Not the case when they do that, they apply a blank untitled SKU in their system to serve as a place holder at least a week in advance; which in our case is not the case in GameStop stores. Also, you are pulling information from a totally separate topic about what to do with pre-order codes, that had nothing to do directly with the collector's edition, as all retailers are getting the other versions of the expansion.

When they were speaking they were making it sound like the CE is Online store and all other versions of the game are at all participating retailers. Maybe I am reading into it too much but why would you say Online Store when talking about the CE and not continue to talk about the Online Store for the other versions, or vice-versa. Obviously they are trying to dodge a bullet here that they cannot really get away from.

EDIT:

@Elkya95
/wrist Is there a reason for that upcharge? That seems weird.