The Magic (and Math) of Consolidation

There are a lot of shops out there, bookstores even, but Tankobonbon has a unique feature that you probably heard of: consolidation or combining orders into one or in lesser pieces so it'll arrive with less shipping expenses. You'll love it and, of course, we love it too, it's a win-win situation!

Consolidation is not unique to Tankobonbon, in fact, there are a lot of smaller and bigger shops who are implementing this. It might be confusing at first, but it's magical behind-the-scenes. Once you get the gist of it, it'll become a standard for shopping.

Why is consolidation necessary?

Several times a month, Tankobonbon posts restocks--and a lot of it. Sometimes, you'll buy in a panic and forgot to add a book or you were probably short on funds to buy three so you bought one book first then two books later. Every time you checkout, you pay for shipping, and you could've saved up on shipping if it's shipped together, right? Hence, you'll consolidate it.

How do I consolidate?

To be frank, you don't have to let us know, it's automatic! We do the work behind-the-scenes.. unless of course if you want to add a book (as much as we get a gist of your impeccable taste, we can't guess the next book your reading but we can recommend ;)).

So how does it happen?

It's pretty complicated and math-filled at first sight, but I know you'll get it! The calculation is not heavy. This is how we work on it behind-the-scenes.

Say you have three orders for example:

• A Man & His Cat Vol. 1 (backorder)
• A Man & His Cat Vol. 2 (backorder)
• Free shipping applied

In this situation, we already have Takane & Hana Vol. 1 for you since March 29--just waiting for Takane & Hana Vol. 2 until it ships out. As for the rest, it's all backorders.

Then, on June 5, for example, we get the following restock:

* 60/100 means that only 60 books arrived out of the 100 we ordered, so the remaining 40 will be shipped on our next restock.

Oh look! Three books from the restock could be yours! But A Man & His Cat Vol. 1 only has two copies that was shipped out of the seven that was ordered.

Let's see if your order made the cut through our list of backorders
(which isn't for public view but for example purposes it will be like below):

1. #TBB0004
2. #TBB0084
3. #TBB0099
4. #TBB0111
5. #TBB0134

As you can see, your order is the third backorder, hence you unfortunately didn't make the cut... for now. But let's see if you made the cut for other books.

1. #TBB0004
2. #TBB0099

A Man & His Cat Vol. 2 only has two backorders, so one copy will be available for on-hand since three copies are arriving, and of course, you made the cut! As for Jujutsu Kaisen Vol. 7... let's just say you made the cut. Hooray!

Your orders are now updated with those in blue already with us:

• Takane & Hana Vol. 1 (was on-hand on March 29)
• Takane & Hana Vol. 2 (backorder)
• ₱150 shipping fee is paid

Since the acquired books are scattered between multiple orders, it might seem pretty difficult, but don't worry! Our magic begins here.

We'll ship out the three blue-colored books together and no need to let us know. But how about the shipping fee?

For example the total shipping fee of those three books when we booked it costs ₱150. We used up #TBB0049's ₱100 shipping fee and grabbed ₱50 from #TBB0001's ₱150 shipping fee.

Your order will now look like this:

• Takane & Hana Vol. 2 (backorder)
• ₱100 shipping fee remaining

• A Man & His Cat Vol. 1 (backorder)
• Free shipping applied

And in the next few days, you should receive those three books!

But what if there are no other orders to get the inadequate shipping fee from?

Your points will be deducted to compensate it, though usually we just get it from our tips (thank you for the tips!) or charge you by emailing about it (which could be paid via COD).

What if I asked to "Ship early acquired"?

In the special requests asking to ship the on-hand orders early, the same process is done with deducting shipping fees to your current order/s. If the remaining book ran out of shipping fee, we'll email you about it and if you want, you could request to just pay for the shipping via COD. Neat, right?

What if I asked to "Ship altogether"?

We determine in-house if this is plausible. We'll still put it in your order notes, but if it's something popular with a slow reprint rate like Jujutsu Kaisen, it might take a long time, so if there are new orders, we'll ship what we have with it.

What if I want to hold the shipping of an order and wait for other orders?

If you live far away, able to wait, and wants to receive lesser packages, put "Hold and ship with #TBB0000 or CDJA0000" or just let us know through order notes (fill this out on your cart prior to checkout) and we'll see what we can do.

Is it possible for consolidated books to be free shipping?

Nope. If one of the books have a free shipping coupon, it will be returned to you (if you claimed it via points) and shipping fee will be deducted elsewhere.

What if I ordered two on-hand orders just hours apart and paid shipping fee for both?

The other will be refunded, points returned, or deducted.

Do you do this on every single order?

We check every single order manually, yes. It's time consuming, but we're always seeking on ways to speed it up through programming. We're made up of programming enthusiasts than business. Computer science is a math magician after all! It's now quicker than you think, but we're still seeking to make it even faster.

How to request to "Ship Early Acquired"?

Please use the site bot (which we'll change in the next few days so it's much easier) and CLICK on the "Ship Order Early" button.

How to edit order notes?

Please use the site bot (which we'll change in the next few days so it's much easier) and CLICK on the "Modify Order" button.

Conclusion

• You order something new that's on-hand (so the others can consolidate with it), OR
• Request to ship an order early.