The unavailable-item message always seems to appear after a customer has decided and paid. It is a routine event in a catalogue business, not a crisis — but the order in which you react determines whether you keep the customer.

Why items disappear

Four common reasons, and the right response differs for each:

  • A promoted item sold through. Discounts concentrate demand into a short window against a finite batch
  • The item left the range. With a new catalogue roughly every three weeks, some products do not carry over
  • A temporary supply gap. It will return, but no one can give you a date in advance
  • Regional availability. Faberlic ships to more than 40 countries and stock is not uniform everywhere

The product page will not tell you which of these applies. Faberlic support is the only source that knows whether something is coming back, and even they will not always commit to a date.

The sequence that works

  1. Tell the customer immediately. Waiting to see if it resolves itself converts a small disappointment into a broken promise.
  2. Split the order rather than holding it. Ship what is available now. A partial delivery is almost always better received than an indefinite wait.
  3. Offer an alternative only if you can justify it. Same purpose, same category, something you have used or can genuinely describe. "Something else nice" is how consultants lose credibility.
  4. Re-check at the start of the next cycle. A share of missing items reappears with the new catalogue.

Handling money already taken

Give the customer the choice: refund now, or carry the amount to the next cycle. It is their money and their decision, and stating the policy once — before it is ever needed — removes the awkwardness entirely. Holding someone's payment against a product that may never return is the fastest way to lose repeat business.

Suggesting alternatives honestly

Match on function, not on price. If someone wanted a cleanser, the substitute is another cleanser suited to the same skin type — not whatever is discounted this cycle. Check the current catalogue on faberlic.com for what is actually listed rather than working from memory; ranges rotate faster than anyone's recollection of them.

If you cannot describe the alternative in two honest sentences, do not offer it. Say the item is unavailable, offer a refund, and keep the relationship intact for the next catalogue.

Reducing how often this happens

Order promotional items early in the cycle rather than at the deadline, and ask every customer for a second choice at the moment they place a request. One extra question at collection time prevents two uncomfortable conversations later.

More on running the customer side sensibly is in the business section.