Zebralight - What the hell, everything is back order?

djmm

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May 3, 2014
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I went to their website and everything is back order. They don't like sales?
 

markr6

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They seem like popular lights and I love mine. But I still don't understand this backorder and out of stock thing after several years now. And you shouldn't have to always count on the distributors to have them.
 

djmm

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May 3, 2014
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Yeah certainly need to work on the back order status - or at least if it's back ordered, have a relatively accurate estimate of when they're gonna be in stock.
There are many competitors, pretty sure they must have lost a few customers who went to buy other brands because they just can't tell when the stocks will be in stock again.
 

newbie66

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Yeah, my dealer complained of the very slow stock replenishment. Very difficult to restock or get new products due to slow manufacturing. It's like Zebralight has a very small factory producing only a 2-3 lights a day or something.
 

InspectHerGadget

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Apr 17, 2014
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I ordered the SC600 twice and cancelled each order after a week!

I ordered a ThruNite TN12 for less than half the price in neutral white on Monday. it has been shipped from Singapore already. I live in Perth so I may have it by Friday (if I'm lucky). It is just a five hour flight from Singapore to Perth. I don't know how TN do it and ZL don't but this business is more than just light design, it is about quality control and inventory control and ZL strike out on both.
 

Snipe315

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I think they have production issues for sure.

I gave up on ever seeing them put out the SC80 replacement (SC82) after it was pushed back again & again. It was originally supposed to come out in 2013!
 

djmm

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Sort of makes me wary about buying this light. If they are so slow and not prompt in things that actually make money for them (selling flash lights), how much worse when it comes to repair/warranty works?
 

RetroTechie

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Good point. As for potential buyers: this basically means "avoid ordering from ZL directly, and find a dealer" ? (as in: buy from whatever that dealer has in stock, and arrange warranty issues with that dealer too). :thinking:

Tolerable if you're into ZL lights, but pretty **** poor management on ZL's part imho... :crazy: Short-term supply problems can happen to any vendor, but the same problem over years? :shakehead
 

kj2

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May 22, 2010
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I think it would be better for Zebralight, if they explain why they have these problems. Will answer a lot of questions and can give some of us
a peace of mind :)
 

f22shift

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i guess we can only speculate. i'm gonna go with the production issue. their design is very minimal which could equate to poor yields as they try to reduce the size every model year. could be totally wrong though.
 

LEDburn

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Jul 26, 2010
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Gee it could also have something to do with the fact their lights are made from one bar of alloy! They have told me before their lights usually take a lot more time to produce due to the small space they allow for electronics etc.
Most manufacturers have a removable head which I am sure makes thing so much easier to produce.
 

Etsu

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I think they're just clueless at inventory management. They need better management.
 

pepekraft

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When I was looking for an SC52w-L2, I emailed them and got a prompt reply that there was currently around a 4-week lead time, and you get in line by ordering. I ordered, and a month later they shipped. I'm very happy with the light and the company. ymmv.
 

Ishango

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Sort of makes me wary about buying this light. If they are so slow and not prompt in things that actually make money for them (selling flash lights), how much worse when it comes to repair/warranty works?

That's a different story. I've got terrible experiences with their customer service and warranty. I like their lights, but I will never buy from them directly again. At least buying it from a local dealer here makes the dealer responsible for warranty by law. Unfortunately the only local ZL dealer almost never has stock as well.
 

Derek Dean

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It's kind of funny. We get this same type of ZL thread about every 6-8 months, and we've been getting it for years. We know they are capable of producing wonderful flashlights, and we know that people want to buy them, but for some reason they seem to resist the temptation to actually meet that demand.

Personally, I think it's a conspiracy.
 

juplin

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Mar 26, 2007
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It's kind of funny. We get this same type of ZL thread about every 6-8 months, and we've been getting it for years. We know they are capable of producing wonderful flashlights, and we know that people want to buy them, but for some reason they seem to resist the temptation to actually meet that demand.

Personally, I think it's a conspiracy.
Key word is "hungry marketing" :D
 

sac02

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May 26, 2010
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It's been like this for a long time (years).


This is a textbook, classic, prime example of a business with cash flow problems.


No credit and not enough cash on hand to buy more than one shipment of a product at a time (even if it is in demand and sells quickly). Suppliers won't release more product until payment is received from ZL because ZL is constantly late or defaulting on payment.


Plain and simple.
 
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KITROBASKIN

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It's been like this for a long time (years).


This is a textbook, classic, prime example of a business with cash flow problems.


No credit and not enough cash on hand to buy more than one shipment of a product at a time (even if it is in demand and sells quickly). Suppliers won't release more product until payment is received from ZL because ZL is constantly late or defaulting on payment.


Plain and simple.

Interesting perspective. Maybe something to it. It just seems also that the 'suppliers' are part of the problem, what with all the imperfections reported here on CPF. And while $65 to $90 or so is a lot of money for a flashlight, it may be that ZL is using some fast-and-loose manufacturers to keep the cost down. Oveready makes really nice equipment, and they are selling just the P60 engines for $160 or $200. But their product, at least what I have, is stellar. And their customer service is truly outstanding. They handle my pestering with aplomb and speedy resolve. Whereas ZL has not replaced a defective flashlight I sent them for quite some time now. That's who they are. I just wish they would explain their situation openly and accurately.
 
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