nlinecomputers Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 The topic says it all. Post your great places that you would recommend buying from and the places you think you should avoid.My pick for a great vendor if your in Texas is Directron.com.I get many parts from them and I let them custom build most of my PCs for me. Great links and reviews all over the site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 Great place to buy is even better now, Fry's Outpost.com.Friends have been using Fry's for years down in Texas. Now we can buy online too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 For those in Toronto or the Greater Toronto Area, I recommend GreyTech. They have everything that the power user wants in terms of quality hardware and they are very helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stryder Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 Locally I buy from MicroX-Press.com, but I pick up all my orders from them myself. So I have no knowledge of their shipping policies. They see my face so much I can usually get 5-10 percent knocked off my price on a lot of items, especially when I have a big order. Locally they are one of the few choices....that are not a total rip off.I also like newegg.com. Have never had an issue with them. You can get good deals at buy.com sometimes, never had any issues with them either. I also keep my eye on pricewatch.com Most of the vendors there seem to be reputable, but if I have never dealt with them before I always call and talk business for a while first. If you come across as a consumer when talking to vendors, you will get no deals. They know a consumer is more than likely a one time sale. You need to approach it as a business to business situation. Then they want to deal with you. Another business could mean long term revenue to them. So they treat you different, but if I get a funny feeling at all I just walk away....it is actually pretty easy to get shady people to expose themselves. That is why I always call and talk to them first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siebkens Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 I've had great luck with crucial.com for memory (of course) & circuitcity.com (great rebates, fast shipping & free shipping some of the time). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 I too have used newegg.com and have been very impressed. I bought the majority of the parts I used to build my current PC from them, got free shipping, and it all arrived in 2 days. They have very reasonable prices, and a great selection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolfProRM Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 There's a great little company (although it's growing like crazy), called D.I.T. They have stores all over Nebraska... They also ship nationwide (usually from California)... I've had great luck with them (bought my components from them). I don't know where they buy from, but their prices are very good (especially if you pickup from the store), but even with shipping, they're very competitive... You can find them at http://www.ditcorp.com Check it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkfan Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 I too have used newegg.com and have been very impressed. I bought the majority of the parts I used to build my current PC from them, got free shipping, and it all arrived in 2 days. They have very reasonable prices, and a great selection.I was wondering how long it would take for someone to mention Newegg.com. I've had good luck with them myself and their prices are very good compared to the local brick and mortar stores. Directron.com is another place I like for finding stuff I need at good prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 Yes, directron, buy.com, crucial, all good, as well as pricewatch vendors that I have dealt with. But as with anything you have to shop around.There are several other places that I have purchased from over the years as well. Some better known than others. I have also bought from ComputerSurplusOutlet.com as well and haven't had any really bad experiences. They will work with you since they have new and used items.RE: Fry's Outpost.com ... I know and respect the Fry's Electronics name, and in Houston, it is a great place to buy. However, I only just found that they have merged/acquired Outpost and haven't actually bought through this combined store. Has anyone else had an opportunity to try them out since they combined? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brooster1427 Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 I recently built my own CP and and ordered all components through either e-bay or yaoo. The prices were better than I could find through price watch and all the sellers were good. Three sellers stood above the restelectroseller for cases and power suppliesadamant_computers for mobo and cpu pcg-enterprises for memory Happy shopping Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ThunderRiver Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 TigerDirect All the WAY!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brooster1427 Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 I read the feedback on Tiger Direct and I would not even think about dealing with them.If the seller does not have a rating of at least 99% I pass.If you have had success with tiger direct then you may have been one of the more fortunate.Good luck in the future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brooster1427 Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 My apologies to Thunder River and to Tiger Direct I was thinking (or not) of a different supplier.I just briefly checked out tigerdirect and will be going back to check it out when I have more time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 brooster1427We all make mistakes. The nice thing about the layout of the forum is you can go back and edit your posts when you goof up. Gosh, don't tell anyone, but I have gone back and edited a few of mine myself. Just look for the little button that shows up on the top of your post that says "edit". Only the poster gets that option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nlinecomputers Posted May 11, 2003 Author Share Posted May 11, 2003 Tigerdirect has a bit of a checkerd history. I know several people that have bought