No clue on when they'll start shipping, but if the past is any indication I would guess sometime in July or early August.
As for buying online and having a local dealer do the transfer, some dealers are fine with it, other's don't like to do them, and others won't do them. The one's who don't like doing them are generally the ones who charge a higher price for the transfer ($30 or more), while those that are more transfer friendly typically charge $10-25 in my experience. You're basically paying for their time to process the transfer.
Personally I always try to give the local dealer(s) first crack to get me what I want for a reasonably fair price, but if their price is significantly higher than the online options to where I'd still be saving money after shipping and the transfer fee I'll buy online. With more and more states requiring you pay sales tax even though they aren't operating in your state due to new laws (like Midway USA recently started doing), you no longer have that savings to off-set the cost of the shipping and transfer fee.
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