Pre-Orders

Are you looking to get a new video game system this holiday season for your family, friends or kids? Here are some basic and useful advices to pre-orer your video system before the holiday season.

What is Pre-Order?
Pre-ordering is a method of reserving a copy of a product by placing money down before its intended launch day. Major chains, and even smaller ones, take pre-orders to ensure people receive their systems before anyone without one. Pre-orders for video game systems are very important just before the holiday season and just as important for highly-anticipated games. If you’re thinking about receiving a system by the end of the year, you might want to start thinking now.

When any product is released, a limited number of copies are given to each store. Some stores receive a lot of said product, some receive as many as one person can hold. No matter what the case, there are never enough products in a store when it’s in high demand. Launch day products are often sold out within the first hour or two, and even pre-orders may be forced to wait months until the next shipment comes in.

Having a pre-order is like having a ticket to a theater or concert that’s anticipated to sell out. If you don’t get the ticket ahead of time, as soon as humanly possible, you shouldn’t even bother to show up at all. Chances are, you won’t get what you want if you don’t make the effort to plan ahead.

How much does a pre-order cost?
The answer depends on the store, and there will be a list of questions at the end of this feature to ask the stores in the case you want to call your local retailers. Pre-orders can range from $5 to $50, or even cost as much as the whole product. Most stores take whatever money you place down as both reserve and portion of the final cost. In other words, placing $10 now is a $10 bill you don’t need to spend when the product is released. Remember to ask your retailer if your pre-order is deducted from the final cost, or if the pre-order is just a service fee to guarantee the copy. Most stores gives you the options to pay for the whole system before it comes out and just pick it up when the system comes in.

Does a pre-order guarantee a copy at launch?
No. In fact, high-demand products often have waiting lists that last for several months after a high-demand product is released. This is where the timeliness of this feature comes into play. To ensure a copy of a system, pre-orders need to be made as soon as they become available. Pre-orders often work on a first-come, first-serve basis and serve people in a similar manner. If you’re one of the first to have a copy of the product reserved in your name, you have a better chance of receiving it the day it comes out. If you wait a few months, your name is placed lower on the calling list. People that wait to place money down often find themselves waiting weeks, more often months, to get it in time for the holiday season.

Advantages of online purchasing and local purchasing
Both have its pros and cons. In a local store, you can ask to see the list is of placed pre-orders before you. With an online retailer, you have no idea how long the list really is, consequently leaving you clueless as to when you will receive the product. If the list is too long, you may not receive the product for weeks or months after its launch. Another concern with ordering online is the wait time for delivery. You could be waiting days/weeks for the product to come in the mail.

The only real advantage to pre-ordering online is the convenience of clicking open a new window and placing the order. Still remember how Xbox 360 launched? There was a severe shotage of the system and even people lining up in retail stores were often disappointed when the system went out of stock (it was a different story in Japan) for the first few weeks. And the system was even seen to be bid to as high as several thousand dollars. So, if you can’t bother wasting time lining up, waiting and competing with others to get your new system, placing a pre-order could serve as a better option.

Pre-Order Online Today!
Nintendo Wii (previously know as Revolution)
Pre-Order Nintendo Wii

Sony Playstation 3 (PS3)
Pre-Order Playstation 3