Is it unethical for online stores to take advance payment for orders with no long term availability?

adolf hamster said:
Honestly i do wonder why folk get so worked up about a delayed gpu release, its not like old hardware isnt perfectly viable for an enjoyable time with the settings dialled back a tad.

I cant recall the last time i had a game be "unplayable" that was due to hardware incapability, its almost always the game not utilising whats there, bugs, or mods.
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I upgraded this PC because of Fallout 4. But that because of mods I'd used to extend building far past what was intended in the game. Much bigger settlements with much more of everything. So in a sense I paid ~£800 to play Fallout 4 the way I wanted to and that was with a second hand CPU and motherboard and a B-grade case. Most of it went on a graphics card. That was back when you could buy a good midrange graphics card for ~£450 (a very well cooled 1070 Ti in my case). And actually buy a graphics card rather than buying the possibility of getting a graphics card at some unspecified point in the future.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
Well the opposite is also true for folk that didn't pre order PlayStation and ended up paying £800-£1200 come launch day. They should have ponied up when ore orders were launched like the smart people did.

I will continue to pre order PlayStation's in the future too for launches it will always sell out.

Pre ordering is arguably the smartest way to buy something that's high in demand and guaranteed to sell out.
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The smart people would've ordered from Smyths who have a decent policy :)

Use our pre-order service to order your item now and receive it when it comes into stock.

  • No payment upfront or deposit online
  • Chosen payment method will be pre-authorised 2 - 7 days before item becomes available.
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They seem to manage OK.
 
I won’t pre-order anything these days, I’ll just wait until I can actually buy it.

That said, in terms of offering a product, taking full payment up front and not supplying said product for 3+ months, specifically computer components which age quickly, then yes I’d say it’s unethical.
 
Lmg80 said:
So your thread is not a question, rather a statement? :p
Let the guy have an opinion at least
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Everyone can have an opinion, and everyone is then free to comment on and disagree with any part of it. Welcome to online forums.

adolf hamster said:
Honestly i do wonder why folk get so worked up about a delayed gpu release, its not like old hardware isnt perfectly viable for an enjoyable time with the settings dialled back a tad.

I cant recall the last time i had a game be "unplayable" that was due to hardware incapability, its almost always the game not utilising whats there, bugs, or mods.
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It's not complicated psychology and you can apply the same principle to any new and in-demand electronics release (phones, PC hardware, consoles etc). The pandemic, another obvious major influence on this situation, has sent things into overdrive.
.Lethal said:
This thread was a little confusing. Initially I thought it was a general question/discussion about websites that take money upfront for pre orders.

Turned out to be a veiled attack on OcUK's GFX card shambles.
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The entire industry is having a graphics card shambles, not just OCUK. My question reflects on all of the online sellers doing this.
 
I have OCUK to thank for putting me off pre-ordering *anything* *anywhere* for life, since they messed me about with an order for a 6800 Ultra way back in 2004. They held my money for months even back then before I gave up and got it elsewhere. Never again, ever. I find it a revolting practice taking money up front. So, thanks OCUK, that experience years ago has nicely saved me from the current debacle as I simply play less demanding games in my steam backlog. That's when a ridiculous steam backlog comes into its own btw. So, thanks to steam backlogs too while I'm at it.
 
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