Shop Around!

[PaulTa]

Ok, I normally prefer newegg. I always THOUGHT that they had some of the most competitive prices on the 'net. Whoa was I naive. I've been watching the price on newegg of the Artic Cooler 7 Pro thingie, and they originally wanted sixty freakin' bucks for it. Well I see a price change, but apparently they just jacked the damned price up another ten bucks...

http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/SubCategory.asp?SubCategory=574&name=CPU-Cooling

These freakin' idiots want 70 bucks for something that is going for 19 bucks on ewiz. I'll be damned if I buy from newegg again with all this price gouging. Someone in their pricing department is smokin' crack.

[KorruptioN]

Supply and demand.

[PaulTa]

Supply and demand.

That's no excuse what so ever. Look at Wallmart man, they undercut their competition and drive other businesses out of business. Now they can sell mass amounts of goods for cheaper than anybody else.

Would anyone go to Wallmart if they didn't get their goods there for cheaper than the little shop two blocks away from the house? No, probably not at all. Why would I be motivated to shop at newegg if I could shop at another store on the internet for the same product 50 dollars cheaper? It's nearly 300% cheaper at eWiz.

I've been checking the pricing of their RAM for a while too. It seems that every time something starts selling well, they jack up the prices. That Super Talent stuff has gone up from 220 bucks to 250 bucks, probably because it is selling well. Now I can stop at eWiz and save 80 bucks over newegg on a 250 dollar purchase! In my opinion, they would be wise to learn from Wallmart and keep the prices low to drive other stores out of business. Maybe that's a flawed opinion, but I don't see how just yet.

[Stranger]

A lot of other sites list the Arctic Cooler 7 pro for even more than Newegg(someone on ebay wants $112.92!) Dunno why the pricing on this particular item is so all over the place, but Newegg's prices are often somewhat higher than other sites (not always though).

It's strengths have never been the most aggressive pricing. Newegg is convenient for its huge selection, the ease of use of the newegg website, and generally strong reputation for supporting their customers by replacing defective products. I don't buy everything form Newegg, but they are usually the first place I look.

Incidentally, Walmart is not always cheaper than anyone else. That is simply a perception they have successfully perpetrated. They advertise key items at very low prices, often ones that are kind of low quality to begin with. Let's say they advertise the "El cheapo" microwave oven for $20 less than normal. When the customers show up in the belief that "good deals on microwaves at Walmart", they may buy a different, better-quality microwave, not realizing that this other model may be available for less somewhere else. Walmart is actually a better example of cynical price manipulation than Newegg, IMO.

[Spectre]

That's no excuse what so ever. Look at Wallmart man, they undercut their competition and drive other businesses out of business. Now they can sell mass amounts of goods for cheaper than anybody else.

Would anyone go to Wallmart if they didn't get their goods there for cheaper than the little shop two blocks away from the house? No, probably not at all. Why would I be motivated to shop at newegg if I could shop at another store on the internet for the same product 50 dollars cheaper? It's nearly 300% cheaper at eWiz.

I've been checking the pricing of their RAM for a while too. It seems that every time something starts selling well, they jack up the prices. That Super Talent stuff has gone up from 220 bucks to 250 bucks, probably because it is selling well. Now I can stop at eWiz and save 80 bucks over newegg on a 250 dollar purchase! In my opinion, they would be wise to learn from Wallmart and keep the prices low to drive other stores out of business. Maybe that's a flawed opinion, but I don't see how just yet.

Uhhh...that is supply and demand. Limited supply....high demand you raise prices in order to ration the amount of goods you have.

[PaulTa]

Good point. I like newegg because of the detailed specifications, but I think I'm going to be froogling a lot more items.

They still have the prices on those Duo core processors the cheapest I've seen, but I'll be damned if their pricing on the items I'm looking for right now aren't ridiculous. :p

I want to give a big Thank You to Jonny for breakin' me of my newegg addiction.

[PaulTa]

Uhhh...that is supply and demand. Limited supply....high demand you raise prices in order to ration the amount of goods you have.

If the supply of these coolers was so low on the market, other places wouldn't be undercutting newegg by 50 bucks. I understand the concept of supply and demand, but I also understand price gouging when I see it. On some products it looks like newegg is expecting their name to carry them to the checkout isle, not their prices.

[Spectre]

If the supply of these coolers was so low on the market, other places wouldn't be undercutting newegg by 50 bucks. I understand the concept of supply and demand, but I also understand price gouging when I see it. On some products it looks like newegg is expecting their name to carry them to the checkout isle, not their prices.

