbers, we also use different colored backgrounds to clearly distinguish between the statuses.
We further reinforce expectations with the following text next to the various "Add to Cart" buttons:
How do you address individuals who are "not into reading"?
We use icons, coloured wells, coloured text and emoji to indicate differences in availability.
Can you let me know via email?
We sure can! Maddy also sends a reminder email if we see you have a part that has a lead time.
This reminder email highlights the items that have a lead time and we provide a link to where you can purchase split shipping.
What is the difference between "Supplier dispatch lead time" and "Shipping method"
The difference lies in timing and control: Supplier dispatch lead time is the time it takes to prepare and send an order, controlled by the supplier, like Adafruit, SparkFun, DFRobot etc.
For products in our Sydney warehouse, this is insanely quick because we do it. If you're ordering a part that is coming from one of our suppliers, it will take additional time.
Shipping method (like Express Post, Parcel Post) refers to the courier service's delivery speed and features, affecting how quickly the order reaches you after dispatch.
When is a product "Back Ordered"?
“Back Ordered” applies only when an item is not in stock at Little Bird Sydney and unavailable from our supplier, or, for products we manufacture, when the item is not currently available because it is awaiting or undergoing production.
An item is not considered “Back Ordered” if it is simply in transit from an overseas warehouse or has a normal supplier lead time.
A note on Supplier Inventory from Adafruit
We spend millions with our suppliers, and they generally prioritise dispatching our orders over others. This is NOT the case with Adafruit.
If your project is time-sensitive:
If a product is not available in local inventory, it will almost always be faster to order directly from Adafruit as a consumer and cover the shipping, duties, and taxes yourself.
If that time still doesn’t work for you, we might have an alternative to the product you’re after. Many of our suppliers use the chip but give the product different names. To find alternatives, enter the chip number into our search.
Additional Expectation Setting
Unless you opted for split shipping, your entire order will be dispatched when all items are ready for dispatch. What influences the dispatch and delivery dates of my order? Several factors affect these dates, including:
- Your location (beyond our control)
- Supplier dispatch speeds (beyond our control)
- International and state COVID restrictions (beyond our control)
- Australia Post's delivery capacity (beyond our control)
- And more
Most of these elements are outside our team's control.
Our team is committed to ensuring your satisfaction and aims to dispatch products as swiftly as possible.
If you chose Express Post during checkout, it accelerates the delivery by Australia Post once the parcel leaves our warehouse. However, it does not influence the dispatch ETA.
Regarding a more precise ETA, we will contact you if we anticipate missing the original ETA. We are unable to provide a more detailed ETA than what was provided at the time of ordering, as we share all available information with you.
Why can we purchase products from suppliers?
We allow backorders from our suppliers to offer you a wider selection for your projects. Our goal is to maximize your choices and freedoms.
Plus, given the technical nature of what we sell, our customers are generally well-equipped to interpret lead time, shipping methods etc. Or, to put it more bluntly: Our customers are not numpties because you’ve got to be pretty switched on to use our products.
Lead times are too complex for me!
1. You can limit yourself to only seeing Australian inventory in your search with this filter.
2. We have another site, piaustralia.com.au, which doesn’t allow ordering items with a lead time.
Regarding refunds:
Generally, we can process refunds. Please be aware that for orders paid by card, a 5% fee may apply to cover bank fees for processing and refunding your payment (unfortunately, this is due to bank policies).
If a part is coming in from a supplier, additional fees may apply. These additional fees are because we want to avoid situations where a customer backorders a niche item, cancels at the last minute, and we’re left holding stock that no one else will buy for the next 10 years!