Used Fires -- no special offers?

[rcentros]

Just wanted to mention this and am curious if the situation is unique to my brother and me. Recently Amazon sold used Fire HD 8s (previous generation) and Fire 7s (previous generation) for 25% off. My brother bought two of the HD 8s and I bought three of the Fire 7s for my three youngest children (to replace three very cheap (junk) tablets we bought a couple Christmases ago). At about $26 per tablet for the 16 GB versions it seemed too good of a deal to pass up.

But what's odd is that all five of these tablets were purchased WITH special offers (less expensive). But not a single one of them actually came with special offers. It's almost as if Amazon is removing the special offers requirement on used tablets because they don't want to bother sorting them out into two categories. Probably, at this price, it makes sense to do this. But I was curious if others have noticed this with Amazon used (not refurbished) Fires.

[nicolasmart]

Even if you had special offers, if you contact Customer Service and tell them to remove your ads, they will do it for free from their end. I guess that when you pay +$20 for non-special offers Kindle/Fire, you just skip the hassle of having to contact Customer Service.

Really strange. I haven't purchased a refurbished Amazon device, but maybe they removed all the special offers when they reflashed its firmware, so that no user data will be left on the device.

[Cinisajoy]

They probably took them off because only the first person got special offers. Either that or the offers are tiny and you have to look for them.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by nicolasmart

Even if you had special offers, if you contact Customer Service and tell them to remove your ads, they will do it for free from their end. I guess that when you pay +$20 for non-special offers Kindle/Fire, you just skip the hassle of having to contact Customer Service.

Really strange. I haven't purchased a refurbished Amazon device, but maybe they removed all the special offers when they reflashed its firmware, so that no user data will be left on the device.

In this case these were used (not refurbished) Fires sold by Amazon Warehouse and they were supposedly selling both Fires with special offers and Fires without. So, in theory, it was just like buying a new Fire – you could choose either configuration and we chose the ones with special offers.

Maybe they were low on these by the time we bought them and only had the non-ad ones available. No complaints (at all!). Just odd, and kind of nice. (I'm actually considering paying $15 to take ads off my Fire now.)

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

They probably took them off because only the first person got special offers. Either that or the offers are tiny and you have to look for them.

I'll see if I can "tiny-ize" the ads on my Fire.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by nicolasmart

Even if you had special offers, if you contact Customer Service and tell them to remove your ads, they will do it for free from their end.

I kind of missed this part. When did Amazon start taking special offers off for free? Is this only on used and refurbished devices?

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I kind of missed this part. When did Amazon start taking special offers off for free? Is this only on used and refurbished devices?

Call and ask. The worst they can say is we need $20.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Call and ask. The worst they can say is we need $20.

It's actually just $15 for the Fire 7 (cheap edition). I knew going in what the deal was, the cheaper price was subsidized by ads. If I decide to remove the special offer "feature" I'll pay the $15. The tablet was only $30 on Prime Monday anyhow and they're routinely on sale for $35. Pretty good tablet for that price. Now I've bought a Jelly Comb 10" bluetooth keyboard ($17 on Amazon) and loaded JotterPad on the Fire – so I've got a great little portable word processor.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by rcentros

It's actually just $15 for the Fire 7 (cheap edition). I knew going in what the deal was, the cheaper price was subsidized by ads. If I decide to remove the special offer "feature" I'll pay the $15. The tablet was only $30 on Prime Monday anyhow and they're routinely on sale for $35. Pretty good tablet for that price. Now I've bought a Jelly Comb 10" bluetooth keyboard ($17 on Amazon) and loaded JotterPad on the Fire – so I've got a great little portable word processor.

Oops, my bad on the price. Hey that is cheap.

[Barbara1955]

When they replaced my Fire 10 I was told I would be getting the one Without Ads.. No extra charge because that was all they had left.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Barbara1955

When they replaced my Fire 10 I was told I would be getting the one Without Ads.. No extra charge because that was all they had left.

They didn't say anything to us. Just sent ones without ads. The ads really aren't that obnoxious on the Fires (either way you've got a lock screen) – it's just that the scenery (and other pictures) on the non-ad ones is kind of a nice change.