A lot of Korean anime and character merchandise is sold before it is manufactured, often two to four months ahead. If you treat those listings like normal stock, you will miss things, and there is usually no second chance.
The short version. Order against a closing date, wait for manufacture, then it ships — two to four months in all. Some shops take the full amount up front; others take a deposit and bill the balance when stock lands. Both are normal, and the listing tells you which.
It carries a release month, often in the product title itself — something like "December 2026 release". That month is when the factory finishes, not when you get it.
This is the date that actually matters. Shops aggregate orders and place one bulk order with the manufacturer. After the deadline your order cannot be added. Some listings show it in the summary line, some only in the description.
If you paid in full at the start, nothing happens here. If the shop took a deposit, it bills the balance when stock arrives, sometimes with a shipping top-up. That notice usually comes by Korean text message or KakaoTalk, which is a problem if you have no Korean number.
If you ordered several preorders together, most shops hold everything until the last item arrives. A December item and a February item in one order means one parcel in February.
Deadlines are written in Korean, in a format that doesn't translate cleanly, and they aren't announced anywhere international fans watch. By the time an item shows up in an English-speaking fan space, the deadline has often passed.
A preorder that closes isn't out of stock in the usual sense. It was never in stock. The manufacturer made exactly as many as were ordered, so there is nothing to restock. This is why resale prices on some items climb so fast.
This only applies to deposit-based orders, but it bites hard when it does. If the shop can't reach you to collect the balance, the order is cancelled after a set number of attempts. Whether the deposit comes back depends on that shop's terms.
Some titles get a reprint round, marked as such on the listing. The product is identical, but the release date is later. If you see the same item at two prices, check whether one of them is a reprint.
Watch the deadline, not the release date. A listing with a March release and a closing date next week is urgent. A listing with a January release and no deadline shown is probably in stock already.
And check whether the shop ships abroad before you pay anything. Most of them don't. The sellers page says which ones do.