Always planning ahead! BioWare has heard the cries of gamers; specifically that if players don't get their retail copy of SWTOR by December 20th, they won't be able to register their copies to continue playing. To compensate for possibly shipping time or email confusion, players who pre-ordered Star Wars: The Old Republic and have early game access will have up to 48 hours from launch to enter their product registration code. 

For all the details and the entire post, head over to the SWTOR forums.