Barnes & Noble’s Nook hit the bargain bin Friday,...

Barnes & Noble’s Nook hit the bargain bin Friday, landing on Internet bargain website Living Social’s nationwide deals page at a 15 percent discount. The 8GB Nook, advertised along with offers for Fanatics sports merchandise, a 1-year subscription to “Zoobooks” and a 5-week Virtual Nerd online math boot camp, was cut $30 from $199 in a 2-day deal. By mid-afternoon, 1,733 had been sold, a tracker on the webpage said. According to the “fine print,” all sales are final and the purchased Nooks are not eligible for return. Barnes & Noble was also hawking the 16GB version of the Nook on its own website, shoving a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card to shoppers who bought a $249 Nook by Sunday. Meanwhile, the competing Google Nexus 7 tablet, promised by Staples to be in stores by the end of the month (CED July 10 p5), seemed hard to come by in an Internet search Friday. Staples listed both the Nexus 7 for $199 (8GB) and $249 (16GB) on the website, but noted the devices were “in store only on special order.” Google’s own Play website said the Asus-built devices are “coming soon.” Interested shoppers were directed to add their names to a list for upcoming emails about availability. B&HPhoto.com, which began taking orders for the 16GB Nexus 7 earlier this month, said the device was backordered until Sept. 1.