/biz/ - Business & Finance

>>27619911
In business, a seller may pre-sell an item that they do not yet have in their possession. Often this will be due to a delayed shipment from the supplier. When it comes time for the seller to deliver to the buyer, they cannot fulfill the order because the supplier was late. The buyer may cancel the order leaving the seller with a lost sale, useless inventory, and the need to deal with the tardy supplier. Meanwhile, the buyer will not have what they need. Remedies include the seller going into the market to buy the desired goods at what may be higher prices.

The same scenario applies to financial and commodity instruments. Failure to deliver in one part of the chain can impact participants much further down that chain.

During the financial crisis of 2008, failures to deliver increased. Much the same as check kiting, where someone writes a check but has not yet secured the funds to cover it, sellers did not surrender securities sold on time. They delayed the process to buy securities at a lower price for delivery. Regulators still need to address this practice.