I haven't been following any discussions about Pi preorder backlogs in recent times, but from the lack of thread titles about delivery, I had gained the impression that the days of preordering Pi were long gone. This was reinforced by the fact that several 2nd tier retailers now sell Pi and Pi kits ex-stock, so it would be somewhat ludicrous if the boards weren't ex-stock also at their primary Farnell distributors. Is this assumption correct?
The reason I ask is that I logged into my account at Farnell UK and was about to order a Pi Model A, since I was considering making a display server for which a Model A is a better fit than the Model B which I have currently. As always with Farnell orders, I was intending to check stock first, since I usually order only from stock for next-day delivery and so I highly appreciate the stock levels that Farnell UK always displays.
As it turned out, Farnell UK redirected me to the export site, just like in the bad old days of huge Pi shortages and preordering. The redirection is bad enough in its own right since it would prevent Pi being bought as part of a larger Farnell order, but to compound the problem, the export site shows no stock level information at all. This greatly decreases the site utility compared to Farnell's normal (and very excellent) service. It's a purchasing disincentive, as evidenced by the fact that I was all set to make a purchase but didn't.
So, a few questions about Farnell's Pi sales in general:
- Where does Farnell stand in respect of Pi stock levels and specifically, ex-stock Pi sales?
- If Farnell holds Pi ex-stock now, why aren't Pi boards available from the normal Farnell UK site?
- And if Pi is still not available ex-stock, why not, since 2nd tier retailers do have it in stock?
- Finally, the current arrangement is a disincentive to Farnell Pi sales. Are you going to fix this?
If these questions have been answered somewhere else, perhaps in Farnell statements or FAQs, I would appreciate relevant pointers. Thanks. 
Morgaine.
