Layaway is a way to purchase an item without paying the entire cost at once. However, rather than taking the item home and then repaying the debt on a regular schedule, as in most installment plans or hire purchase

Hire purchase

Hire purchase is the legal term for a contract, in this persons usually agree to pay for goods in parts or a percentage at a time. It was developed in the United Kingdom and can now be found in China, Japan, Malaysia, India, South Africa, Australia, Jamaica and New Zealand. It is also called...

s, the layaway customer does not receive the item until it is completely paid for. There is sometimes a fee associated, since the seller must "lay" the item "away" in storage until the payments are completed. If the transaction is not completed, the item is returned to stock and the customer's money is returned minus a fee.

Layaway was once more common than it is now, since the ubiquity of credit card

Credit card

A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...

s has decreased its utility. Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

 announced on September 14, 2006, that it would discontinue layaway service in all its stores by the end of the year, citing the decrease in demand and a rise in cost of implementation. However on September 08, 2011 Wal-Mart restored the service due to the new financial difficulties imposed by the economy and the increased constraints on consumer credit.

Online layaway is layaway through the Internet. It allows consumers to purchase items through scheduled deductions from a checking account.
Online layaway simplifies layaway for both merchant and consumer by removing the costly, time-consuming storage and bookkeeping processes. Layaways remain at the distribution center during the layaway period instead of taking up valuable warehouse space.Just as consumers used layaway payment plans to purchase products at brick and mortar

Brick and mortar

Brick and mortar in its most simplest usage is used to describe the physical presence of a building or other structure...

stores in the past, they can also use layaway to pay for online products and services which serves as an alternative budgeting tool and a means to avoid debt. Products and services that have layaway offerings online vary from net books to home gyms and from concert tickets to layaway vacations.