Actually, you clearly don't understand it. Selling an item for higher than it is available elsewhere is not price gouging.

[SKYMTL]

NCIX has them in stock at $22.40USD. They ship to the States from a Washington State-based warehouse:

http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=17225&vpn=FREEZER-7-PRO&manufacture=Arctic%20Cooling

[GalvanizedYankee]

eWiz is $22 w/free shipping in the lower 48. Just buy it!

[Stranger]

Good point. I like newegg because of the detailed specifications, but I think I'm going to be froogling a lot more items.
That is quite reasonable. I think of newegg as a semi-premium place. I generally prefer to get stuff from them if their prices are close, but not if their prices are crazy on some item. I like what I have seen of Petra's tech shop too, but their selection is much smaller.

[jonnyGURU]

That's no excuse what so ever. Look at Wallmart man, they undercut their competition and drive other businesses out of business.

Actually, that's wrong.

Newegg is EXACTLY like Walmart.

They give you the perception that they undercut their competition.

And of course, perception is everything.

Because you can get a stick of this RAM or whatever particular motherboard cheapest at Newegg, you'll buy everything else at Newegg. I've heard MANY TIMES people buying ALL of their parts to build a computer from Newegg because the motherboard, video card and CPU were cheaper there, but they pay a lot more for the case, PSU, etc.

WalMart is the same way. You'll save ass loads on cheap Chinese crap and in house brand clothing... but try doing a whole shopping trip at Walmart and see if you really save anything. The concept is called "loss leaders." And it works.

[PaulTa]

Actually, you clearly don't understand it. Selling an item for higher than it is available elsewhere is not price gouging.

I know I know, price gouging is when you have sole ownership over the material and are then selling it at the high prices, but how many people are comfortable shopping outside of the newegg website? I know that I wasn't for a long time there. Although stock might not be going for as much outside of newegg, the psychological component is that many people will shop no where but newegg. I digress.

@SKYMTL- I actually live in WA.

@Jonny- I guess I am probably wrong on that. Although Wallmart may not be the cheapest anymore, I do believe that they drove other stores out of business by undercutting their prices on everything.

@GalvanizedYankee- I have to wait for my paycheck. :(

[NamelessMC]

As Jonny pointed out, Newegg is exactly like Wal-Mart. They're very smart about their prices and the way they look at it is this: They're selling Core2Duo's cheaper than competition, Video-cards for cheaper than competition, ram and motherboard's somewhat cheaper than competition.

A lot of half-informed pretentious forum posters on popular hardware sites swear by Newegg, so they get a lot of people in the door via those famous, "Hey looking for build advice" threads. The foot in the door, is the key phrase here.

Once you set in stone that you can build an entire rig at Newegg, your heart's content to do it, especially when "xxxSephirothDeathBringerXxX" told you that Newegg is the best site for prices, shipping and customer service.

Oh how our popular Counter-Strike:CS wanna-be champion could be wrong, and he often is. There are plenty of reputable e-tailors that cater to the budget gamer on the parts that people really want.
www.mwave.com
www.ewiz.com
www.directron.com
www.buy.com
www.outpost.com (Great for "Free after Rebate" cases and power-supplies)

So, to explain in further detail, the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. It's quite simple... Most Core2Duo over-clocking reviews list this cooler as one of the best to hit 3.4 GHZ stable with air cooling. It's known to compete with the Scythe Infinity, Big Typhoon and even the Zalman 9700. So what happens is, like Jonny said, buyers get their foot in the door making a huge price list with a Core2Duo 4300, ASUS P5B, some ram, a case and they decide, "Hey while I'm at it, I should throw in a cooler so I can over-clock." They grab the Freezer 7 Pro, not bothering to check competitive pricing at Pricegrabber.com or resellerratings.com, and don't know that they paid not even a Premium for it, since it's available at a LOT of other stores. They just got ripped off and didn't know it.

So why is Newegg doing this and getting away with it?
It's easy to figure out. Go to gamefaqs.com, tomshardware.com, anandtech.com and even game sites like worldofwarcraft.com and check out their forums.

Anytime anyone anywhere is considering upgrading anything in their computer, from ram, to a new video-card to a completely new rig with all the bells and whistles to go with it, at least 75% of the posters in the thread give a Newegg wish-list or Newegg link jam-packed links for the build.

Solve the problem? We have to start giving completely different links to parts but always use reputable sellers. The sites I listed above have GREAT ratings at resellerratings.com and pricegrabber.com, but they also offer competitive pricing. (Especially Mwave.com, has GREAT combo deals and motherboard deals)

[PaulTa]

Thanks for the link man. I'm definitely going to check some of those out.

