Everything you order from Sunnah Shifa is available stock. As with a lot of small businesses of this nature, small batches are made for most of the products. This means that when stock is replenished, a certain quantity is made to ensure quality & longevity control.
The shelf life of each handmade, natural product varies and for this reason, it’s not feasible to have products sitting on a stocked shelf, waiting to be ordered. This can result in wastage, as in the event that products are not ordered within their shelf life term, they would expire and go to waste.
Custom orders:
The option of custom orders is also available. This means that if you were wanting (for example) a tub of ‘Sunnah Shifa Shea Butter’, for a specific skin type/condition/need, then you would be able to ask me directly for this and I would be happy to facilitate.
These custom orders are ready made at the time that the order is confirmed and custom orders can be made either via my Etsy shop, Instagram DM or by email.
Please note: I do not take any form pre payment for these orders (unless ordered via Etsy as it is an automated custom order service).
Therefore, once a custom order has been confirmed and/or agreed on, I rely on the customer’s good word and trust that they will follow through with their order.
Pre orders for select products:
With a very few select products such as; Elderberry Syrup & Seamoss, the order process is slightly more complicated.
I always have ingredients to make my products to hand, ready to make any product in question. However, with fresh, edible, short term shelf life products, it is essential that batches are not made to go to waste.
For this reason, I don’t make batches without an expressed consumer interest, despite having the ingredients needed to do so, and so small batches are made to suit consumer demand.
It is too time consuming and impractical to make fresh, single items of these products to suit one-off orders. Therefore, batches have to be made but to avoid waste, customers must be wanting to order!
Hence, when a fresh batch of Seamoss is due to be prepared (which is usually around once every month) there are already a few customers who have enquired about when it will be back in stock and who have expressed their interest in ordering.
This then leads to me advertising (via my social media platforms such as; Instagram/Facebook page/WhatsApp) that I will be making a fresh batch of eg. Seamoss, and those who are interested in ordering, to kindly let me know.
This process is what I call my ‘preorder’ process. Customers then show interest, confirm their ‘preorder’ with me in writing and their name goes onto a list.
Note: I have all of the ingredients to hand and am ready to make the product. There is no payment made by way of a deposit or any kind of financial transaction between Sunnah Shifa and the customer. This is purely a verbal bond (by word & writing via dm or email etc) between the customer and myself (Sunnah Shifa) to state that the customer is committing to completing the order once the product is ready.
The turnaround for this process is 24 hours; this means that the whole process (outlined below) is completed within 24 hours;
- The product is advertised to be made
- The customers respond and confirm their interest and place their preorder (verbally/written bonding agreement)
- The preorder list is made
- The product is made (quantity based on consumer needs to avoid waste and ensure freshness)
- The customers who have preordered are informed that their order is ready
- The customer and seller (Sunnah Shifa) agree on a payment method
- The customer makes a payment
- The product/order is shipped to the customer
The above pre order process does not happen often but it is essential to note that in order to avoid waste, the customer must appreciate and understand the commitment that they are making when they agree to placing a preorder. By waste, it is not only the product that goes to waste but also the time it takes me to make and prepare it etc - it becomes a waste of time and effort, along with the physical and financial waste.
In the event that customers place their pre orders (without any deposit or pre payment etc), the product is made, the customer is informed and then suddenly declines the order (retracts their preorder and basically goes back on their word), I, Sunnah Shifa, the maker and seller, am at a loss and there is a breakdown in trust between the seller and customer.
Sadly, this does occur and in such cases, if it is only one customer then it’s manageable and the product can be advertised as being available to order, in the hope that someone will order it within its shelf life. But imagine if every customer who had placed preorders did that?! It would be a huge loss and a complete waste of time etc. Please consider these factors when placing orders with people who run small businesses, as acts of carelessness can have very real consequences.
I hope that this be a means of clarification to those who may not have been aware of the order processes and an insight into the ‘behind the scenes’ chez Sunnah Shifa.
As always, I value your good custom!
JazaakAllahu khayran (May Allah reward you)
Aameen
It was narrated that ‘Abd-Allah ibn Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “There are four characteristics, whoever has them all is a pure hypocrite: when he speaks he lies, when he makes a promise he breaks it, when he makes a covenant he betrays it, and when he disputes he resorts to obscene speech. Whoever has one of them has one of the characteristics of hypocrisy, until he gives it up.”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 3178; Muslim, 58.
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It was narrated that ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever breaks the covenant of a Muslim, upon him be the curse of Allah, the angels and all the people, and Allah will not accept any obligatory or naafil act of worship from him.”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 1870; Muslim, 1370.
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