refurbished systems that had problems and had a hard time getting them fixed. That was a few years ago so perhaps they have improved. But to be honest I avoid them.Nice set of post everyone. Keep it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absorbine_Sr Posted May 12, 2003 Share Posted May 12, 2003 Another vote for Newegg.com. I have spent over $2500 with them in the last two years and have had no complaints. Motherboards, memory, Harddisks, DVD and CD ROM drives, cases, you name it. And I've had to RMA defective motherboards back to them and it was a shockingly easy and pleasant experience. I rarely shop elsewhere these days.And, no, I don't work for them. A_Sr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scot Posted May 13, 2003 Share Posted May 13, 2003 I have to agree with the nay-sayers about TigerDirect. I can tell you that literally hundreds of complaints about the company came in when Windows Magazine did a story on building your own PC back in about 1997. I think they've cleaned up their act since then. But look at their website for a moment. They have all my info and even credit card info. But the site depends on a cookie to identify you. There's no way to login in if you're a returning customer from a different PC. Or if you wiped your cookies. When you try to view your cart, you're given a Help page that tells you that you have to enable cookies.A couple years back, I remember TigerDirect's site was chronically overwhelmed, and would time out all the time, driving you nuts, especially in the middle of an order. It's always something with them.The one thing I will say about Tiger is that they do have great prices, and excellent close-out deals. They have bargains. I'm just not sure I'm ever going to buy from them. I wanted to buy something from them today, and since I couldn't login, i got fed up and went somewhere else.Now, as to somewhere else:Whoever mentioned Directron, I wholeheartedly agree. I've bought from them numerous times, and even had problems with damaged stuff (in the shipment), and they made good on it without a big hassle. For D-I-Y PC stuff (especially cases and doodads), they're great.Places where I frequently buy:CDW, Buy.com, Computers4Sure, PC Connection, Micro/LAN warehouse, Googlegear (though not recently), Crucial.com (all the time), Amazon. None of these laces except maybe google has truly low prices, though. Buy.com does, but then they stick you with the sales tax and shipping.Before the Web, PC Connection was by far and away the best place to buy mailorder. They still have the best customer service policies and the friendliest (if not always the most knowledgeable) service. Alas, their website is terrible and their prices are among the highest for most things. But I tend to buy bigger ticket items from them if I'm concerned that I might have to return it. Also, they will actually take software back (or used to, anyway).There's a company called Sparco.com that is very low-budget, and they don't have great return policies, but I've gotten some great deals from them and have never had a problem. I bought several LCD monitors from them in 2001, for example.Stay away from TheNerds.net. They're really, really bad news. I've had multiple problems with them. The worst was that their database was hacked and my credit card information was taken by the hackers. TheNerds.net never even informed me that that had happened. I was actually contacted by one of the hackers (or someone who got hold of the list, it was an untraceable, anonymous email) letting me know that my credit card number had been hacked. The CC number was in the email so I knew it wasn't a lie. I called TheNerds about it and they admitted that it had happened.The other bad thing with TheNerds was that they didn't credit my credit card with a return and didn't send me the new part, even though they billed me for the new part. Their president actually called me about a month later to apologize, but didn't even offer me a discount or any sort of make good. The part was defective on top of everything (a CPU) and I spent most of a weekend trying to figure out what was wrong before I came to that conclusion. So it was just a really miserable experience.I don't know whether this should be a new thread, but I'm very interested in price-comparison sites too. They keep changing all the time. Anyone have the lowdown on the best ones right now?One other place where you can sometimes get good deals: Dell.com, and I don't mean for Dell PCs but for peripherals.-- Scot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 I have bought a couple of 'bare bones' computer packages from Internetishop in CA that I thought were a pretty good buy for someone who has the patience to assemble their own system. So far I have built a 1.6GHz P4 box for myself and a 2.4GHz P4 for a family member. They were based on Via and GigaByte DDR mother boards, respectively. Folks who are more experienced than me (not too hard to meet that requirement) may have strong preferences for MB manufacturers that this outfit does not offer, however. One caveat- I think that I was getting better deals buying from their Ebay auctions. It appeared to me their own website may not provide quite such deep savings- so I found that I ended up spending a lot of time repeatedly surfing their auctions before finally buying. BTW I have no financial stake in either company mentioned above. This outfit usually has somewhere around 500 auctions on Ebay at any given time- so they are obviously enjoying great success selling this way, too. It was worth numerous repeated scans of auctions and lots of hours invested to finally find what I was looking for at what I think were pretty good prices. After two buys, I would definitely go back for more. I especially liked that they were also running 'dutch' auctions on a lot of items and packages- where you know up front what price you are going to pay for the item and total shipping cost. Some of their traditional 'bid it up' auctions go unwon after the auction ends because there are only bottom feeders trying to 'steal' items. They do protect themselves with reserve prices in the traditional auctions. One good way to take a look for them on Ebay is to visit a specific auction like this one:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=2728377814and then click on the "View seller's other items" link. Or just search Ebay for