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I have no idea how I should feel about this...on one hand, most of us agree that Zappos may improve or at least stay the same, but Mint will be forever damaged by its acquisition by Intuit. On the other hand, I don't blame NewEgg for wanting to move up.
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They don't sell food? What are these \"chips\" I keep seeing for sale on their site?
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Nice tip, GitEmSteveDave!
I still love Zappos, so hopefully Newegg sticks with what's been working for them.
Here's hoping they still stay customer-friendly. Just ordered a new laptop from them over the weekend. Ordered it from NewEgg not only due to the better prices, but alo knowing that they really care about customer satisfaction.
Don't ever change, NewEgg!
I really hope this doesn't change Newegg. It's probably the best online retailer there is. I wish I could use it more often. I live in one of only three states in the country with a Newegg warehouse and I've got to pay tax and shipping on everything.
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@senatormayer: I don't make my electronic purchases anywhere else and I only buy my flash drives there. I truly do hope Newegg doesn't change either. That would be a shame and I'd more than likely have to find another retailer I trust. Those are hard to come by.
Does anyone know how to get in on an IPO?
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@Chongo: The way an IPO can be a great deal is to be among the insiders with stock (Friends & Family) or employees who have stock that costs little to nothing and then sell it after the IPO for big money. Back in the days of dotcom madness, landlords would take pre-IPO shares in exchange for rent and hope to cash out on Day 1 of the IPO. There are ways to get in on the IPO through a brokerage firm, but you'll be paying the issue price, rather than getting it really cheap like the insiders would.
@Chongo: Yeah, messing with IPOs is really for the big boys or people who *really* know what they're doing.
If you're absolutely convinced it'll be a great investment over a long period of time, just pick some up at market value on the first day of trading.
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@Chongo: You're better off just buying the stock the first day of it trading rather than trying to get in on the IPO. Same with Dole, when that happens.
@grandzu: Ah, I thought an IPO WAS the trading of stock... So do you buy stocks with a newly traded company the same way you normally would? Or do you need to be invited to the first offerings?
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@Chongo: No, not exactly. An IPO presents a guarentee by investment bankers to the company that they can generate ceratin cash for shares of the company. The bankers offer the shares to select investors at a set price. On the day the company goes public, the IPO investors are then welcomed to sell (or buy more) to the public (with certain exceptions such as employees of the company). IPO investing is very risky, even if you wait for the day the shares go public. Pricing fluctuations can be quite extreme in the first few days.
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@Chongo: Have and be willing to invest lot of money. Seriously. When they get closer to announcing a date, they'll publish what it will take for buy-in. Me thinks it will be a good six figures to buy-in...
I am excited about this and might look to get in on the initial offering.
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@benbell: Sign up with a service such as Scottrade and put some money in it and hold onto it until it is publicly traded. TA-DA! Put about $1k in it and buy a $1k worth of Newegg. I bought some FRE and FNM last month and now I am just waitin' and hopin'.
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@benbell:
So am I, really interested to see what happens. <3 Newegg, lets just hope this is the beginning of a great future.
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NOOOoooooo. Not my Newegg. I love'em, but...I also used to love Amazon and they've gone downhill a lot in the past few years.
@Saboth: I haven't seen Amazon go downhill in the customer service department at least at all and I have been shopping with them for years. I would much rather shop with them than any B&M store. The only thing is you have to be careful with buying from their site because there are lots of \"third party\" sellers out there that will gouge you for all you are worth.
Besides some slow shipping times on a few items, I ordered a hard drive directly from Amazon. It arrived in a box roughly the size of a 20\" tv. I am not kidding, the box was HUGE. I open it up, and there is my little hard drive, bouncing all over the place, with no padding, insulation or anything. Just a giant beat up box with a hole in the side, a packing slip and a naked hard drive. Needless to say, I returned that and ordered it from Newegg.
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@Saboth: I haven't had any problems with Amazon, but maybe it depends on what warehoue you are near. I'm close enough to one that regular shipping is only a couple days. Right now I have a free trial of Prime and the two-day shipping is overnight.
Newegg and Amazon have both always provided good service when I order. I hope this makes Newegg more profitable and able to provide even better service.
So, anyone recommend a newegg replacement? No public firm ever does as well as a private one.
