Pre-ordering at Gamestop

[silverwolf0]

I am new to pre-ordering as I usually just go to Amazon or Newegg and order my items there and wait for it to ship. I am also planning on cancelling my gamefly account as waiting for things to ship is aggravating.

So I want to pre-order at gamestop and had a few questions.

1. Should I pre-order online? I plan to use in-store pickup as there is no waiting. However, I've heard it's a bit iffy compared to pre-ordering directly from the store.

2. Are pre-orders usually available on release date? Or are shipments arbitrary to the number of pre-orders tallied for that store? Do they actually call you to tell you your order is ready?

3. I read about this $5 "shipping" fee for not picking up a game in 48 hours. Does it apply to both online and in-store pre-orders? And what happens when the game isn't available on the release date?

4. How do promotional items work? Physical items have limited availability or what the store claims to have, right? And code-based in-game items, do they give you a piece of paper or do they send you an email?

Thanks for any reasonable input.

 

[bigdaddybruce44]

1) I've done site-to-store pre-orders without any issue. It's just like pre-ordering it in-store, except you don't have to put any money down. One thing I'd like to point out is, if you happen to be a state with a sales tax, but the tax often varies by city/region/etc, take note that the estimated sales tax is often just that. For instance, the state sales tax for NJ is 7%, but there are many Urban Enterprise Zones where the tax is only 3.5%. You pay the sales tax that is valid where you are buying the item.

2) Yes, pre-orders should be available on release day.

3) The $5 fee for not picking up the online pre-order is to deter people from putting in a bunch of site-to-store pre-orders that they don't necessarily intend on picking up, seeing as you aren't charged at the time of the order.

4) These vary by offer. The page for the game or item you are pre-ordering will have the exact information about how the pre-order bonuses will be distributed. For example, this is from the page for Bad Company 2:

Online Customers: Code and redemption instructions to unlock the AKS-74 will be emailed to reservation customers on Monday, March 1st.

Online / In-Store Pickup Customers: A pre-order card with code and redemption instructions to unlock the AKS-74 will be available at time of game pickup.