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> I'm now actively looking and buying from other places unless I desperately need something in 2-days or less and know exactly what I need. Even then, its get
by mitchty 7y ago
> I'm now actively looking and buying from other places unless I desperately need something in 2-days or less and know exactly what I need.
Even then, its getting harder to find somewhere I can "trust". Example, I buy 8TiB Seagate drives, used to be I could depend on Newegg to get them, but now they have a market thing like amazon.
My last box from them was empty, literally. I'm down to B&H photo for buying drives which is fine they're great but I'm getting pissed off at all the things that used to work fine to buy on amazon but now its total sketch.
An Amazon example, I bought a NUC from some random store, but totes shipped by Amazon we promise so I was like well eh, its like the only place on the internet to buy this model.
Didn't even get sent, fortunately I got a refund but I'm DONE buying electronics on Amazon or Newegg. I can't trust that I'll get what I want from either anymore. This ignores the crap like getting a power brick and finding out the stupid thing is a counterfeit and not the name brand it was supposed to be.
- dragontamer 7y agoMicrocenter serves my computing supplies needs quite well. There's nothing like feeling the darn thing with your hands before buying it.
- acheron 7y agoYeah, I agree that finding a "good" place for some products is hard, but "computer parts" is not one of those categories, as Microcenter is perfectly fine.
- blackearl 7y agoThey only have so many locations. I recall being really disappointed being 100+ miles away and not being able to cash in on their CPU/MoBo deals
- chefandy 7y agoEven if you don't live near one (there are only 25 locations in the country, including one in California which is well south of L.A.) the online prices are competitive, and the customer service is decent.
- yellow_lead 7y agoI would order from BestBuy. I just did this for an M2 and I knew that if there's any issues, I can just take it to the nearest store. They also price match, but you need to go in store or call a customer service line to do it. I just went in store. Less convenient, but less risky for larger purchases. edit - best buy may not have everything you need but typically you can find a decent drive.
- dragontamer 7y agoI find that Best Buy is good for prepackaged stuff: like a full laptop or a full desktop. In fact, Best Buy prices are competitive if you're buying those kinds of items. Best Buy sometimes has GPUs or SSDs at good prices, but its less common. I still price-compare at Best Buy because of that small chance that they win in the price wars, but my #1 goto is still Microcenter (or Newegg if from online).
- setr 7y agoCables however is outright offensive; they operate like an airport - everything is $25 to $40
- dragontamer 7y agoI dunno. I'd rather spend $25 on an unnecessarily expensive cable than get a $10 cable that blows up my $1000 laptop: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2XDBFUD9CTN2R/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?tag=theverge02-20 https://www.amazon.com/review/R2XDBFUD9CTN2R/ref=cm_cr_rdp_p... The fact of the matter is: Amazon's cables have such low-quality assurance on them, that they're untrustworthy now. I think for cables specifically, Monoprice has created a good reputation and a good price. Unlike Amazon, who hides behind "marketplace sellers" and "comingling", Monoprice puts their own reputation on the line when they sell cables. https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=5458 https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=5458 Ultimately, if Amazon wants to be a "marketplace seller", they can. But Amazon needs to do a much better job combating fake-sellers, low-quality products. I'm not even anti-Chinese or whatever, I'm fine buying cheap Chinese stuff as long as there's some long-standing brand name that is willing to take the reputation hit if things go wrong. (Ex: why I'm fine buying cheap Chinese goods from Walmart, but not fine with buying cheap Chinese goods from Amazon. Walmart does step in and take responsibility) Otherwise, its just Alibaba Russian roulette with your stuff. Maybe things work, maybe things don't, maybe things will blow up your laptop. Maybe the 18650 cell will blow up in your vaping device and give 3rd degree burns on your face. Or the 18650 cells will create a garage fire burning down your new scooter. Etc. etc. The problem is the distinct lack of brands and accountability on Amazon. If a Monoprice or Best Buy cable destroyed laptops or caused fires, we'd all blame Monoprice or Best Buy. But if an Amazon item does the same, we somehow don't blame Amazon, but some indistinct unnamed entity.
- Lammy 7y agoThe cycle will always continue. I went through a Newegg era, then an Amazon era, now a similar B&H era as you, and who knows what store will be my go-to a few years from now. The only constant is the cycle of death of the old and something new taking its place. I’ve come to view it as a feature.
