# Real-time alerts for bracketing behavior | BracketLock

Source: https://bracketlock.com/blog/real-time-bracketing-alerts.html

Bracketing is cheapest to stop before the order ships. Once three sizes leave the warehouse, the cost is already spent: picking, packing, freight both ways, and weeks of dead inventory.

Real-time alerts change the timing. When a habitual bracketeer's multi-unit order is flagged at checkout or fulfillment, your team gets options that disappear after shipping: a fit consultation, a sizing confirmation, or a policy reminder before the label prints.

The alert only works if it is smart. Flagging every multi-unit order floods the team with false alarms, since many brackets are innocent. The signal that matters is the customer's history: repeated brackets, low keep rate, prior warnings.

Brands running history-aware alerts report a quieter queue, not a busier one. The system watches every order so the team only touches the handful that history says will come back.

### Keep reading

[Which SKUs get bracketed, and why](sku-level-bracketing.md)

[Denim, fit, and the three-pair problem](denim-three-pair.md)

[Returns fraud glossary](../glossary.md) · [BracketLock vs Loop](../alternatives/loop.md) · [BracketLock vs Happy Returns](../alternatives/happy-returns.md)

[Get a free returns fraud scan](mailto:hello@bracketlock.com?subject=Free%20returns%20fraud%20scan)

## Frequently asked questions

### What is a real-time bracketing alert?

It is a flag raised while an order is still actionable, when a cart or a just-placed order shows the multi-size pattern. The alert lets the team intervene with a fit check, a size confirmation, or a pre-shipment swap offer before the extra units ship.

### When is the best moment to act on a bracketing alert?

Between payment and fulfillment. The shopper can still confirm or drop a size with no return involved, and the warehouse has not yet picked the extra units. After shipping, the same conversation becomes a return, with all its cost and friction.

### Do bracketing alerts annoy customers?

Not when the intervention is framed as help: a quick check that they meant to order two sizes, with an easy way to keep both if they did. Shoppers who bracketed deliberately confirm in one tap. Shoppers who bracketed from uncertainty are usually grateful for the save.