Just to clarify the "order" v "pre-order" issue ...

I deal all the time with a company in the US who manufacture the most innovative woodworking tools and accessories you could wish for.

On occasion, they bring out a product which they believe will have a viable market, but prudently, they do not go ahead blindly and manufacture thousands of the items without knowing what the demand is actually going to be.

So what they do is ask for "pre-orders". If sufficient "pre-orders " do not materialise then the product will not get manufactured and nobody loses any money.

What happens in this case is that your credit card does not get charged until the item is actually ready for dispatch.

If you are asked to pay in full at the time you place the order ...then you are not in any way "pre-ordering" the item ...you are ordering it, period. There is an implication that the item is in stock and available for dispatch or collection.