Mark Craddock of Comic Book World, Inc in Kentucky and Ohio, saw retailer Derek Garrison’s comments about deep discounting of Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition product (see “Derek Garrison of Talon Comics on 'D&D 4E Out Early'”) and says he has been pushing pre-paid orders with his customers:

I understand Derek's frustration.  But we all know that Amazon, just as one example, is going to discount.  The way I retaliated was that way back in August of 2007, right after the 4E announcement, I started telling my customers I would be offering a preorder deal.  I got their names and numbers and explained to them I wouldn't offer the deal until I knew price points and verified my discount levels.  The day the preorder listing hit Amazon, I called all of those customers.  The deal I set up was for $3 more than Amazon and required pre-payment in full, no refunds.  Let’s be honest, we knew someone would start selling early and it’s easy to know which of your customers will honor their obligations.  And then I kept building momentum.  So did my clerks.  As we go into 6/6/08, I've pre-sold 123 books to my brick and mortar customers at only one of my locations.  I wish things were different, but they’re not going to change anytime soon.  I'm doing the same thing, but on a smaller scale with Warhammer 40K 5th Ed.

The thing to keep in mind is that many of our customers, many who shop at GameSwap, EB, Game Crazy or any other videogame store, are comfortable preordering and at least putting down a deposit on unreleased product.  At this point, a whole generation of our customer base view this as the status quo.  It’s a tool for us.  We can use it.  Don't be afraid to.

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