I know that my dad swears by Tigerdirect for all of his purchases since he's had experience with them, and he paid 300 bucks for 2x1 gig kits of that ATI OCZ stuff. Newegg had it for free shipping and 40 dollars cheaper. Don't tell him that though, since he hasn't had experience with newegg. :p

I'm quickly becoming more informed on the shopping sites around the 'net, and I'll swear by newegg on things like processors. For PSUs though? Deadeyedata. Memory? ewiz. Etc.

[jonnyGURU]

I do this:

1. Go to Froogle.com and input the part # you're looking for.
2. Click to show only vendors with a rating of three stars or better.
3. Then sort prices low to high.
4....
5. Profit!

[CAD4466HK]

I do this:

1. Go to Froogle.com and input the part # you're looking for.
2. Click to show only vendors with a rating of three stars or better.
3. Then sort prices low to high.
4....
5. Profit!

I do this:
1.Click on Bizrate link
2.Insert product name
3.Pick cheapest one with 3 stars or more

[Steeeeve]

I do this:

1. Go to Froogle.com and input the part # you're looking for.
2. Click to show only vendors with a rating of three stars or better.
3. Then sort prices low to high.
4....
5. Profit!

Don't do number 2....this kills good places like my store and Deadeye Data and other small sites that can offer good prices.

Computer parts offer terrible margins. newegg gets offers good prices as Jon said but they probably break even on them. They then make you pay higher for accessories and it works well. They also try to increase by doing combos. My store, for example, have margins that are no higher than 10% and normally are 5% or lower. In fact, my last sale was for around $250 and I made 8 bucks off of it. The point is....don't you shouldn't always look at price. Chances are companies are going as low as they can. Things like customer service and confidence are also important. Well a store help you with purchasing a product? Will they give you information if they can't find it? Can you call newegg and say "hey does this heatsink fit in this case"? Probably not. Those looking at just price run the risk of getting products they can't use and end up having more of a hassle than the minimal money saved.

...wow, they went off topic :) Rant over :lol:

[jonnyGURU]

Don't do number 2....this kills good places like my store and Deadeye Data and other small sites that can offer good prices.

Computer parts offer terrible margins. newegg gets offers good prices as Jon said but they probably break even on them.

Ah.. Yeah. That's true. There's actually quite a few vendors out there that I know of, have used, and they don't have a rating.

Like J&R, TheNerds.net, Page Computers.. and of course, Deadeye.

My bad.

[Steeeeve]

places like J&R and Deadeye (I haven't purchased from the others) really have better service than ZZF and newegg. At lot of times having someone there to help out with an order is better than getting a lower price....especially if you don't know something. This is common in my arena as small form factors often don't allow certain parts (CPU coolers mainly). Since I have just about every SFF on the market I can easily tell you these things :). I know Jennifer from deadeyedata does a great job as well :)

[Spectre]

places like J&R and Deadeye (I haven't purchased from the others) really have better service than ZZF and newegg. At lot of times having someone there to help out with an order is better than getting a lower price....especially if you don't know something. This is common in my arena as small form factors often don't allow certain parts (CPU coolers mainly). Since I have just about every SFF on the market I can easily tell you these things :). I know Jennifer from deadeyedata does a great job as well :)

That is why when I buy for projects or accounts I go through CDW almost exclusively. People laugh at paying more but when you really need help an account manager > newegg "customer service"

[Steeeeve]

yeah CDW is a good company although better for businesses. I work for Virginia Tech as an accountant and almost all of our purchases for computer related equipment is from CDW Government. Works great :)

[Slartibartfast]

I use jab-tech and sidewinder a lot for cooling stuff, always much cheaper than the egg.

[Rats]

for the new computer i ordered last week, i found lower prices on other sites for every part except the video card and RAM, only because they had $40 and $50 rebates.
the only thing cool about newegg is that their warehouse is only about 30 miles away from me, so shipping only takes 1 business day no matter what shipping option i choose.

[Slartibartfast]

I actually had a pretty cool experience with the Egg the other day. I bought an X-Fi soundcard from them, and the next day they dropped the price $25. I complained and they refunded me the difference.

[Steeeeve]

I actually had a pretty cool experience with the Egg the other day. I bought an X-Fi soundcard from them, and the next day they dropped the price $25. I complained and they refunded me the difference.

that stinks for newegg because it probably cost them 2 bucks just to refund it :p