computer shops

**ian** · 11-18-2007, 04:49 AM

I tend to buy most of my computer gear from smaller shops. In particular, I use to buy from a company called cworld.com.au in the york st city store in nsw.
Well they had been around for quite some time, and their prices were good, though in latter years they were stingy and wouldnt give me any discounts.
Anyhow they went into administration. Looks like people who paid deposits may have lost some money but that is not for certain.
I didnt lose any money, but I had paid for stuff in the past and picked it up a few days later when they got it in.
In an industry where the margins are so low, I guess the lesson here is to be very wary of paying for something or a deposit, or even ordering online from some of the smaller retailers. These days I am more inclined to only buy from a store that has it in stock and pay for it and walk away with it there and then, unless it is a very big retailer.

[-0MEGA-] · 11-18-2007, 04:52 AM

I only order online from sites which I know are reputable, I never go to Froogle.com for instance and buy an item from the cheapest company, because lots of times they are frauds, or have lots of problems going on. Thanks for the heads up!

hpi · 11-18-2007, 05:00 AM

I only order from big and known sites. Never from small businesses.

PohTayToez · 11-18-2007, 05:47 AM

I have yet to have any such bad experiences. I do use Froogle when I'm looking for some sort of specialty item, such as when I bought my soldering iron. Whenever I buy from a smaller site I Google their name to make sure that no one else has been scammed/has had bad experiences with them.

hpi · 11-18-2007, 05:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PohTayToez

I have yet to have any such bad experiences. I do use Froogle when I'm looking for some sort of specialty item, such as when I bought my soldering iron. Whenever I buy from a smaller site I Google their name to make sure that no one else has been scammed/has had bad experiences with them.

Why not just go to the hardware store for a soldering iron ?

paratwa · 11-18-2007, 07:37 AM

Speaking of online stores, anyone ever buy from www.securemart.com ? I am getting ready to buy a Antec 900 case from them, but I have no idea if they are decent to buy from.

They do have an A rating from the BBB, so I am not to worried.

**ceewi1** · 11-18-2007, 08:41 AM

Wow, CWorld were a very large company with branches all over Australia, I bought a fair bit of equipment from them a few years back, I'm really surprised they're gone. Might have to stop past for the closing down sale, if they have one.

ian, you probably know about these already, but www.msy.com.au are very well priced. They have NSW branches, but I'm not sure if they're local to you (don't expect any discounts, though, even if you spend $10K+ at once).

www.staticice.com.au is a great site to find prices as well.

**mep916** · 11-18-2007, 12:29 PM

If you ever question the legitmacy of an online retailer, Reseller Ratings is a good place to find reviews.

Quote:

Originally Posted by paratwa

Speaking of online stores, anyone ever buy from www.securemart.com ? I am getting ready to buy a Antec 900 case from them, but I have no idea if they are decent to buy from.

They do have an A rating from the BBB, so I am not to worried.

Click here for securemart.com @ Reseller Ratings. 7.69 out of 10. That's not too bad.

**jimmymac** · 11-18-2007, 12:43 PM

The problem is over here in the UK that those Retailers on the "high street" are generally massively overpriced or simply dont stock a decent up to date range.

PC World over here is nothing short of a joke, I would never trust that place with buying a system and when it comes to components in general they just dont have anything. I went in to one the other week to get a SATA extender cable, it took two of them about 20 minutes to realise what I even meant!

Otherwise we have the likes of Curry's and Comet. Both of these are just electrical stores who started out selling washing machines and fridges. They've started doing more computer stuff but still their components and extra's supply is fairly limited.

The only place you used to be able to get half decent stuff was "The Computer Shop" who sadly went into administration a couple of years back.

That leaves it down to the independant shops, but they simply cannot compete in terms of price. I would normally happily pay that little bit extra to get a decent level of service but sometimes it can be 20-30% more expensive.

**mep916** · 11-18-2007, 12:48 PM

Last year, a really nice, small computer components shop opened up down the street fron my house. The guy was really smart, and he was very excited about his new store. In less than a year, he had to shut down. Too much competition from online retailers'. Personally, I wanted to buy from him, but his prices were simply too high.