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@kylere: I think it depends on what you are actually looking for. For cables and connectors, and some computer related equipment, [www.monoprice.com.] For some Audio/video equipment, I have had good luck with [www.ramelectronics.net] [www.bhphotovideo.com] is always an excellent choice (as long as you don't need something surrounding a Jewish Holiday (which is when I always seem to need stuff). For computers, computer components and computer related hardware, I have yet to find a replacement for NewEgg (and I hope that I never need to)
@kylere: Last time I did a build I got half my parts from NewEgg, and half from mwave.com
mwave seems to be pretty price competitive with newegg, and has decent service.
However, for displays and whatnot, I like to go with www.bhphotovideo.com
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@kylere: If their service starts to suffer, I'll switch to CDW. They have a range of products and pricing groups from student to enterprise, and they're based in Madison, WI where I live. I still prefer Newegg for every little thing though, and that won't change unless they do.
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...CDW?! You have got to be kidding me. Their prices are horrifically inflated compared to EVERYONE ELSE ON THE PLANET. I can't even begin to fathom how CDW stays in business.
On the original topic though, I effectively stopped using Newegg a few years ago, after having spent upwards of $20k a year with them.
Most of my stuff I get from www.ewiz.com now. There's some other good ones out there, but eWiz gets the bulk of my business.
@theblackdog_Happy250thGuinness!: It's the truth, they sell a lot to government entities. You can compare their prices with Newegg and see that they aren't wildly overpriced though.
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@Persistence: It's been a few years so I would have to take a look again. The last time I looked at CDW for anything NewEgg didn't really exist.
@Persistence: Umm...no...Berbee, A wholly owned subsidiary of CDW is based in Madison, WI. The parent company is not. I beleive it is based out of Vernon Hills, Ill
Don't change Newegg! I can't quit you!
Haven't shopped there in awhile (paying off debt), but maybe a strategy they might have is to pick up those old Circuit City sites as local customer service and repair/warranty locations. Also would be a nice place to sell refurb items. Anyway, love the 'egg, hope this doesn't ruin them.
How are the interests of shareholders and customers NOT mutually exclusive? As a publicly traded company, Newegg will have one and only one goal: whatever the shareholders want.
If that desire -rightly or wrongly- includes screwing over customers, then Newegg will screw over the customers. Or else the CEO and board will get voted out. There is no other way this can work.
Nothing will happen now at Newegg that shareholders don't want, and in this case that most likely means an end to deals and the beginning of price increases to maximize profits and shareholder value.
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@Buckus: bah! why change a good thing? they're better off staying online-only. B&M only makes everything more expensive.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-4863-100x100.png\")
I've actually started doing most of my tech shopping elsewhere. In the past year or so, the prices have been slowly rising, and the speedy shipping that once kept me a loyal customer has begun to deteriorate. Often, I find I'm paying six dollars to ship a stick of ram from north jersey to south jersey, and it takes five days to make the trip thanks to DHL. I have an amazon prime account, and I generally find that I can get the same product for a lower price and with faster shipping from Amazon. I can only imagine things will get worse now that they've gone public.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-156571-100x100.png\")
@What The Geek: I suppose the irony here is that Amazon is publicly traded, and is one of the survivors of the dot-com bubble. Not to mention, their third-party marketplace leaves something to be desired at times.
Look, there are businesses that grow and make tons of money by actually taking good care of their customers. There aren't many, because the profit motive encourages douchebag behavior, and shareholder lawsuits are always a threat to good customer service. That's often why the best are often either private or small-cap.
It's possible that Newegg will become a victim of the Wall Street mentality (profits by any means necessary short of overtly criminal activity) and thus turn to cutting costs on consumers to survive or make themselves wealthier. But aside from the market hype of the day, one could've said the same about the Amazon IPO, right? If they keep the same things that make Newegg and ABS great and stave off the inevitable \"you're not making us the maximum profit\" lawsuit, I think they'll be just fine.
@What The Geek: My last few tech purchases have gone to Amazon, for the same reasons. It's too bad, because I've been a fan of Newegg for years.
Ah, well... All good things must come to an end...
@What The Geek: It all depends on the product you are buying, to get the best price as always you must shop and look at multiple sources.
From what I've seen, you find better deals on Newegg though...for instance, a 28\" monitor I've had my eye on is $350 on amazon, rain sleet or shine...it has come down to $289 a few times on Newegg.
@Saboth: Ah, but when you factor in no sales tax, and free shipping from Amazon, the prices are about even. I'm not going to say Newegg doesn't win out sometimes, but as time goes on, I find Amazon to be the better choice more and more often.
i'm pretty happy with newegg & pretty sad to hear this news. but one thing that's ticked me off lately is their use of DHL for shipping. i'm 2-1/2 hours from one of their distribution warehouses - if they ship UPS, i usually get the item within 24 hours. if they ship it DHL, it takes 7+ days!
