Sellout Policies and Procedures (Aug 2025)Updated 19 days ago
With many of our subscriptions in Sellout Mode, we wanted to update our Sellout Policy going forward, starting with our August 2025 books and boxes.
The Short Story:
Our monthly books and boxes are always limited in number, and as we allow unlimited skips, we often have more Active Subscriptions than the number of books/boxes available. This is because, over the years, we have recognized trends in how often people skip and how many Active Subscriptions actually renew within a given month.
Our curation teams work six to eight months in advance of a book's sale/renewal date, and final order numbers are decided early on. The final order number is agreed upon with the publisher/printer and is based on our projected Active Subscriber numbers. As many people skip and cancel on a regular basis, determining this number is not an exact science, but we do our best using historical data and trends. This means that even if you have an Active Subscription, spots are still limited.
Questions about "Active Subscription" versus "Active Subscriber"? Scroll to the footnotes for more information or click HERE.
If it happens that more subscriptions renew than available books, there are a couple of things that can happen.
Some people may have their renewal cancelled/refunded based on factors like previous skips, whether they renewed later than the 3rd, etc. (Please scroll to Footnotes for more information.)
To ensure as many people as possible get a book, there may be limited books or no books left for replacements. Which means, if your book is damaged during the shipping process, we will be unable to send a replacement. Damages will be compensated with points, as per our Damaged Book Replacement Policy.
If there is a sellout, we will be sure to contact those affected. Again, sellouts are rare situations. Though subscriptions on our website may be in Waitlist mode, that does not mean we have Sold Out for those with Active Subscriptions.
The Extended Edition:
Renewals
To have the best chance of getting a book in any given month, please ensure your payment details are up to date and your renewal goes through by the 3rd of the month. After the 3rd, we are unable to guarantee your renewal will be for the current month's book/box. If your renewal goes through after we have sold out, that payment will be for the next month's box.
If we happen to sell out on the first of the month, some renewals may be cancelled and refunded based on the factors outlined above, and the examples in the footnotes.
Please note that you are unable to renew earlier than the first of the month. We do send renewal reminders a few days before each renewal day. You can save [email protected] as a contact in your email account to ensure our notifications don’t go to spam.
Failed Renewals
Failed Renewals happen for various reasons, and with any failed renewal, you will be sent a Failed Renewal notification. Our system is set up to automatically retry the transaction the following day, and will attempt up to 8 renewals between the 1st and the 18th. If no renewal has gone through by the 18th, your subscription will automatically be cancelled. To avoid this, we encourage everyone to make sure their payment details are up to date before the 1st of the month.
Skips, Un-Skips and Our Unlimited Skip Policy
If you skipped a renewal and then change your mind later, you will not be able to un-skip after the 1st of the month - unless more books/boxes become available. If you do want to un-skip, you can contact customer support but they may not be able to help you right away. We are unable to guarantee you will be able to get a book/box that month, but your subscription will still be active for the next month’s renewal.
While we allow unlimited skips, repeated skips can skew our renewal projections. If a book is popular, and fewer people skip than usual, we then have an even more limited number of books to work with. This is why our Sellout Policy is in place. Be sure to note that repetitive skipping may mean missing out if we sell out in a particular month. (See footnotes.)
Cancellations and Reactivations
During times of sellout, a cancelled subscription cannot be reactivated through the customer account, and customer support will be unable to reactivate it for you. If you wish to resubscribe, you will need to join the waitlist. When not in Sellout Mode, reactivating is an option within the customer account, or you can purchase a new subscription through owlcrate.com.
Replacement for Lost or Damaged Books/Boxes
In Sellout situations, where we want as many people who have had successful renewals to get that month’s book/box as possible, we will have a smaller buffer for replacing lost shipments or damaged books. We will find solutions to lost and damaged books on a case-by-case basis, depending on any extra inventory and in accordance with our Damaged Book Replacement Policy. Replacement solutions will be at the discretion of the customer support team.
Footnotes:
What is an “Active Subscriber”?
There are two phrases we will use. “Active Subscription” and “Active Subscriber”.
While a Subscription is technically Active when not in a cancelled state, an “Active Subscriber” is someone who is renewing consistently for monthly/quarterly boxes.
Anyone with a Subscription listed as Active in their customer account will receive early access emails for Limited Edition sales. However, in a potential sellout month, Active Subscribers will be given priority when books are limited.
We do allow our subscribers to skip on Monthly YA Fantasy and Adult Fantasy plans, but repetitive skipping may mean missing out if we sell out in a particular month.
Renwal Cancellations based on Previous Skips:
In a sellout month where there aren't enough books available for everyone, cancellations for that month's renewal will be based on the following:
If a customer has skipped the previous three months, their renewal will be cancelled and refunded.
If there still aren’t enough books for all renewals, any customer who skipped the previous two months will have their renewal cancelled and refunded.
Again, if we are still short on books, any customer who skipped the previous month will have their renewal cancelled and refunded.
After this, renewal cancellations will be based on date and timestamp.
All renewals are automatically processed in a large batch, and each renewal does have a timestamp. We determine renewals vs stock based on the timestamps in the system. If it happens that too many renewals are processed before the 3rd, decisions will be made based on timestamps.
Extra Information:
Even in a sellout situation, your subscription will still renew as usual, as these actions are automated within the system. In cases where a renewal has gone through but we are unable to send you that month's book, your subscription will automatically be adjusted before the next renewal day.
If you skipped a month during a sellout and then changed your mind, we are unable to unskip for you.
Though it shouldn't be possible, any purchases made after the sellout/cut-off date will be looked into and more than likely cancelled. We do strive to keep things as fair as possible. (This mostly applies to waitlist invite links that may still be active)
If you have any questions about this policy and our processes, please email [email protected].