Pre-order horrors in the new year

[Tcc]

Well it will be no surprise to anyone I don't like preorders who has read any of my posts . I have valid reasons for my stance many other collectors share ,this new paradigm in toy collecting was not something we asked for, it was something forced upon us by retailers and toy companies without having the proper distribution and policies in place to make it a seamless purchase. The wait time between order and actual shipment is ofcourse problematic, nowadays one needs a spread sheet to keep up with what is dropping when and how much money you need at any given time to receive the coveted item you want . However you can never know when something will available ,sometimes they come early ( like the cobra b.a.t.s) or they seem never to come at all, like mezco or super 7 . And ofcourse after you have waited months ,if the money is not available to the retailer the second they want it ,you are dropped from the que,and there will be a weeping and a knashing of teeth. A preorder is like a reservation at a restaurant, you expect a table when you wish to have it ,and not be told someone else beat you to it or had more money than you did . It's an uneven situation, we wait for our order but the company decides whether we actually deserve our " reservation " ,many times while keeping our hard earned funds held hostage for months and canceling on the day it should be in the mail . Twice in the past month just such an occurrence has plagued me with endless frustration as I seek to possess the McFarlane cygor megafig . As with most savy collectors ,I had preorders in several places and would have gotten the first who could produce the goods as I see no logic in loyalty to any retailer who has no loyalty to me as a customer. As previously stated they can and will cancel you for any reason at all . But the toy gods scoffed at my preparation, and at the two sites who promised me the fig first I was unceremoniously booted out of the line ,one telling me I didn't have the money ( which I did) and the other never having the product at the time of shipment in which I canceled myself as they already held my money in escrow prior to saying they didn't have it on the day I was supposed to receive it in my doorstep. Mind you ,it was not advertised as a preorder but in stock,but would not ship for two weeks which was strange, but I attributed it to the holiday and considered it worth the wait. They never had the stock, and till the time of me typing this I have yet to receive the refund of my money. And then the domino effect happens since the other order came due but alas my money is tied up in a return and then that order is cancelled for lack of funds and thus a very bad case of fomo sets in .The rest of my opportunities have yet to announce shipments and surely will I actually have the funds in hand to complete the purchase when they do ? I cringe at the thought of having to pay after market on a brand new toy that is neither rare nor expensive simply because the game of preorders is such a unmitigated mess .Limited supplies dropped at arbitrary times and guaranteed to sell out in minutes when they do is a toy collectors nightmare..unless you have the advantage of unlimited funds available so the retailer can get their cash whenever they choose . And oh yeah ,happy New Year and all that .