Newegg more expensive?

[Washer]

Besides the occasional higher price I don't really know what there is to complain about with Newegg. No other shopping site is even close in usability. It's far easier to find the item I'm looking for or sort between related items on Newegg. As well they offer the best pictures out there bar none. Being able to zoom in on a motherboard and really see it fully before purchasing is awesome. The consistency also of the pictures is a major plus, you can get a real idea of the spacing of specific components.

Shipping... I don't know it's always been cheap for me. Most items I buy somehow end up having free shipping and those that don't rarely seem outrageous. As well, free shipping from Newegg is 3 days. Free shipping from Amazon (without a Prime account) is complete guesswork. I've had Amazon's free shipping take over two weeks a few times.

Additionally the RMA process has always been straightforward and simple, and while their return policy is a bit more strict these days it is simply average not worse.

[ludi]

I'm sorry if I come across as a jackass here...but are you seriously complaining about saving money? Newegg could just charge you whatever they want and be done with it. Newegg is offering you a special price for being a subscriber. It's not like they're advertising the lowest price and forcing you to go through the rebate process (which would be something to complain about). They're giving you the special price because you're subscribed to their mailing list.

The complaint is that Newegg wasn't always that way. Those of us who were buying hardware online in the late 1990s, remember when Pricewatch was your first stop and there were dozens of vendors competing for a sale. Newegg routinely and consistently had some of the lowest advertised prices and always free shipping, and still managed to have excellent customer service: if you ordered it before about 2pm Pacific, it was on the shipping dock the same day, and it always got to you on the third business day thereafter. That was how they managed to outsell (and outlive) many of those early competitors.

Newegg is still a very good vendor but with success and increased size come things like separate shipping charges on many items, prices that are not always the lowest unless you really want the bundle deal or the in-house MIR, discount codes that require you to accept spam, etc. It's what they do, and given how the industry has changed, it may even be what they have to do. But it used to be different.

[chasscF1]

I would have to say I still find them cheaper for most everything if you can wait until things go on sale, which seems to be pretty often. I picked up my cpu and mobo at microcenter, but got everything else at newegg when I built my new computer. 512 GB M4 for $345 and a HIS ICEQ 7870 for $300 plus $20 MIR was better than anywhere else.

But I think their model changed after they decided to drop the IPO. I don't think they thought they could pay to expand in China and Canada when your profits are 3% of your revenue.
The website is just so much easier to navigate and find what you are looking for.

[Egglick]

Because it's a petty nonsense games. They don't say anything about being a newsletter subscriber until you go to place the order, and then it's either sign up or pay more.

Borderline forced subscriptions and making the customer jump through hoops cheapens their name. By jumping through hoops, I'm referring to being forced to pick through and punch in nonsense codes (and type my password for each one), then being forced to sign up for a newsletter, which means later taking the time to unsubscribe from said newsletter. Is it the end of the world? Of course not; but it lowers my opinion of them. What happened to just advertising that you're selling a product for a lower price?

I'm sorry if I come across as a jackass here...but are you seriously complaining about saving money? Newegg could just charge you whatever they want and be done with it. Newegg is offering you a special price for being a subscriber. It's not like they're advertising the lowest price and forcing you to go through the rebate process (which would be something to complain about). They're giving you the special price because you're subscribed to their mailing list.

If you're not okay with that, buy from someone else and be done with it.

To say they're "rewarding their subscribers with better prices" might be looking at things with rose-colored glasses. I see it as an obvious ploy to get more people on their advertisement list. I also see it as proof that they're willing to degrade the customer experience and push their weight around a little bit, which isn't a good sign.

ludi hit the nail on the head. I've been a Newegg customer for over 10 years now, and I never remember such nonsense in the past. There are still many things which I love about Newegg (see earlier in this thread). I don't have too much issue with mildly higher prices if there are other positive aspects to the shopping experience. I start to draw the line when I'm forced to search though 5-pages of eye-bleeding colors and randomly placed items to find some stupid coupon codes in order to save $3-5 on an item. To have a subscription forced on me at the time of sale (or pay higher prices) is a further slap in the face. I certainly hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

[Welch]

Ya the Newegg Business account is kind of a crock. The ONLY upside is a little bit more comprehensive reports for invoices and prior purchases. Although when you buy something and get a discount, it doesn't itemize the order on your invoice like it does before you check out..... stupid as hell since my accountant doesn't know how to price some things when it doesn't tell me that -30 bucks was for Combo "A". Instead it adds up all of the discounts and lists them at the bottom as a total... how... useless.

Volume purchases like I said are a joke.. downright JOKE. I've only found one item that was cheaper to purchase on Newegg Business and that was a Dell Vostro that was on sale from 499.99 down to something in the $360ish range, and it was still 499.99 on the consumer side. So that's nice. Sometimes for business members only they also send you 10-20% on certain items, usually networking stuff. Most of the time I've notice they are crap items though, like Rosewill routers, or TrendNet KVMs... things like that. Its never anything you REALLY want to get, more of a way for them to offload the cheap bulk stuff.

I'd be down for a member fee for the business portion if they were to offer REAL volume discounts, return item purchase discounts, weekly or month discount codes on top or useful brands, perhaps throw a Easter egg in there once in awhile and offer a reduced shipping cost on an entire cart. Of course make it so that ANYTHING that a consumer can get for discounts, that I can get. Just seems ridiculous at times to tell a business that they should pay more for the same thing, and to not lift any max per order.

Thats is maybe one other thing I've noticed, they may allow you to buy more than 5 of an item, and instead let you buy say 10... Yay, thank you for letting me buy more of your stuff at the same price as any Joe Schmo.

My overall feeling with Newegg compared to how they were before, is that they throw their weight around and feel they can demand whatever price they want, no respect for those of us who have been highly loyal to them for years. Newegg has lost well over 5 grand in business from me in the last few months to Amazon who had better prices and would truly do free shipping EVEN TO ALASKA (albeit as a super saver 5-9 days)