GameStop pre-selling Nexus 7, offers discounts with trade-ins
GameStop begins accepting pre-orders for the new Google Android tablet, the Nexus 7, Friday and the video game retailer is offering a few benefits that may lure some consumers to purchase the tablet from it.
The company is offering the 16-gigabyte version of the Nexus 7, which goes for $249, along with all the perks Google is throwing in, but it is also offering 30% trade bonus -- meaning the retailer will pay you more than it normally does for items you trade in -- on the tablet, along with the possibility of free shipping.
People can get the trade bonus through a variety of items, according to GameStop, which announced it was carrying the tablet Thursday. The company said those trades can include video game hardware, software, accessories, mobile Apple devices and certain Android tablets.
The free shipping offer is actually to have a new tablet shipped to a GameStop near you, where you can then go pick it up, saving about $14 that you might pay if you ordered from Google instead.
In addition, GameStop will pass along to Nexus 7 buyers a $25 credit at the Google Play store that Google is throwing in. That offer includes a free copy of “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” a copy of the book “The Bourne Dominion,” and subscriptions to various magazines.
“We’ve seen great consumer enthusiasm for our recommerce initiatives, particularly our iDevice trade program that launched last fall,” GameStop President Tony Bartel said in the company’s press release. “With the increasing popularity of Android tablets and the emerging multiscreen gaming trend, this is the ideal time to expand the program to meet the needs of our hybrid customers.”
On the downside of ordering from GameStop, it does not carry the $199 8-gigabyte version of the tablet.
Also, GameStop buyers will probably have to wait a bit longer to get their tablets than those who purchase their Nexus 7s directly from Google. GameStop notes a July 31 release. At its keynote, Google was touting that it would ship in mid-July.
For the record, June 29, 8:45 a.m.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said GameStop was offering a 30% discount on the Nexus 7 with trade ins. GameStop will offer a 30% trade bonus on items, meaning it will pay buyers more for their trade-in items than it normally does.
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