How do pre orders work?

[austinl93]

I'm looking to pre order fallout 4 and black ops 3 from either gamestop or walmart but I've never pre ordered anything before. Can I pay in full when I pre order so that I get that out of the way or will I have to pay in full when I pick it up?

 

[smorizio]

depends on the store policy. I pre ordered windows 10 usb from newegg and they did not charge my credit card till the software was in.
http://www.gamestop.com/gs/help/pre-orders.aspx

 

[dane332]

With gamestop when you preorder you are "reserving" a copy for yourself you can pay in full and just pick it up on launch day or pay a small amount of the price and then pay the rest on launch day

If the item is a collectors edition walmart is known for canceling last minute because they sold more pre orders than they were allowed to. I would not preorder from walmart