Swellguy - your even more right then you have said so far.
Its not even as "free" as no cost with purchase.
No additional cost with purchase is usually an incentive to buy existing stock; here you are making a up-front payment, giving the store cash it can use in part to offset the orders of the non-pre sold copies and at the same time guaranteeing you are buying one copy thus making your copy a 0 risk sale. You are also giving up money now for no immediate benefit, which is a contract 101 detriment.
A normal sale is a large risk: buy at wholesale - hope each copy sells
$5-10 dollars is a higher percentage of wholesale cost then retail price and so you pay their cost in part upfront.
A pre-order ensures (or nearly so) a sale and gives the store operating cash to use against existing stock without selling anything.
Pre-Orders with a down payment are AMAZINGLY good deals for stores. Any incentive which is tied to one deserves to be treated like any thing else in a customer contract and if it seems like a raw deal the customer should say so. Acting like they should feel honored for the advantage they are giving the store is just wrong.
- Kitsune
