Do you buy ...

Psi*

Psi*

Tech Monkey
... parts off the net or thru some local source ... retail or wholesale?

How do you evaluate suppliers?

For myself I have settled mostly on Newegg. It is kind of like the ToysRUs for many electronics & PC components. They have the best selection conveniently at one location, although there is the chance that they could be higher than a Walmart equivalent.

Newegg also has a warehouse in New Jersey so Mid Atlantic US gets pretty fast service for even cheapest delivery offers. I do have a compalint in that they have DHL pickup & take the packages to the USPS for actual delivery ... makes it about a week to go <100 miles. :( But it is free.

I used to only go to pricewatch, search for what I wanted at the lowest price, then would visit resellerratings.com to get a general opinion on the potential seller. Still not a bad approach when I want to see just how competitive Newegg is or to get parts that Newegg actually does not have.:eek:

Resellerratings does require some judicious evaluation if there is a lot of whining going on. But, this process is what led me ultimately to Newegg several years ago. I have done a few successful no-hitch returns and have spent thousands with them. Although I have bought from mwave, a defunct system builder, and even ebay in the past. So far only slightly burned for a junky water pump.

There is also nexttag.com. This site keeps graphical pricing history & lets you setup pricing alerts. When your price point is met, it sends you an alert. Nice when you are waiting for expected price drops. Not quite the stock market, pretty helpful when times are competitive.

Not everyone participates with every thing they sell tho. Newegg is usually the lowest in pricewatch for instance, but they don't always show up. Visiting their web site may show that they sell for less with an instant rebate.

Just some thoughts ...
 
2

2Tired2Tango

Tech Monkey
Hardware is actually a small part of what I do. Most of it is software, maintenance and supplies (network cables, ink, toner, etc.). So I have an arrangement with a local computer store. I can either go in in person and buy at a modest discount or I can send my customers in with a list. My money comes from labour, not product.

I have, of course, bought from NewEgg a few times and from other sources as well but that's mostly when I can't get what I need locally...
 
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Merlin

Merlin

The Tech Wizard
NewEgg.com
TigerDirect.com
and Frys
Sometimes Micro Center for the small things that can't wait for shipping
 
Rob Williams

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
Given what I do for a living, I don't find myself needing to purchase hardware all too often, but when I do need something, I tend to go straight to NCIX or Direct Canada (both are essentially the same company). Choices are slim in Canada, but luckily their selection isn't too bad, nor is the shipping. There's also Tiger Direct up here, but the shipping charges are ridiculous, so I've never considered them for anything.

If I need something simple like blank optical media, I'll just go to Futureshop (Best Buy).
 
Kougar

Kougar

Techgage Staff
Staff member
If it's not worth the cost of shipping, or I need to demo the product first I'll grab it locally, but otherwise it's significantly cheaper to just get it online someplace despite shipping costs. Newegg's slowly losing their pricing edge, so they are only the first place I look. I tend to find stuff cheaper elsewhere by a few dollars, especially with cashback promos factored in.

I don't use pricing engines at all, because each one always leaves out a few specific stores and I usually find the item cheaper someplace else, find a rebate, or some other promotion. Even Google's pricing engine leaves out stores. I don't limit my searching to just a few sites, but I only buy from those that are reputable or are obviously not single-person run and operated.

I'd do more local shopping if there was a Fry's or Micro Center in town, they do tend to have the ocassional killer deal. Fry's just put up one ad for a $89 Retail boxed Seagate 1.5TB drive Friday... best non-promo non-rebate price I've seen for those.
 
Psi*

Psi*

Tech Monkey
Kougar, I officially hate you. (Meaning that I am extremely envious.) There are no Fry's near me here in Connecticut. The North East Corridor needs one. It could be a killer opportunity. I envision traffic backed up for miles at the exit it would near.

I used to travel to LA every month for a couple of weeks. I practically lived at the Fry's in Fountain Valley. sigh ... :(
 
Doomsday

Doomsday

Tech Junkie
some local source ... retail.....they be close buy...when ever problem i cant solve i go to em and they fix it....usually dont charge cause i bought 80% of my PC hardware from em!

no e-tailer delivers here...
 
Kougar

Kougar

Techgage Staff
Staff member
Psi* said:
Kougar, I officially hate you. (Meaning that I am extremely envious.) There are no Fry's near me here in Connecticut. The North East Corridor needs one. It could be a killer opportunity. I envision traffic backed up for miles at the exit it would near.

I used to travel to LA every month for a couple of weeks. I practically lived at the Fry's in Fountain Valley. sigh ... :(
Click to expand...

If it makes you feel any better, the closest Fry's is a 50 minute drive north of here, not counting the drive back. Not worth 1/2 a tank of gas unless I need something from them anyway. And the nearest MicroCenter is way over in Houston... four hours minimum. Really annoying because they had $200 Core i7 920's for the longest time... (with tax mind you, but still a nice deal).
 
madstork91

madstork91

The One, The Only...
I used to view FRY's as being this super mega store of a parts supply... Now I can only think of it as such when i hit up the bargain section.

Bestbuy finally, well sort of, started to match some online prices... Most of the time if I can find the part I want there, they seem to have the equivelent of an online price + shipping.

If I can get a combo deal, a decent price, and im ordering a lot, I got for the online market.
 
Psi*

Psi*

Tech Monkey
I did not know it until very recently, but Micro Center was selling i7 920s for $199. I heard about that after I saw whining on another forum that they raised the price to $230 ... still much better than 'egg.
 
Rob Williams

Rob Williams

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Staff member
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Psi* said:
I did not know it until very recently, but Micro Center was selling i7 920s for $199. I heard about that after I saw whining on another forum that they raised the price to $230 ... still much better than 'egg.
Click to expand...

Is that the REGULAR price? If so, then wow... how can they undersell places like Newegg by $80?
 
Kougar

Kougar

Techgage Staff
Staff member
Rob Williams said:
Is that the REGULAR price? If so, then wow... how can they undersell places like Newegg by $80?
Click to expand...

They've been selling them for $199 for the better part of a year until they switched to $230 awhile ago. The caveat is you must physically buy it in the store, so while you are there you're likely to buy other components for your system build there. ;)

As for how they undersell Newegg, I believe MicroCenter is buying in even larger quantities.... they were absolutely flying off the shelves for months when the promotion started, and again when D0 stepping models began to show up they again flew off the shelves for awhile. It's a gutsy move but I hope it pays off for them. ;)
 
Rob Williams

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
Kougar said:
The caveat is you must physically buy it in the store, so while you are there you're likely to buy other components for your system build there.
Click to expand...

That's still fine, though. If you get a CPU, some blank media, some compressed air, blah blah, all for the price of just the CPU from Newegg, I'd consider that a good reason to get to the store (provided you are close to one).
 
JMMDTG

JMMDTG

Obliviot
If the price is right I will go to the Microcenter near me. Otherwise it's Newegg, TigerDirect or ZipZoomFly. Newegg is where I go first.
 
Kougar

Kougar

Techgage Staff
Staff member
Rob Williams said:
That's still fine, though. If you get a CPU, some blank media, some compressed air, blah blah, all for the price of just the CPU from Newegg, I'd consider that a good reason to get to the store (provided you are close to one).
Click to expand...

You and me both. Even after 8-9% in sales tax it's still a sweet bargain. Specials like this is why some people love Fry's so much, because they do something like it for all the major holidays.
 
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