- alpaca128 7y agoI'm glad that a local electronics store ships faster than Amazon usually does even with Prime. I gladly pay the small price difference for the safety and the basic level of phone support of that company. I haven't had any serious issues yet, but the severe decline in product and review quality is obvious and fake products become more and more common. I still use Amazon for the various products that simply aren't available in stores, but nowadays I first look somewhere else.
- LameRubberDucky 7y agoHere in the DFW area, I can get same day delivery of some items from Best Buy. I bought my SSD on cyber-monday that way and had it the same day. You do have to check the box that says in-store items or similar. Can't remember the exact name, but that will filter out all of the marketplace items.
- dawnerd 7y agoBest buy doesn't have marketplace items in the US. They do ship from local stores which might be why checking in store would get the item to you faster.
- rbritton 7y agoI've actually gone back to eBay for many types of products, including computer components. The platform itself is only the transaction layer, and you're able to select the specific company/individual on there to purchase from. Because the reputation is tied to the account, they're more incentivized to match the product description to the actual product delivered.
- imtringued 7y agoEbay is based on the idea that you do not trust the sellers. On the Amazon market they can just hide behind the Amazon brand.
- rietta 7y agoMicroCenter has a good website. For mass market things, I've switched to the Best Buy that is only 2 miles from my house. Fry's or MicroCenter if I need anything else. My wife bought a iPhone to HDMI adapter from Amazon (against my advice) and got a cheap knockoff that cannot even show Netflix on TV - her actual use case is to show movie clips to patients in a group session. I ended up buying her one in person from the Apple Store. Edit to Add - She KNEW she was getting the generic adapter but still thought it would do what she needed. So this is not Amazon's fault in this case.
- milesvp 7y agoFyi, cheap iphone adapters cannot work. Apple makes their decryption chips (for anything audio, not sure video) very expensive. If the product is priced low enough, it cannot possibly have the chip, since it’s like $3 in bulk, which adds like $10 minimum to final price.
- sixothree 7y agoI have started using Best Buy as well because of proximity. Their prices are very much on par with Amazon's and I can trust them to sell me real products.
- opportune 7y agoI went to a Frys in the South Bay recently and everything there was at least 20% more expensive than it would be online.
- 0xffff2 7y agoFry's (Palo Alto and Sunnyvale locations) has been a ghost town in terms of products, employees and customers the last few times I've been in. I'm reluctant to go there anymore because it's quite likely that I won't be able to find the thing I'm looking for and there's a decent chance I won't even be able to find an employee to ask.
- blackearl 7y agoBest Buy matches prices too, they're good for things that are widely available.
- elif 7y agoI mean, it's pretty easy to distinguish marketplace listings from normal ones. You can even filter by that criteria. On Newegg and Amazon.
- brewdad 7y agoBuying from Amazon directly will get you a very good returns policy but offers no guarantee of authenticity due to their commingling of inventory.
- opportune 7y agoI recently bought $1.6k worth of computer parts from amazon and they were all fine. But I only purchased directly through amazon/manufacturers and only selected completely new items. I’ve gotten shitty stuff before but it’s always FBA. So I just avoid that now and I have no complaints (other than the fact that very few things I actually buy arrive in 2 days)
- MatthewWilkes 7y agoThat doesn't protect you, as all "new" stock is treated as interchangeable. If someone sends something to amazon to sell as new and you buy from their marketplace shop you won't necessarily get the one the seller sent, you'll get the one that Amazon can deliver most efficiently.
- bulldoa 7y agoWhy would they do that tho? Doesn't that encourage fraud and damage their brand? I am just scratching my head trying to understand the benefit of doing that besides logistic cost?
- sixothree 7y agoI am convinced the Gillette razors I buy from Amazon are counterfeit or simply rejects. I buy the same item from Target and they last twice as long and shave better.
- caseyohara 7y agoI've had the same experience. The Gillette blades I've gotten from Amazon are noticeably lower quality.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- myself248 7y agoAt least Newegg has a simple checkbox for "sold by newegg" as opposed to "marketplace sellers". I just got into the habit of checking that all the time. Except last time, I forgot, and when I needed to return something, it took over a week just to get an RMA and return shipping info from the "marketplace". Fuck yooooooou, Newegg, for doing this to your brand and to my shopping.
- ticmasta 7y agoWalmart is the same marketplace and it's not like I shop there for "premium quality" but I still can't trust the stuff they send is legit. Never thought I'd miss the old monopolistic, competition killing WalMart that raced towards the bottom...
- kipchak 7y agoAs a historical note Newegg was bought by Hangzhou Liaison Intrctv in 2016 which kicked off the whole marketplace thing.