Burning in the Halo Pre-Order Hell

[Geoffrey42]

I was already in the astore buying Corruption at the time, and it's not as if it will cost me more money to pre-order... so the question is, "Why not?"

Unless your pre-order was no money down, (which I sincerely doubt), then it does cost you more.

It may be negligibly more, which depends on how far in advance you pre-ordered, and the amount of the deposit placed on the pre-order, but you forewent interest on that money, interest which Gamestop made instead of you.

So really, you got charged extra to buy it at midnight. Which used to be free. And, again, Gamestop is making massive amounts of profit on your pennies and dimes. I wish I could run a scam like that. I'd be filthy rich.

 

[Bongo Bill]

If I remember correctly, most pre-orders don't have you pay extra, so much as they have you pay part of the cost in advance.

 

[Geoffrey42]

If I remember correctly, most pre-orders don't have you pay extra, so much as they have you pay part of the cost in advance.

None extra except for the lost interest.

If you hadn't given them 5 dollars months in advance, you could've continued to earn interest on it. Or buy some other item on that day. Opportunity costs. It is a negligible amount to you, but it adds up to a lot for the stores.

 

[Bongo Bill]

And I don't see the problem with giving a few extra opportunity cents if it means I don't have to guess whether the store will order the game at all.

 

[Geoffrey42]

And I don't see the problem with giving a few extra opportunity cents if it means I don't have to guess whether the store will order the game at all.

Entirely agreed. As I mentioned before, I engaged in pre-order activity to ensure that my podunk Wal-Mart got the Zelda cartridge I so desperately needed. I was willing to pay a little extra for that.

I'm not entirely of the mind that pre-ordering is bad, just that the above individual stating that there is zero additional cost to pre-ordering is incorrect. Whether you gain any benefit (like the store actually ordering a copy, or "letting" you buy it at midnight) should be weighed against your opportunity costs. But, please, be aware that Gamestop is in the pre-order game to make money first and pad their fiscal statements, and to correctly alot shipments of Halo 3 second. Your pre-order on a game that will definitely be in stock is pure profit for them.

 

[Stinky-Dinkins [deprecated]]

I was already in the astore buying Corruption at the time, and it's not as if it will cost me more money to pre-order... so the question is, "Why not?"

Unless your pre-order was no money down, (which I sincerely doubt), then it does cost you more.

It may be negligibly more, which depends on how far in advance you pre-ordered, and the amount of the deposit placed on the pre-order, but you forewent interest on that money, interest which Gamestop made instead of you.

So really, you got charged extra to buy it at midnight. Which used to be free. And, again, Gamestop is making massive amounts of profit on your pennies and dimes. I wish I could run a scam like that. I'd be filthy rich.

Yes, because money sitting idly in my pocket tends to generate lots and lots of interest for me.

Listen, I paid 10 dollars up front and I'll pay 50 when I get there, for this I reserved the right to get the game at midnight rather than several hours later when the store opened the following morning (otherwise I'd be paying 60 at that time.)
I lost absolutely no money, and if you're saying I should actually be upset over the 2 or 3 pennies of interest they will earn from getting 10 of my dollars early, honestly, why the Hell would I care?

 

[1c3mAn]

The only 2 items that I actually pre-ordered recently are WoW Collectors Edition and Burning Crusade Collectors Edition, and for those I m glad I did.

Burning Crusade Collector Edition Pre-orders were sold out in hours on some websites months before the game was released. Naturally, you could get the regular version almost every where, but considering that my time spend with this addiction is counted in 3 digit days now, I figured why not pay that extra money for the collectors edition.


Other then that, I dont see myself pre-ordering much.



Oh wait. I, just 2 weeks ago, pre-order Tabula Rasa to get a beta account and see if I would actually like the game. 5 bucks to beta test a game. Sure. Better then spending $50 later and finding out how the game isnt all that it is hyped up to be.

 

[Geoffrey42]

Yes, because money sitting idly in my pocket tends to generate lots and lots of interest for me.

Listen, I paid 10 dollars up front and I'll pay 50 when I get there, for this I reserved the right to get the game at midnight rather than several hours later when the store opened the following morning (otherwise I'd be paying 60 at that time.)
I lost absolutely no money, and if you're saying I should actually be upset over the 2 or 3 pennies of interest they will earn from getting 10 of my dollars early, honestly, why the Hell would I care?

You might consider putting idle cash into an interest bearing account. In the long run, it adds up.

I have already acknowledged that your pre-order bought you access to the midnight launch (which could be had for free elsewhere, let's hope Gamestop is more convenient to your house or has some other advantage which warrants its perceived superiority for midnight launches).

And by your own admission, you lost no more money than you otherwise would have by letting the cash idle in your pocket. This does not mean that you have not lost money. I am splitting hairs when I point out the opportunity cost of 10 dollars not earning interest for you over a couple months, but my world view does not allow your absolute belief that there is no additional cost whatsoever in the transaction.

Maybe I think you should care, because the entity from which you are pre-ordering the game from has made a business out of selling products to people which are not yet available, and edging out the content manufacturers of the very products which provide their original revenue stream (I believe a different thread is already covering this aspect, so if you'd like to take it up with anyone, please move over there). Except that I don't. I don't think you should care. I just think that your original statement of "it's not as if it will cost me more money to pre-order" was blatantly wrong, and felt the need to offer a differing viewpoint.

 

[Golux13 [deprecated]]

I pre-ordered by trading in games that I was never going to play again and taking advantage of a trade-in bonus offered by the retailer. I put no cash down, but my final cash outlay for H3 will be about half the retail cost. The early purchase aspect of the pre-order didn't matter to me as I am not going to wait in line to buy at midnight; and I could have traded in the same games after release; but the early trade-in bonus saved me some money.

 

[mooncalf]

I recall preordering Battlefield 2 from an online store, there was no money down, it didn't cost as much as from a store, it came with a free BF2 beanie (two, due to a dispatch error), and it arrived the day before the game's official release date. This was a good experience with preordering, but that's not to say there haven't been bad ones. :/