@mac-phisto: That's their EggSaver thing, right? That's when they toss the package to DHL, who then hands it to the USPS. One or both take their sweet time delivering the goods, and first-class parcel can take up to a week. You do the math.
@magus_melchior: yeah, exactly. it's the use of both that makes it take so long - when i was tracking it, it took 3 days just to go between DHL's DC in MA to the USPS facility that forwarded it to me, which was like the next town over.
\"Let's hope Newegg doesn't switch their business model from being entirely beholden to customers to being entirely beholden to shareholders.\"
These things are not mutually exclusive- if they switch their business model away from a customer focus they will most likely not be serving the interests of their shareholders.
@Big Poppa Pimp: Just like customers want their Newegg shipments \"now,\" shareholders want their profits \"now.\" If people could only calm down and have a bit of patience the world would be a much happier place.
I used to spend $20k or more a year with Newegg...and then stopped a few years ago when they changed some of their return policies on things like motherboards and LCD monitors.
On occasion I still order stuff from them, but I have seen the profit-at-the-expense-of-the-customer stuff coming for a long time. Wouldn't bother me a bit at this point if they shriveled up and blew away...there's plenty of other companies on the net that are as good as Newegg once was.
@YouDidWhatNow?: Would you care to share some of the sites? It is always good to know multiple sources for things for price comparison purposes, as well as to have an alternate source incase your preferred source is out of stock.
@Rachacha:
www.eWiz.com
www.3btech.net
www.directron.com
www.gearxs.com
www.geeks.com
www.monoprice.com
www.mwave.com
www.starmicroinc.net <-- really only good for cheap CPUs
www.zipzoomfly.com
Anyway, there's a whack of them. eWiz (renamed/co-named with SuperBiiz a while ago) gets virtually all of my business now. 3Btech is great because all their prices are pretty decent - and all prices include ground shipping. eWiz, Mwave, and ZipZoomFly are directly comparable to Newegg - the rest are all clearly smaller operations with less fancy websites, but I don't give a rat's ass about your website - these companies all provide great prices and *at least* acceptable customer service.
Also, if you happen to be lucky enough to live next to a Micro Center - their in-store prices are usualy just a snick above internet prices, and of course then you pay tax, but at least you have your stuff right now. I used to be a bit of a Fry's fan, but I don't think their prices are what they used to be, and their customer service often sucks.
Whelp, there goes the neighborhood.
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This will not end well. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
At least there is still ZipZoomFly!
I wonder if anyone's ever tried this:
Step 1: Create a successful business with a great business model
Step 2: Go public with the company, and sell all your shares.
Step 3: Use the profits from #2 to start a new company that does the exact same thing as your old company, so that when Corporate America inevitably screws up and alienates their customer base by abandoning the business model that made it such a success in the first place, you'll be in a position to reap the benefits and have a successful business again.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
@diasdiem: There already IS a clone of Newegg, called Chief Value.
Nearly the same prices, same experience, same warehouses, same people. For a long time, it has sort of been the quiet twin of Newegg.
It doesn't sound like Chief Value is part of the Newegg IPO so it's all set to become the NEW Newegg when the head people cash out and run.
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@diasdiem: I\"m sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm going to guess most sales of large companies come with a fair amount of non-compete agreements and other legal paperwork to prevent the former owners from doing exactly that.
@diasdiem: From what I hear, the creators of Skype tried (are trying) this. Develop small company, sell portions of it to publically held company (except the parts which really make the product work), wait a few years and either buy the company back, or create a better replacement for the original product.
Reading the comments, you guys make it seem like all publicly-traded companies are evil.
@MooseOfReason: Evil? that's a bit harsh, but most publicly traded companies serve the shareholders, and those shareholders just want to see higher profits. Shareholders don't care about good or evil, just as long as their shares increase in value.
@What The Geek: Well, with people crying, \"Noooooo!\" and \"Don't change!\", that was the impression I got.
I think it's wrong to use a blanket statement to describe all shareholders.
Do you have any specific examples you'd like to share?
@What The Geek: And in an effort to increase profits, they use methods that give short-term gains, but hurt the company over the long run. Like when Circuit City fired all their experienced sales people and replaced them with people who didn't know what they were talking about.
