Do we know if Dark Side Toys' orders are getting placed and being reflected real time on Hasbro's site, or are they going to do a bulk buy on the last day based on their total orders with a big uptick? I would be kind of surprised if it was real time.
It's possible that they are. Hasbro did not officially come out and say that Dark Side Toys was authorized to sell the Sail Barge in the UK. So like I said in my earlier post, all Dark Side Toys could be doing is taking pre-orders on their website and then having someone who lives in the US or Canada, on their behalf, placing an order for a Sail Barge.
Then if the 5000 backers is reached, that individual would take receipt of all Sail Barges that Dark Side Toys took pre-orders for. That person would then pack them up (probably in a shipping crate) and have them shipped to the UK. The value would be declared for the total shipment and Dark Side would have to pay the duty tax/fee before taking receipt of the shipment. I'm sure they looked into what it would cost duty wise to have two Sail Barges shipped from the US to the UK. (I say two because I believe the rate of tax/fee changes if you cross either 500GBP or 600GBP in value)
So now you have for over-head: (1) the cost to ship the crate across the Atlantic; and (2) the duty charged to take receipt. Then Dark Side would be responsible for shipping them throughout the UK and to the rest of the EU (which thanks to changes coming due to Brexit probably have their own challenges).
Considering that they want $835 for each Sail Barge, that extra $335 can easily account for the additional fees, duty, taxes, shipping costs, etc... plus giving them a modest amount for their time & effort.
So, yeah, I think their orders are being reflected in near-real-time.