Preorder items have been announced by the manufacturer, but are not yet available. If the manufacturer has provided an expected release date, we pass that date on, but it is not a guaranteed ship date.
We do not charge your credit card for preorder items until we ship them to you, although we do request an authorization on your credit card when you place your order. (See this FAQ question for more information about credit card authorizations.)
If you preorder items that will be published by Paizo along with non-preorder items, you can choose whether or not we hold the other items until the preorder arrives, or whether we ship items as they become available. Preorder items from publishers other than Paizo will be shipped separately.
In the rare circumstance we receive notice from the manufacturer that a preorder product has been cancelled, we will cancel your preorder and let you know. If the manufacturer notifies us that the final product differs substantially from the product as it was initially marketed, we'll let you know, and ask if you'd like to cancel or change your preorder.