diff --git a/lib/dao.js b/lib/dao.js
index 00fbf18c..6595a576 100644
--- a/lib/dao.js
+++ b/lib/dao.js
@@ -341,31 +341,10 @@ DataAccessObject.findByIds = function(ids, cond, cb) {
   filter.where[pk] = { inq: ids };
   mergeQuery(filter, cond || {});
   this.find(filter, function(err, results) {
-    cb(err, err ? results : this.sortByIds(ids, results));
+    cb(err, err ? results : utils.sortObjectsByIds(pk, ids, results));
   }.bind(this));
 };
 
-DataAccessObject.sortByIds = function(ids, results) {
-  var pk = this.dataSource.idName(this.modelName) || 'id';
-  ids = ids.map(function(id) {
-      return (typeof id === 'object') ? id.toString() : id;
-  });
-  
-  results.sort(function(x, y) {
-    var idA = (typeof x[pk] === 'object') ? x[pk].toString() : x[pk];
-    var idB = (typeof y[pk] === 'object') ? y[pk].toString() : y[pk];
-    var a = ids.indexOf(idA);
-    var b = ids.indexOf(idB);
-    if (a === -1 || b === -1) return 1; // last
-    if (a !== b) {
-      if (a > b) return 1;
-      if (a < b) return -1;
-    }
-  });
-  
-  return results;
-};
-
 function convertNullToNotFoundError(ctx, cb) {
   if (ctx.result !== null) return cb();
 
diff --git a/lib/utils.js b/lib/utils.js
index 520cf462..6afb9129 100644
--- a/lib/utils.js
+++ b/lib/utils.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ exports.parseSettings = parseSettings;
 exports.mergeSettings = mergeSettings;
 exports.isPlainObject = isPlainObject;
 exports.defineCachedRelations = defineCachedRelations;
+exports.sortObjectsByIds = sortObjectsByIds;
 
 var traverse = require('traverse');
 
@@ -203,4 +204,40 @@ function defineCachedRelations(obj) {
 function isPlainObject(obj) {
   return (typeof obj === 'object') && (obj !== null)
     && (obj.constructor === Object);
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
+
+
+
+function sortObjectsByIds(idName, ids, objects, strict) {
+  ids = ids.map(function(id) {
+      return (typeof id === 'object') ? id.toString() : id;
+  });
+  
+  var indexOf = function(x) {
+    var isObj = (typeof x[idName] === 'object'); // ObjectID
+    var id = isObj ? x[idName].toString() : x[idName];
+    return ids.indexOf(id);
+  };
+  
+  var heading = [];
+  var tailing = [];
+  
+  objects.forEach(function(x) {
+    if (typeof x === 'object') {
+      var idx = indexOf(x);
+      if (strict && idx === -1) return;
+      idx === -1 ? tailing.push(x) : heading.push(x);
+    }
+  });
+  
+  heading.sort(function(x, y) {
+    var a = indexOf(x);
+    var b = indexOf(y);
+    if (a === -1 || b === -1) return 1; // last
+    if (a === b) return 0;
+    if (a > b) return 1;
+    if (a < b) return -1;
+  });
+  
+  return heading.concat(tailing);
+};
diff --git a/test/util.test.js b/test/util.test.js
index 81de4a75..f933190a 100644
--- a/test/util.test.js
+++ b/test/util.test.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ var utils = require('../lib/utils');
 var fieldsToArray = utils.fieldsToArray;
 var removeUndefined = utils.removeUndefined;
 var mergeSettings = utils.mergeSettings;
+var sortObjectsByIds = utils.sortObjectsByIds;
 
 describe('util.fieldsToArray', function () {
   it('Turn objects and strings into an array of fields to include when finding models', function () {
@@ -185,4 +186,35 @@ describe('mergeSettings', function () {
 
     should.deepEqual(dst.acls, expected.acls, 'Merged settings should match the expectation');
   });
-});
\ No newline at end of file
+});
+
+describe('sortObjectsByIds', function () {
+  
+  var items = [
+    { id: 1, name: 'a' },
+    { id: 2, name: 'b' },
+    { id: 3, name: 'c' },
+    { id: 4, name: 'd' },
+    { id: 5, name: 'e' },
+    { id: 6, name: 'f' }
+  ];
+
+  it('should sort', function() {
+    var sorted = sortObjectsByIds('id', [6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1], items);
+    var names = sorted.map(function(u) { return u.name; });
+    should.deepEqual(names, ['f', 'e', 'd', 'c', 'b', 'a']);
+  });
+
+  it('should sort - partial ids', function() {
+    var sorted = sortObjectsByIds('id', [5, 3, 2], items);
+    var names = sorted.map(function(u) { return u.name; });
+    should.deepEqual(names, ['e', 'c', 'b', 'a', 'd', 'f']);
+  });
+  
+  it('should sort - strict', function() {
+    var sorted = sortObjectsByIds('id', [5, 3, 2], items, true);
+    var names = sorted.map(function(u) { return u.name; });
+    should.deepEqual(names, ['e', 'c', 'b']);
+  });
+
+});