Preordering: The Pitfalls

Stores across the globe are about to make a killing of a profit as the Wii and Playstation 3 launch. When it comes to a console launch, preordering isn't foolproof. Heres some guidelines on what to avoid and what to watch out for to ensure you get your console at launch for the proper price.

While some of these might appear obvious, at every launch in recent memory I remember people who have forgotten these things and ended up getting ripped off or being insanely disappointed, or both. I've written this so (hopefully) a few more people can avoid the pitfalls and easy mistakes.

1. Make sure you read the Contract
Certain stores make you sign a slip of paper when you preorder and hand over your deposit. It usually just seems like the usual crap you'd find in such a situation -- things the store must "tell you" to cover their asses. By signing the paper you're signing not only to confirm your preorder but to confirm you have read the terms and conditions. Whatever you do, Don't just flippantly skip past this. Hidden within those terms and conditions can be nasty clauses that can come back and bite you in the ass.

At the Xbox 360 launch, I pre-ordered from Toys R Us. I preordered before the slips with the terms and conditions were manufactured, and I was lucky for it. When we got there on launch night, the store was telling everybody who'd preordered that they had to buy a preset bundle. When people argued, they were told that it was in the terms and conditions of the preorder. If you refuse to buy a bundle, your preorder is cancelled and you lose your deposit. Naturally, everybody there succumbed and bought the bundles. Thankfully, as I say, I avoided this fate as I had never signed the disclaimer, and so got to take home just the console.

2. Ask the shopkeep some of these questions...
Before you place an order in for a console, for the love of all that is holy ask the shop assistant roughly how many they have had. If there are three stores in your area, and one has taken fifty orders and the other two have only taken ten each, which do you stand a better chance of getting a console from?

Exactly. It'd also be very useful to ask what their allocation was like for previous launches. Stores tend to allocate launch consoles by the size and sales of a store. Therefore, if a store only got 10 Xbox 360s at launch, this is more than likely reflective on how many PS3 and Wii consoles they can expect to receive in the coming months. If that's the case, you're better off reserving at the big store that's a few extra miles away in town that will get a hefty allocation of fifty or sixty consoles. There's nothing worse than having to wait an extra week or two for being low on the preorder list.

If you're the type of person who enjoys a good midnight launch party, taking your console home the very minute it's available, don't forget to ask the store staff if they are intending to open up at midnight or not. A friend of mine was pumped up for a midnight 360 launch -- and then found the store didn't open until 9am the following day. As you can imagine, he was devastated. Generally, store staff know most of this information and some will even tell you it without being prompted, though if they do not, don't be afraid to ask. It could save you a lot of hassle and disappointment.

3. Reserve Accessories Too!
This might sound stupid but from past experience I truly implore you to trust me. At both the Gamecube and the Xbox 360 launch I have found myself frustratedly traipsing around packed electronic stores for the majority of my launch day instead of playing my shiny new console instead of looking for a particular accessory. If there's an accessory you really want, ask if you can preorder it with the console so you can pick it all up at the same store. Want the classic controller or an extra PS3 pad? Order it. While it's usually with less important accessories (I found it hard to find the 360 Wireless Adapter at launch -- I ended up finding it two days later), this can happen with other things, too, so it never hurts to be on the safe side. Memory Card 59's for the Gamecube became neigh on impossible to find for weeks after launch. I postponed purchasing Perfect Dark Zero until I could find the special edition because that version had sold out.

While it might sound slightly anal, just reserve anything and everything you really, desperately want.

Confirm everything before launch
A few days before launch, call the store or even go up there yourself and check the details. Check the pricing of the stuff you're buying -- you don't want to get there on launch and find one game is $10 more than you expected and you haven't bought enough cash to get it. Check the word on store allocation and your place in the preorder list -- if you're low on the list and in the possible running to not get a console, it's better to know and be prepared (ebay at the ready, or even trying your best to find a console at a store that hasn't filled it's quota or doesn't take preorders) than just arrive there cash in hand and find you can't get one.

Check, double check, and ensure everything is in place. In some stores it might be wise to check their policy on launch purchases hasn't changed -- again, at last year's Xbox 360 launch, some stores tried to force packages on customers anyway on the night. Check they don't enforce a "package only" rule, and if they do, make it clear you don't intend to pick up the bundle. Unless, of course, you want it.

Closing Comments
I think be careful pretty much sums it up. There are a lot of stores and people out there that use not what I'd call underhanded but perhaps... less than noble ways to spear gamers for money at launch because they know that these people will do anything to get their hands on the console. They'll buy the bundle if they have to, and in the area of those that aren't in time with preorders, they'll head onto ebay and pay out hundreds of extra dollars just so they can play the launch games without waiting for that much waited on second shipment.

Be careful, read all the small print, make sure you're in line to get the console and everything you want with it, and double check everything before launch. Good luck.