internetishop (both titles and descriptions). You can waste many an interesting hour here, but you may be pleasantly surprised at what you find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted May 14, 2003 Share Posted May 14, 2003 I am surprised that noone mentioned mwave.com. They have some excellent prices and selection.I have had only one problem with them. They used the wrong shipping carrier (one that could not go on base in Norfolk), and when the package was "lost" they sent me a replacement via second day air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff_H Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 The good ones (IMO): newegg, multiwave, directron, crucial, and 2cooltek for cooling items. Newegg is tops, just did an RMA w/ them on a Seagate drive, it was painless. Multiwave has also responded w/ return issues. Just bought from Directron as they were the only one w/ stock on the board I wanted. And Ian at 2cooltek has also been forthright and speedy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borst Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 I usually check pricewatch.com to find the best price. Then I check with the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org). If they don't have a satisfactory rating or are not listed, I take my business elsewhere. I have found that some of the places that have really cheap prices also have bad records in dealing with returns or damaged goods. As the old saying goes "Let the buyer beware!".I have used crucial.com for memory. They have great prices and fast, free shipping. I have recommended them to many.Borst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teffy Posted November 16, 2003 Share Posted November 16, 2003 Before I will buy from any mail order outfit, I first check ResellerRatings.Teffy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trigggl Posted November 21, 2003 Share Posted November 21, 2003 I built my own PC, mostly from EBay. It has been a learning experience. For computer parts, you have to be very careful about who you buy from. You can get good deals, but if the deal is a little too good you have to start digging to see if there is something out of place. I made the mistake of buying a motherboard at just over $30, but realized when I got it, it has RDRam memory. It took me till now to upgrade the memory because it is hard to find and overly expensive no matter where you get it from. I did just buy 256Meg on EBay for $70. I saw someone selling 256M for about $30, but the picture showed that there was no heat spreader on it. I emailed the guy and he claimed that it was new and didn't come with a heat spreader. I didn't buy it. 256M of Rdram memory new goes for about $130.I bought a case on EBay in a Dutch auction for $17. That's how I learned not to buy computer parts in dutch auctions. I did get my money back, but only because I bought with Paypal before Ebay took it over. Others paid with money order and learned the hard way. Never pay with anything but credit card on EBay. Never buy expensive items from anyone with less than 200 rating and always look at the ratings to check for bad patterns. The guy selling the RDram for $30 had a few people say he shipped memory that didn't work.There are some things you do not want to buy from Ebay. I think a power supply is one of them. That means, don't expect a good power supply with any case you would buy. The power supply of the case that I bought and actually received, burned out after a few months. That's when I realized it had been tampered with. I think someone "fixed" the power supply and then resold the case. I replaced it from one from Best Buy since I have credit there.My next Motherboard will not be bought from EBay either. Does anyone have a recomendation for a good place to buy Motherboards? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted November 21, 2003 Share Posted November 21, 2003 Greg,Try NCIX out of Vancouver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zox Posted November 21, 2003 Share Posted November 21, 2003 Great thread, keep 'em coming I got to second you Peachy.NCIX is great and I bought several things from them without issue.They have some great prices too.Another one for computer enthusiast that I would recommend, at least here in Canada is BigfootThey have some crazy and awesome stuff if you are into modding and tweaking.Some of the stuff is almost impossible to find elsewhere.I bought from them couple of things, and everything was smooth without hickup.I am talking about online sites where you order, not brick and mortar stores.Besides, I used to love Onvia but it got bought out bu Bell for some reason?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted November 22, 2003 Share Posted November 22, 2003 The other place that's great for e-commerce is Grey-Tech. I've been dealing with these guys since 1998. And these guys actually monitor their e-commerce site. If a problem comes up either in the credit card or stock issues they quickly email you within the hour. Great service. They have a bricks and mortar location and that helps. I've corresponded enough with their main sales rep that we know each other by first name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWC-GOTL Posted November 24, 2003 Share Posted November 24, 2003 I use NewEgg and TigerDirect. I've had excellent experiences with both companies and I find their prices to be very competitive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaquoval Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 Thanks for the heads-up about GreyTech.You can add another vote for NCIX - always had good dealings with them.I also do a fair bit of business with HL Technology - not fancy but decent prices.Another Canadian company that I've had great service from (though their prices tend to be high on many things) is Central Direct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale Ray Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 I have been dealing with:Mark One Computersfor about 5 years. Always have gotten excellent support after the sale (the very few times it was needed) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_P Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 PC Progress has treated me well both in orders and refunds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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