I know many of you have asked this question , but I still don't get it.? Hobby stores sell stuff, but they don't have it? Out of Stock. Some of these items have been Out of Stock for over a year now. What is going on with this.? It seems to me, if you can not supply a product you advertise, then close the ad, do not advertise it on your website.
Out of Stock, Out of Stock, it go's on and on with most of the hobby shops. What is the problem???

If the store can get you to visit their site in any way, there is a chance that you might buy something else.
I suppose that having plenty of planes for sale leads to better results when indexed by a search engine.

The distributors are letting stuff become out of stock also.

It's nothing new. Out of stock or back ordered items have been the norm for companies as long as I can remember. I have a friend that had to wait for a couple months when he ordered his new DLE engine from Tower. Valley View had them in stock but he waited because he had coupons and free shipping fromTower. Sometimes the deal is worth the wait, sometimes it's worth it to you to go someplace else or just forget the item. Buyers choice.

This is especially hard times for hobbies like this...no one wants a store full of stuff if its not moving ,so until they get the orders to make it worth it, why order?....just my 2 cents...Rog

The LHS tells me

"WECANORDERITFORYOU"

I can order it myself

Its happening to many industries, not just the hobby industry.
Inventory cost money, so on hand quantities are reduced. Manufacturers shorten their production runs, producing less. Welcome to the recession – although if we are at the bottom it should be called a depression but ever since the 30’s we have gotten away from that term.

Sig just ran into a problem with their overseas supplier. Seems they were holding out for more money and negotiations fell through and they dumped the stuff on the market elsewhere. Despite having Sig parts in the planes! They really appear to have gotten a raw deal, now everybody is pissed at Sig . Guess Iwill have to learn to build kits, thats OK

I know my LHS has been having trouble with both Horizon and Great Planes not shipping stuff for the last couple months.  I think the economy has recovered enough that people are starting to spend money on their hobbies again and the suppliers just haven't ramped up the supplies yet.

I just left employment with a LHS....let me shed some light on this for you...
1. sometimes the shop just doesn't have it, it just sold out etc etc...
2. at times the manufactuer will discontinue an item for a while...the distributor still has it, but with every shop in the nation ordering from a couple of distributors...it doesn't take long for it to become out of stock...
3. at times the distributor drops the ball, as well as the LHS, and doesn't order something...it's easier to say out of stock than ooopps...(this is rare)

These are some of the reasons not all....but there isn't some conspiracy to drive up prices or to get you to visit web sites......

Oh yea sometimes a distributors customer support will have a part, for those warrenity items that has not been released so that the distributor can ship out for orders to LHS...

Distributors will hold items ordered by LHS until the LHS order reaches a certain dollor amount.....all of these things slow the process of getting parts in your hands by your LHS...so the part is ordered not received.....it's out of stock

Online retailers operate on a shoestring too, and it adds up to have a guy clean up your website regularly. Think of it as going into a brick and mortar store and finding a bin for a product they haven't had for a while.

I understand the out of Stock deal. Hobby shops still have item for sale, that have been on back order for well over a year now.
They can not even give you an approimate date of delivery, they don't know. The overseas business is tremendous, yet they will not supply the items people desire. Why? Money. The U.S companies can not afford to build items and ship them to retail stores. So we sit here and wait for the foreighn counties to do the work. They charge the retail owner shipping, which is passed on to us, thus as a result, higher prices. They own this market, and people support it. My question still stands, why are models out of stock for over a year? They do have the parts, and can supply. They are not doing it. Why?

Take a look at post 13 on Fox 50 gas in this forum: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_9751966/tm.htm

I think that old method of supply just may be coming back.