Pre-order deposit

A pre-order deposit holds your spot for something that does not exist in stores yet. For new robots, it is often a few hundred dollars, while the full price can be thousands.

Example: a home robot company asks for $200 now. Months later, it sends an invitation with the final price, plan and delivery date. Only then do you decide whether to pay the rest.

Check two things before paying: whether the deposit is refundable, and until when. Companies often count deposits as “orders”, so a big order number does not mean many robots have shipped.