Score an $80 Pre — If You’re Patient

This week Amazon undercut Sprint’s price for the Palm Pre by offering the smartphone for $100 with a two-year contract. Now the online superstore has been outdone after Wal-Mart rolled back the Pre’s price to $79.99. (Thanks, Engadget.)

The Pre will cost you $179.99 out of pocket, while you may submit your request for a $100 mail-in-rebate can only when an enclosed “copy of your fourth month carrier bill… show[s] that you have made payment and that ‘all outstanding balance’ has been paid in full.”

In other words, you have to wait at least 120 days before even mailing your rebate. The terms and conditions say it will take another eight to ten weeks for processing before you will see your check.

If you’ve got that kind of patience, this might be the best Pre price out there.

Then again, you’re going to be waiting half the year to get $100 back. Is it worth that long a wait to save a measly $20 compared to Amazon’s up-front price?