Pre-ordering from Amazon.com

[Perun]

It's a bit of an odd question, but hopefully someone can help

When pre-ordering things from Amazon.com (say, oh... 4e core books ), when do they charge your credit card -- immediately, or when the items are ready to be shipped?

A friend wants to pre-order 4e books, but some odd wording in Pre-Order Price Guarantee (where they talk about refunding your credit card, in item 4 on the linked list) caused some confusion.

It's been awhile since I ordered anything from the Amazon, but I seem to recall things are usually charged right before shipping.

I tried to find something definitive in the Amazon.com Help section, but I wasn't able to. So, if anyone knows how it works, or (even better) knows where to find such info on the Amazon.com site, I'd be really grateful.

Thanks in advance.

 

[trancejeremy]

I preordered something from them just last month, and I didn't get charged until they shipped. (Which unfortunately was a week after it came out, but at least I saved $2, I guess)

 

[CanadienneBacon]

I've always been charged right as the items are shipping, not when I originally placed my pre-order. And once the price dropped in the interim--and was reflected in what I was billed, to boot.

 

[Perun]

Thanks a lot, folks!

 

[Deset Gled]

I haven't bought anything online is awhile, but many internet stores used to charge pre-orders as soon as you put in the order. I know this because it used to be a way to take advantage of price errors. Under normal circumstances (where the card was not charged until shipment), they could catch the error before shipment and not honor the order. In cases where they already charged your credit card, though, they were much more likely to honor the error, since getting the charge reversed is generally more time/cost consuming than the product. I used this loophole to get a DVD boxed set of The Tomorrow People for $5 instead of $50.

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that policy has changed for this very reason.