a month before they are going to even get the thing in that they are selling you?

I reserved something on line, won't be with me until end Sep at the earliest, but they have taken the payment from my card.

Yes

think thats pretty normal

ok, cheers..

I thought it was usually processed upon dispatch

I think I ordered a load of stuff from CRC once and they gave me a partial refund for what was out of stock. They then asked for payment later when it was in stock.
Sounds a better way of doing it to me, but then, there's a difference between ordering something that is out of stock and reserving something.

paying via paypal yes.

Normal – varies some do some just authorise IME 🙂

a month before they are going to even get the thing in that they are selling you?

Nice way of supplementing their cashflow. I would ring up and give them death.