To add to the other poster about collecting payment before shipping: It's not just Amazon that never does this; generally speaking (in the US, at least), nobody

To add to the other poster about collecting payment before shipping: It's not just Amazon that never does this; generally speaking (in the US, at least), nobody is allowed to collect on an item until it ships. Typically a merchant handles this by initially placing a hold for the amount of the purchase on your credit card, preventing you from using the funds for anything else but without a transfer actually taking place, and finalizing the transaction only after stuff goes out the door. ('Generally speaking' because it's been almost a decade since I've done physical goods e-commerce sites. I'm not sure of the exact source of the requirement (law? contracts with the credit card companies?) nor the cases where exceptions are made.)