Within hours of the Xbox One reveal EB Games had a full pre-order page up and running on their site, and JB Hi-Fi followed suit shortly after. Now, a day after the Microsoft conference, Harvey Norman has also gotten in on the act — but where is the best place to pre-order the console in Australia?
Lifehacker did a quick round-up here, but we’ve also done our own research.
EB Games has the price at $899, with a disclaimer that this is obviously an estimated number. I’d guess that the console will actually be a fair bit cheaper than that. If you’re pre-ordering online at EB Games a minimum payment of $50 is required up front.
With JB Hi-Fi it’s a little more complicated. If you’re online the only way to secure the pre-order is to pay the entire amount of $899 up front, which is a bit silly. I’d be surprised if JB Hi-Fi has managed to secure a single pre-order for the console using that online system. There is literally no way anyone would be silly enough to pay the upper limit of what is essentially a retailer’s guesstimate.
In-store is a little different. I gave the Castle Hill JB Hi-Fi store a call, stating that the online site was demanding I pay the full amount for a pre-order. The staff member on call informed me that they would be happy to take a pre-order for the console for a minimum of $100 up front. This appears to be the kind of thing that may change from store to store, so if you’re keen to pre-order the Xbox One at your local JB Hi-Fi it might be worth asking around.
Strangely, Harvey Norman currently has the best deal. You can pre-order an Xbox One at Harvey Norman for zero money down and, in addition, their estimated price is lower than EB and JB’s. I would suggest, however, that Harvey Norman may not have the best price when the console is actually released, so you may want to hedge your bets on this one.
Actually — you may want to hedge your bets in general. When the price is actually announced we’ll most likely get a better idea of who is offering the best deal here in Australia. Also — you generally do yourself zero favours as a consumer when you pre-order things super early.
UPDATE: JB Hi-Fi’s Marketing Director Scott Browning called us this afternoon to help explain JB Hi-Fi’s process when it comes to pre-ordering online.
Simply put JB Hi-Fi holds the full amount of $899 on its credit card as fraud prevention measure. After three to seven days the funds are then taken off your credit card, and recharged at a later date, closer to the time when the product — in this case the Xbox One — is sent out.
According to JB Hi-Fi this is a strict measure that attempts to deal with any potential credit card fraud. If someone steals a credit card and attempts to buy something online, fraudulent activity is far more likely to be flagged with bigger purchases.
Browning was very keen to reinforce that the full amount is not taken out, it is simply held for that period of time and then refunded.
Comments
25 responses to “Where Is The Best Place In Australia To Pre-Order An Xbox One? [UPDATE]”
That JB “all up front” thing is weird… in stores they always tell me I can’t pay off the full amount of a preorder, I have to pay $10 or so on the day just to keep it nice and legit…
Yeah, I thought the same thing. That’s why I called the store. I knew it wouldn’t be like that in store.
Are they actually allowed to ask for ‘all up front’ when no specific price has been given?
And if the retailers receive a ton of pre-orders with these advertised prices, it will just let Microsoft launch the console to the Australian market at an inflated price.
U.S. gamers are asking for a $300-$400 price point…
but the real question is who actually wants one of these at all right now?
Anyone pre ordering now would have to have some really ridiculous justifications for the expense.
So much this!
In my mind the only people willing to drop this sort of money on a pre-order for a console are (hard)core gamers (us). I don’t know about you guys, but I sure as hell won’t be buying one. Don’t get me wrong, I love my 360, but Microsoft have really turned me off with the One. It all seems very invasive and controlling.
One interesting thing that I’ve been thinking about that you guys might not have is with this having to be connected to their servers every 24 hours deal. What’s going to happen at the end of the XBox One’s life and they switch off the servers to use them for their new console? Will our console and all our games become useless just because we can’t connect?
Pretty sure they are in it for the long haul but if you want to use your One in 15-20yrs time tho there might be an issue… but by then I get the feeling it will be a whole new ball game.
I actuallu have a friend that is taking all his 360 gear in to trade when he can. I am apalled.
When I pre-ordered my Wii U at JB they asked me if I wanted to put a deposit down at all.
They may have thought that you might come to your senses…
My local JB on Elizabeth St only wanted a $10 deposit. Like everyone else they had no information on how much it would cost and re-iterated that $899 was just an estimation, and it would likely be lower than that.
JB don’t charge your card/paypal until the order has shipped, and if the price goes down between preorder and shipping then they charge the lower price.
So rather than having to fork out $900 now, they’re asking you to pre-approve a future charge of $900 that will actually be whatever the real price is, but you don’t pay until release day.
i know they don’t know the price but wow, am i the only person not willing to pay $900 for a new console?
I’m sure you’re not but people were paying $1,000 for the PS3 at launch so it’s not inconceivable.
May current plan is, assuming this thing is out by October/November to avoid the first hardware run and ridonkulous launch prices then pick it up after a price cut, probably around March/April 2014 (which is conveniently bonus time for me).
Yeah that’s not a bad idea.
I think the big price tag was a major issue for the ps3. Both companies are taking a BIG risk i reckon. Only true gamers will buy it at that price. Parents will just get their kids a WiiU
They should pay me to allow their thought-cam into my lounge room. I only charge $1 for each ad I view and $2 per hour for my bio-metric data.
I’d rather wait until release day and buy a console from a department store. They normally have them for $50 cheaper during the first week. I remember I bought a 20GB Xbox 360 Pro with a pack that had an extra controller, Dead or Alive 5 and PGR3 for $700 or $750 all up. I also remember the Wii U was $380 for the 32GB model at launch which was a great price.
I Think you mean Dead Or Alive 4.
My mistake.
Trick question?
Not the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard, I went into an eb games while on break at work a week ago and asked about the preorders for the PS4. The guy said they had been flying off the shelf and that their no longer taking preorders because they hit their maximum amount.
I believe their max was 2 but that’s all I’m saying on it.
$900?! can’t see it costing more than $500-600. If not then it’s completely overpriced.
That’s the price of any new major console on launch day in Australia 🙁
Yeah sure, give EB/JB/whoever $900 cash and let them throw all that capital into investments and make bank off customers for doing nothing… Sorry, I’d rather wait a day or two before I give companies I don’t like money for nothing.
I wanna pre order it a EB GAMES because of the extra special customer service which include handjobs in the back room! oh yeahhhhh take my $900 and show me a good time
Show us on the doll where EB games touched you.
Kmart has the best price $579