R.I.P. Newegg
Of course things will change! You already know (or should know) that the most important thing to corporations is the satisfaction of shareholders.
It's the shareholders that decide who goes and who stays in the top paying jobs of the corporation. These jobs are generally that of the president, CEO, CIO, etc. And, since they make the policies that please the shareholders in order to keep their cushy jobs, guess who gets the shaft?
It was a good ride while it lasted. Now it's over.
Don't be too down on the NewEgg people that seem to be \"selling out\" though....you'd do it too for the millions that they stand to get.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-107016-100x100.png\")
I remember when NewEgg's UI was just a bunch of blue links...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-95687-100x100.png\")
Let's hope the investors aren't so short-sided that they realize what put newegg at the top of the e-commerce charts in the first place. Mind you I still think Amazon does pretty well, and it's publicly traded. Yeah, alot of blunders happen with public companies.
And really, I don't see what would make Newegg's service suffer so much. I mean they're pretty good in the first place, I doubt their CS volume is anywhere close to other vendors.
@MrEvil: It's not so much that investors are short-sighted as it is that they are simply stupid.
For evidence of this, just look at the deals they make with the talking heads that they hire to run these corporations. In most cases, these guys earn millions EVEN IF THE COMPANY LOSES EVERYTHING, and they get a signing bonus AND they get a severance package worth MILLIONS to protect them even if they run the entire system into the ground.
I have worked with a few corporate heads at publicly traded corporations, and I have never seen such a slithery mass of slime in my life.
Lying is not a habit- it is a trait that they hone constantly. The deceive the investors, the workers, the SEC and even their own wives. A larger group of liars and back-stabbers there has never been.
At one corporation, I watched as they fired many, many outsourced programmers about 3-4 weeks prior to filing an SEC report that did not contain them as an expense, and, then, about 2 weeks after filing the SEC report they started hiring them again.
The company did eventually find out that their CIO was a silent investor in the company from which they were hiring so many outsourced programmers and fired him. Had I not figured this out and ratted him out, he would probably still be there.
His punishment for stealing God-only-knows how many millions of dollars and refusing to account for the $14,000,000 they just spent on the latest project (which was in no way ready to deploy)? He was denied a $200k severance.
It's the shareholders that hire these lying, snake-oil salesmen.
Why don't shareholders pay their corporate heads on a percentage-of-profit basis? No profit? No pay.
Seems pretty simple to me. The status quo obviously doesn't work...so why not give common sense a shot?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-109901-100x100.png\")
I will be buying NewEgg stock when it's publicly available.
How long till we see Newegg retail stores?
@BamAlmighty: Never if they have anybody there with any sense of history.
NewEgg used to be a retail chain (Egghead). It failed miserably at that, closed all of its retail locations and went completely online. That's when they really started to make some profits.
To go back would be insane!
So, I'd guess they'd start the rollout within 12 months of going public.
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Dear Newegg: With all the cash you raise, could you please update your credit system with CIT so that when I buy multiple \"X months 0% interest\" products I don't have to call you on the phone and tell you which product to apply my payment to?
Obviously this hasn't stopped me from buying from you given the nature of the original issue...but I'd probably buy twice as much if it weren't such a pain.
They keep sending me boxes of coffee filters when I order cases They don't even sell boxes. Needless to say they quit responding to my complaints, will not transfer to a supervisor, they would rather loose me than fix the problem. Of course, my reviews are deleted. On the other hand Amazon never lets me down.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-436584-100x100.png\")
I've bought so much stuff on Newegg, I once mulled on whether I should create a new sub category just for them in my personal expense report.
I'm surprised to be reading this on Consumerist. This site is dedicated to helping businesses realize that treating customers poorly is a poor business decision. Sooner or later shareholders will catch on, I hope.
We have the internet to thank for it all too. We just need more Dave Carrolls now!
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Wow, I hope this doesn't change Newegg. I've told co-workers that if Newegg started selling groceries I'd never have to leave my house but to go to work.
@wchamilton: Shouldn't you be telecommuting?
@wchamilton: Amen to that. I rely on them for so much, including their customer reviews.
@wchamilton: That's a scary thought. That's one of the reasons I can't order from Xoxide anymore. Every time I go to check out on Xoxide's site they're all \"Hey, how about some caffeine go along with that order, geek?\"
Caff... bwa... SURE! SIGN ME UP! Like you needed to ask me twice.
If Newegg did that I'd be in more debt that I am right now. :|
(No, I have no willpower towards caffeine. Penguin Mints forever!)