Newegg Launches $50 Amazon Prime Competitor • Hacker News Board

Re: Newegg Launches $50 Amazon Prime Competitor

#51

Post by nivla » Wed, Feb 05, 2014, 9:41 PM UTC

goldenkey wrote: post #42

chm wrote: post #36

That's good news, but I'm still forming my opinion about Newegg. I've only ordered three times from them, but allow me this comparison: I never received a product from Amazon that didn't match its description. That doesn't mean these don't exist. I recently received an item from Newegg that didn't match the description. The page has since been removed and it was changed in Google Cache too. It was a 1000W PSU which w…

NewEgg sent me 1000 dollar Titan GPUs late, despite me paying extra for 1 day shipping. The box came with a huge hole in it and one Titan, out of the three that I ordered, was missing. I called up customer support and they dicked around and finally said they would send me new ones' overnight. Well I didn't get the GPUs for two weeks because they waited until they got the holed up package back. I would never order fro…

I once ordered an XBox Live Membership Card from them. I ended up getting an empty envelope. Imagine shaking the envelope furiously and holding it up against the sun to see if something drops.

Contacted the customer service, they asked me to email the picture of the desperately ripped open envelope. Once done, they finally sent another one. Well nothing really to complaint about but it was still weird receiving an empty package with extra padding.

Re: Newegg Launches $50 Amazon Prime Competitor

#52

Post by sliverstorm » Wed, Feb 05, 2014, 9:45 PM UTC

Axsuul wrote: post #37

sliverstorm wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blue Cash Preferred qualifies. Man, I'm still discovering little perks to AMEX like this.

Any other notable perks?

The one that always jumps to mind is, on "Small business Saturday", if you register beforehand:

- visit a small business on their qualifying list, which is quite long

- Spend $10 or more on your AMEX

- Get a $10 statement credit

I don't know how "notable" that one is, but I always liked it and not everyone knows about it

Re: Newegg Launches $50 Amazon Prime Competitor

#53

Post by blah32497 » Wed, Feb 05, 2014, 9:53 PM UTC

ericd wrote: post #34

blah32497 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"whose merchant partners typically take a week to get stuff to me" Which is a week faster than Amazon's normal shipping rate. I think Amazon has purposefully made their shipping slower to get more people to sign up for Prime. But I can't make myself sign up to their anticompetitive BS.

Or those prime packages simply get bumped up in the queue to be before other orders that were already placed because they need to be to get out as fast as they do. And how is Prime anticompetitive?

Membership plans are anticompetitive b/c they effectively lock you in to one retailer thereby decrease competition. You're effectively paying for the shipping ahead of time with the membership, so going to NewEgg or TigerDirect means you "throw money away".

The other issue is that since there is no fixed cost associated with shipping you things throughout the year, do to the the economics of it, the plan must be to your disadvantage. Amazon isn't a charity - the deal is making them money - and therefore on average the consumers are losing out.

Take the 80/yr and split it among all your purchases. Amazon is likely spending less than that on the extra shipping speed.

PS: Hypothetically they could be spending slightly more and decreasing their profit margins in exchange for higher volumes (b/c now that you spent your 80 bucks you feel guilty about shopping elsewhere). However I'm almost certain S&H fees are a lot larger than profit margins. Since the market is already very competitive they don't have much of a profit margin in the first place.

Re: Newegg Launches $50 Amazon Prime Competitor

#54

Post by shmerl » Wed, Feb 05, 2014, 10:03 PM UTC

I often use Newegg. Some in the comments there complained about their customer service. I can't compare, since I don't use Amazon much. But in my case for example when I was buying a motherboard with an Intel chipset recently from Newegg, customer service couldn't help me with verifying whether it's C1 of C2 stepping (C1 has a known USB 3 bug: http://apcmag.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-haswell-lynx-p...). I.e. I couldn't figure it out before buying. That wasn't so pleasant, I had to call the manufacturer after I got the board to verify it. Luckily it happened to be C2. But I still prefer to support Newegg because they staunchly fight patent trolls (unlike Amazon).

