I think it is about time that someone takes up on this...
i am getting sick on these pre-orders...
if u have stuff stocked... sell it... if not.. don't sell it...
Pre orders are not the problem. I do a pre order every day at the deli counter for my sandwich. I pay the cashier and about 5-15 minutes later, I get my sandwich. Anytime you order a Pizza online and pay for it before you go pick it up or it gets delivered is a pre-order. I have a pre-order out at gamestop for GTA V. Many of my friends have Preorders for the PS4 (was going to say xbox one but then I realized no one preordered the xbox one... :p )
The problem is a pre-order that fails to meet the date of delivery by more than a small margin of error. If my sandwich take an extra 5 minutes, I might be grumpy, but I'm not mad. But with the ASIC pre orders, the problem is both not being able to meet their own timelines and poor customer service. Back to the sandwich analogy, we're at the equivalent of me waiting about 3 hours for my sandwich that was promised in 15 minutes now. But even that's not the problem. If the cashier is honest with me and says, "hey, our oven broke and we're not going to get your order out for an hour, would you like a refund?" I would either decide that the sandwich was worth waiting for, or take my money and go elsewhere.
The problem is no pre-orders, it's the fact that you have a bunch of people with no business or interpersonal skills trying to sell a product that has had some glitches, and no one has enough PR savvy to diffuse the situation.
at first I would have agreed on your point... however.. I remember those thread here about them "MINING" with customers miners...
(yep... there were proof/images/screenshots that both BFL/AVALON DID MINE using customers miners)
and "THEM"... telling something else... like they have some problem in this area, in that area, and etc... while still mining and delaying the delivery...
now that changes the whole "pre-order is not the problem"....
in short...
they took the customers money... build a product... and "burn test" that product and somewhere in the road that burntest btc goes into their wallet... so nope... that's no longer a pre-order scheme...
if you pre-order a pizza:
company takes your money via phone or internet...
they make a pizza... (both parties wait for it to be done)
deliver the pizza... (both parties wait for it to be done)
end of transaction...
Question: Should the company that makes the pizza takes/eats a slice of a pizza before they deliver it?
Answer: "NO! at the time the product was done... it should already be considered CUSTOMERS PROPERTY! SO DON'T TOUCH!"