Toys 'R' Us Dangling The Holiday Shopping Carrot Of Free Layaway

If you’re into shopping really really early for the holidays — and there are only 111 days until Christmas — Toys ‘R’ Us is determined to woo you with a head start on layaway this year. Not only will the program start way ahead of the prime shopping season (as in right now), but layaway will be free for part of that time.

From now until Oct. 31, Toys ‘R’ says it will be waiving the upfront fees that usually come with putting products on layaway, reports CNN. After October customers can still put items on layaway but will be charged the $5 service fee.

There are a wide variety of merchandise available for the free layaway, including  common gift items like toys, video games and swing sets. Don’t try to get any clothing, drinks, diapers, batteries or, oddly enough, “holiday-related items” on layaway, however. Those products aren’t eligible for the program.

As long as shoppers put down a 20% down payment and pay off 50% of the total price within 45 days, and pay for the whole thing by Dec. 16, they’ll be good to go.

Other retailers are already vying for their hunk of the layaway pie, including Walmart with its early start on this year’s program.

At this pace, we wouldn’t be surprised if eventually layaway will just start the day after Christmas and turn into a year-round thing.

Toys R Us offers free layaway [CNN]

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