Re: Newegg Launches $50 Amazon Prime Competitor

#55

Post by IbJacked » Wed, Feb 05, 2014, 10:08 PM UTC

I've been a Prime subscriber for years now, and have recently been reconsidering my membership. The free 2-day shipping now frequently means 2-day free to the local post office. Once there, it's usually another couple of days before it gets to me (and my office is literally next door to local post office). Not cool, Amazon.

Re: Newegg Launches $50 Amazon Prime Competitor

#56

Post by brianlweiner » Wed, Feb 05, 2014, 10:10 PM UTC

If we're piling on bad newegg experiences, I spent years ordering lots of server components and standard PC hardware from them.

1) Bought a Supermicro 2u server barebones kit that shipped with a defective mainboard (tested RAM and CPU in a similar 2u I had at work, all the other variables I could think of.)

2)I shipped the server back to Newegg who refused to process it since I forgot to include the rackmount rails

3) Newegg ships the server back to me in a box with no padding / packing material whatsoever. Literally a 2u server loose in a big cardboard box - many points of physical damage.

4) I RMA again, explicitly telling newegg they damaged it in shipment.

5) Newegg refuses the RMA, blaming me for the shipping damage.

6) I contest the charges with my Newegg Preferred Card (another mistake). They ruled in my favor, but then 30 days later was notified they reversed their decision. They refused to discuss it any further.

7) Newegg disabled my account.

Quite an experience and I had previously loved Newegg as a retailer. These days I basically stick to Amazon, more esoteric stuff needs to go through TigerDirect or some other electronic retailer. I haven't bought anything from newegg since.

Re: Newegg Launches $50 Amazon Prime Competitor

#57

Post by blntechie » Wed, Feb 05, 2014, 10:38 PM UTC

Axsuul wrote: post #37

sliverstorm wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blue Cash Preferred qualifies. Man, I'm still discovering little perks to AMEX like this.

Any other notable perks?

Purchase Protection.

This saved me recently. Broke my new Nexus 5's screen in a matter of a week. Sent to LG for repair and they repaired it for 150$.

I filed a purchase protection claim for this 150$ with AmEx and they refunded me the cost in a week. Just emailed them the claim form and receipts. Can't recommend this enough.

Re: Newegg Launches $50 Amazon Prime Competitor

#58

Post by mbrameld » Wed, Feb 05, 2014, 10:41 PM UTC

blah32497 wrote: post #53

ericd wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or those prime packages simply get bumped up in the queue to be before other orders that were already placed because they need to be to get out as fast as they do. And how is Prime anticompetitive?

Membership plans are anticompetitive b/c they effectively lock you in to one retailer thereby decrease competition. You're effectively paying for the shipping ahead of time with the membership, so going to NewEgg or TigerDirect means you "throw money away". The other issue is that since there is no fixed cost associated with shipping you things throughout the year, do to the the economics of it, the plan must be to y…

Free shipping isn't the only thing prime gets you.

Re: Newegg Launches $50 Amazon Prime Competitor

#59

Post by Finster » Wed, Feb 05, 2014, 10:42 PM UTC

What's to stop me from getting the 30-day trial, buying all the parts for my new desktop build and then canceling? Nothing, I guess, but unlike Amazon, I don't see myself using Newegg beyond the once every two years to buy system components for a new build.

Re: Newegg Launches $50 Amazon Prime Competitor

#60

Post by driverdan » Wed, Feb 05, 2014, 10:42 PM UTC

encoderer wrote: post #41

Xdes wrote: post #3

Well 3 day shipping for $50 or 2 day shipping across many sites for $79 with shoprunner. Also shoprunner is a free benefit with an Amex card and they occasionally have a deal of spend $x on y site and get a one year membership.

Has Shoprunner actually worked well for you? I've been unimpressed. The last few times I've bought from NewEgg or TigerDirect I tried to use it but literally nothing on my shopping list was marked as shoprunner-eligible. I signed-up because of the free-with-amex thing but I don't see myself using it all that much.

I just did a $2100 order from Newegg, of which $2050 of it qualified (a CPU didn't).