Backorder
back order · outstanding line · reliquat
A backorder is the portion of an order that could not be shipped and remains owed to the customer, pending replenishment. It is not a cancelled order but a maintained commitment: the line stays open until it is delivered or explicitly cancelled.
Director of publication : Florian Précigout
How it is handled reveals the quality of a commercial relationship. A backordered line with no announced date is read by the workshop as a lost order — and they reorder elsewhere, often without saying so. The most expensive backorder is not the slow one, it is the silent one.
On the workshop side the consequence is direct: the vehicle stays on the lift. A backordered part does not immobilise an invoice line, it immobilises a customer and a bay. That is why a workshop often prefers an available alternative to the exact reference expected in three days.
A backorder announced with a date, even a distant one, can be managed. A backorder with no date gets replaced.
The trap
Leaving a backorder open with no re-commitment. Stock frees up, the line remains, and delivery finally lands after the workshop has fitted something else — the order then becomes a return.
Frequently asked
Should a partially shipped order be invoiced?
Common practice is to invoice what shipped and keep the backorder open, which avoids cascading credit notes. The point is contractual rather than technical.
What should you offer when a part goes on backorder?
A date, an available alternative, or both. What is never neutral is offering nothing: the workshop carries a time constraint the order line does not.