Uh, guys, it is not uncommon for your credit card to be charged for all sorts of things before you actually receive or use the item in question. Make a hotel reservation for 6 months in advance, and you might find the first night's stay already deducted (how do you arrest a night of rest when you haven't even packed for the trip?). Items requiring personalization (sweater knit to size, baby blanket with data, wedding gift). Custom items where the craftsperson has to acquire expensive or rare materials (although this also holds true with car repairs - I had to pay them for the Volvo part before they could order it, much less install it). Software? I've had it go both ways, billed immediately or day of release. I can't remember a company billing me and then never shipping product. I'd like to add one small point to this discussion. Starlet is one person, hard-working, but still just one person. Day of Release is going to be hectic. If she has to call VISA and/or MasterCard (dialing a 74-digit string of numbers) and authorize (and w-a-i-t for the return code) for every single one of those hundreds if not thousands of preorders, she isn't going to have fingers or voice left by midnight, and I doubt (based upon how long I've waited at the usual restaurant) if she is going to get much past the first few hundred of them. Running them through as they come in may be the only sane and reasonable way to handle it. That way, the shipping labels could get pre-printed, and on release day, someone could get those pups boxed, labeled, and packed out the door, thus getting them shipped on Day 1. Just a thought, but worth considering, Carolly