Buying in Interest-Free Instalments on eMAG

For a while now, eMAG has let me buy products in interest-free instalments, without a store card, through the My Walletoption. You can buy products worth up to 4,000 lei (about €800) in 4 instalments. You’ll find more details on their website.

Introduction

In the house where I live there are several computers:

• An older PC with four monitors, which I use for remote work;
• A more powerful gaming PC with an ultra-wide screen;
• A work laptop, which I take with me when I travel or want to work somewhere other than the office.

I also have a Chromebook and a MacBook Air that I use occasionally, and my wife has a personal laptop and a work one too.

With so many devices in the house, I quickly realised I needed a centralised storage solution that every one of them could access.

What did I buy in interest-free instalments?

In this context, a NAS (Network Attached Storage) became the obvious choice. I went for the Synology DS1522+, which I found for 3,749.99 lei on eMAG. Since I had a little more than that available in My Wallet, I bought it in 4 interest-free instalments.

A small hack! How I bought more in interest-free instalments

When you buy from eMAG in 4 interest-free instalments, you pay the first instalment up front. So if the NAS costs 3,749.99 lei, split into 4 instalments, the first one is about 937.50 lei. That first payment then comes back as credit in My Wallet, as soon as the order is invoiced.

So I used the same mechanism for a Samsung 990 PRO NVMe SSD, 1 TB, priced at 499 lei. I paid for it in 4 instalments, the first being 125 lei, which also came back into My Wallet, allowing me to buy a second identical SSD.

If I had tried to buy the NAS and the two SSDs in a single order, I wouldn’t have stayed within the 4,000-lei My Wallet limit. But by splitting them into three orders and paying only the first instalment on each, I managed to buy products worth a total of 5,750 lei, all in interest-free instalments.

Why do I buy in interest-free instalments?

The answer is simple. First of all, my money isn’t tied up, and if inflation rises, I come out ahead. Why? Because when inflation rises, the same money buys you less.

There are, however, some risks:

1. Losing my income and struggling to pay the instalments on time. If you don’t pay the instalments, various fees apply, and they can be high.
2. Buying things I don’t really need.
3. Spending more than I can afford.

That’s why I try to be balanced when I “go shopping” – and I recommend you do the same.

In conclusion

Instead of saving for my dream car (a Toyota Land Cruiser), like a true Romanian I bought the “whip” before the “oxen and cart”. Still, I’m convinced the NAS will be extremely useful in the long run: I’ll have remotely accessible storage for the photos and videos from the adventures to come.

Happy smart shopping!