I, too, was surprised to see the charge on my Amex within moments of placing the order on Amazon. I started a chat session with Amex to simply confirm whether it was acceptable/proper for a merchant to charge a month before shipping. They said a merchant can charge the moment I authorize the payment method. There is no obligation by any merchant (from Amex's perspective) to withhold the charge until shipment. I guess I was under the false assumption that charging was done at the time shipments are sent out. Then again, I rarely ever pre-order anything.