Amazon rolled out financing for its line of Fire HD tablets this weeks, even on devices that retail for as little as US$89.99. Qualifying customers can purchase a Fire HD8, Fire HD10, or Fire Kids Edition and pay for it over five payments.
How to Finance Fire HD Devices
Underneath the price of these devices is a link to “or 5 monthly payments.” Clicking that offers these instructions:
- Select the monthly payment option when you Add to Cart, in your Cart, or at checkout.
- At checkout, your initial payment will include your first monthly payment, plus applicable taxes and shipping charges in full. We’ll charge your credit card when we ship your device.
- The remaining balance will be automatically charged to your credit card in equal installments according to the number of payments indicated when you selected the monthly payment option, every 30 days from shipment date. By placing your order via monthly payments, you authorize us to charge your credit card or another available credit card on file with us for each monthly payment.
For the three models shown above, the financing is essentially free, as the payments work out to a penny over retail.
Fire Push
Device financing is hardly new, but it’s seldom offered for such inexpensive devices. Amazon is in a unique position to do this. It has the credit cards on file, it has the cash flow to finance whatever it wants, and it has the best-in-class operations to do so with a minimum effect on its bottom line.
Amazon’s goal for its Fire HD line isn’t to make a profit from hardware sales. Rather, Amazon wants people further invested in the Amazon’s ecosystem. This is especially true for Amazon Prime and the accompanying music and video services.
With Christmas around the corner, this move could allow Amazon to make a bigger dent in the tablet market.