Staples – Me and My Kindle

Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet is the hottest gift this shopping season — and some great discounts have just been announced for Black Friday. To get these reduced prices, you’ll have to visit one of Amazon’s retail-store partners, like Best Buy, OfficeMax, Staples, or Office Depot. They’re reportedly not allowed to lower the actual price of the devices, so they’re doing the next best thing. If you purchase a Kindle Fire tablet, they’ll just give you some money back in the form of a gift card!

Here’s a complete rundown of all the discounts being offered on Black Friday for Kindle Fire tablets — and I’ve collected and confirmed them from reliable sources like Yahoo! Finance News. But remember that Amazon’s already offered at least one short-lived discount of their own. Earlier this month, Amazon reportedly sold Kindle Fire tablets for just $129 as one of their Lightning Deals (following a strict philosophy of “while supplies last”). So it’s always possible that when Black Friday rolls around, Amazon will unveil another stash of cheap Kindle Fire tablets — just to compete with these deals from Best Buy, Office Max, and Staples!

Best Buy
$200 = $30 “gift card” and an Amazon Kindle Fire HD (7-inch high-definition display, 16 gigabytes)

$159 = $30 “gift card” and a Kindle Fire (7-inch LCD display, 8 gigabytes)

“That beats both deals from Staples and OfficeMax,” reports the Christian Science Monitor, noting that those two stores “only bundle it with $20 and $25 gift cards, respectively.” (But they’re also advising readers to see if Amazon.com will offer an even bigger deal…)

And if you buy the cheapest one, you’ll end up walking home with an improved version of last year’s model of the Kindle Fire for just $129.

OfficeMax
$199 = $25 “gift card” and an Amazon Kindle Fire HD (7-inch high-definition display, 16 gigabytes)

This information comes straight from Office Max themselves (via a press release on Yahoo! Finance News). And in addition to their discounts on the Kindle Fire HD, Office Max is also offering a 40% discount on cases for your Kindle Fire (from the case-manufacturer Belkin).

Office Depot

$159 = $25 Visa card and a Kindle Fire

ZDNet is reporting this information came from a leaked version of the newspaper ad that Office Depot will be running for its Black Friday sales. “Office Depot has to sell Kindle Fires at the same price as competing bricks-and-mortar retailers,” writes their reporter Sean Pornoy “so it’s also dangling an incentive to purchase at its locations: You can get a $25 Visa gift card with the purchase of the second-generation Kindle Fire (non-HD version) for $159.99.

Staples
$159 – $20 “gift card” and a Kindle Fire (7-inch LCD display, 8 gigabytes)

$199 – $20 “gift card” and a Kindle Fire HD (7-inch high-definition display, 16 gigabytes)

$249 – $20 “gift card” and a Kindle Fire (7-inch high-definition display, 32 gigabytes)

“Like other retailers…” reports PC Magazine, “Staples won’t be discounting Amazon’s Kindle lineup, but it will throw in a $20 gift card when you buy the 7-inch Kindle Fire or Kindle Fire HD.”

Kindle 3 versus a Kindle DX side-by-side

A 20% discount? That’s what people are seeing at their local Staples store — and at Best Buy! It’s for the Kindle DX, Amazon’s big-screen Kindle, which normally retails for $379. Now the two mega-stores are both selling the tablet-sized Kindle for just $300 — and with the right coupon, you may even be able to purchase one for just $269!

Plus, even Amazon.com is lowering their prices on the Kindle DX — sort of. Throughout this weekend I saw Amazon selling refurbished models for just $319.99. (Only nine months ago, it cost a whopping $489 to buy a Kindle DX — until Amazon introduced a newer model with better screen contrast last July.) Amazon lowered the device’s price to just $379, and changed its color from white to graphite. But even at the new price, the Kindle DX was still costing twice as much as the Kindle 3.

The Staples offer appears on page 8 of their weekly deals flier flier, under a black headline announcing “lowest price ever!” (“3G and a 60% bigger screen… Save $80…”) There was even a display at my local Staples store urging “Try it out! Take one home today.” A store clerk explained that Staples has a 14-day return policy with “no questions asked.” The Best Buy offer appears on their web page. But for both stores it’s an “in-store only” offer.

Amazon is also offering savings on the Kindle 3 — though they’re not as dramatic. They’re selling a refurbished Wi-Fi Kindle 3 for just $129.99 and a 3G Kindle for $179.99. (When purchased new, the same Kindles each cost $10 more.) And on the Kindle’s page at Amazon.com, they’re also touting a lower price for a Kindle jacket. It’s the M-Edge “Latitude” jacket, with a nylon canvas exterior with zippers and a grey microfleece interior. It’s now selling for $29.99 (instead of the usual $34.99), and it’s available in six different colors. (Black, Navy blue, teal, pink, purple, and red.)

But I’ve always been most excited about the Kindle DX, and the lower prices make it really easy to buy one. An iPad has a screen with a 9.7-inch diameter — which is exactly the size of the screen on the Kindle DX. (The Kindle 3 has a 6-inch-diameter screen.) With that extra screen space, I could finally read those PDF files where the text was too small. And I really like the idea of playing a game where it’s spread out across the larger screen.

Of course, a Kindle DX always weighs twice as much as a “regular” Kindle — it’s 18.9 ounces (versus the 8.7-ounce weight of a Kindle 3). It’s either bulky and hard to hold, or there’s more Kindle to love. I always thought this would be the perfect gift for someone who really loves their Kindle. Give them another Kindle, but one that’s even bigger, so they can finally walk around with the biggest Kindle on the block!

And I’ve also heard rumors of an online coupon that can save you an additional $30 on your purchase at Staples. It’s for purchases of over $150, but I haven’t been able to confirm if the offer is legitimate. But at least two lucky shoppers found an even better deal on their Kindle DX. Saturday Amazon listed a used Kindle DX which was sold for just $275. And the other lucky shopper was the winning bidder in a fast auction on eBay.

They landed their Kindle DX for just $250!

* * *

To check for Amazon deals on a refurbished Kindle DX, point your web browser to

http://tinyurl.com/RefurbishedKindleDX

To check for Amazon deals on a refurbished Kindle 3, go to

http://tinyurl.com/RefurbishedKindle3

Tag: Staples

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