As I see it a pre-order is a way a company develops a product using your money to do it. This is wrong, pure and simple.
Many people have asked us to be able to pre-order things ahead of actual production? I simply do not agree with the ethics involved, yes it would allow us to grow faster. But as I see it, taking no risk by using your money to do the R&D and then to pay for the actual construction is just wrong. I can also never be certain how long they will take to produce.
We do not sell anything until we have already made them, that is what business is, risk and reward and that is why a company is entitled to a fair profit. The company that uses its own money to develop and produce is taking a risk and entitled to make a profit. I know that alot of companies in this business see pre-orders as the way to do things but the commitment just isn't there until they actually risk their own money. You all have seen the examples of never produced products/unfullfilled commitments, some of them very recently.
A couple of months ago I let someone talk me into a pre-order for something we are still working on, I fully expected them to be done quite a while back but they are still not done. It makes me the bad guy and I don't like it at all! We will never allow an order for something never yet made again... .