11-18-2007, 04:49 AM	#1 (permalink)
ian Administrator Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 7,374	computer shops I tend to buy most of my computer gear from smaller shops. In particular, I use to buy from a company called cworld.com.au in the york st city store in nsw. Well they had been around for quite some time, and their prices were good, though in latter years they were stingy and wouldnt give me any discounts. Anyhow they went into administration. Looks like people who paid deposits may have lost some money but that is not for certain. I didnt lose any money, but I had paid for stuff in the past and picked it up a few days later when they got it in. In an industry where the margins are so low, I guess the lesson here is to be very wary of paying for something or a deposit, or even ordering online from some of the smaller retailers. These days I am more inclined to only buy from a store that has it in stock and pay for it and walk away with it there and then, unless it is a very big retailer. __________________ Computer Forum

11-18-2007, 04:52 AM	#2 (permalink)
[-0MEGA-] Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Concord, NH Age: 19 Posts: 26,404	I only order online from sites which I know are reputable, I never go to Froogle.com for instance and buy an item from the cheapest company, because lots of times they are frauds, or have lots of problems going on. Thanks for the heads up! __________________ Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.83GHz Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L ATI HD 3870 GDDR4 @ (840/2332) 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2-850 500GB SATAII HD w/16MB SilverStone 750W +12V@60A 3DMark06: 11593

11-18-2007, 05:00 AM	#3 (permalink)
hpi Diamond Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Montreal, Quebec Age: 15 Posts: 1,476	I only order from big and known sites. Never from small businesses. __________________ Intel Pentium D 930 @ 3.0GHz 2 x 1024 DDR2-SDRAM x1900xtx 512 mb ddr3 Western digital 300gb hdd Ocz GameXStream 700W psu.

11-18-2007, 05:47 AM	#4 (permalink)
PohTayToez Diamond Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Illinois Age: 19 Posts: 2,541	I have yet to have any such bad experiences. I do use Froogle when I'm looking for some sort of specialty item, such as when I bought my soldering iron. Whenever I buy from a smaller site I Google their name to make sure that no one else has been scammed/has had bad experiences with them. __________________ Desktop / Laptop ASUS A8N-E / Compaq Presario v6420us AMD Athlon 3200+ @ 2.50Ghz / AMD Athlon X2 TK-53 @ 1.70Ghz MSI GeForce 7800GT / GeForce Go 6150 2 x 512MB DDR / 2 x 1GB DDR2 250GB SATA II / 80GB 5400RPM SATA 2 x DVD Burner / 8X DVD±R/RW

11-18-2007, 07:37 AM	#6 (permalink)
paratwa Diamond Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Arizona Posts: 1,969	Speaking of online stores, anyone ever buy from www.securemart.com ? I am getting ready to buy a Antec 900 case from them, but I have no idea if they are decent to buy from. They do have an A rating from the BBB, so I am not to worried. Last edited by paratwa; 11-18-2007 at 07:40 AM.

11-18-2007, 08:41 AM	#7 (permalink)
ceewi1 Moderator Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Melbourne, Australia Age: 21 Posts: 5,120	Wow, CWorld were a very large company with branches all over Australia, I bought a fair bit of equipment from them a few years back, I'm really surprised they're gone. Might have to stop past for the closing down sale, if they have one. ian, you probably know about these already, but www.msy.com.au are very well priced. They have NSW branches, but I'm not sure if they're local to you (don't expect any discounts, though, even if you spend $10K+ at once). www.staticice.com.au is a great site to find prices as well. __________________ CPU: Core 2 Duo E6600 / MOBO: Gigabyte 965P-DS3 / GPU: XFX 7900GT RAM: 2GB G.Skill F2-6400CL4D-2GBPK / HDD: 1TB Total HDD / PSU: Antec NeoPower 480W Cheap PSUs - 2% of system costs, responsible for 28% of system deaths As Sealed Stick was removed, lost or damaged, it shall be out of warranty validity. - The "Warranty void if removed" sticker on numerous CoolerMaster PSUs. Useful PSU Guides Last edited by ceewi1; 11-18-2007 at 08:45 AM.

11-18-2007, 12:43 PM	#9 (permalink)
jimmymac Moderator Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Chester, UK Age: 28 Posts: 3,676	The problem is over here in the UK that those Retailers on the "high street" are generally massively overpriced or simply dont stock a decent up to date range. PC World over here is nothing short of a joke, I would never trust that place with buying a system and when it comes to components in general they just dont have anything. I went in to one the other week to get a SATA extender cable, it took two of them about 20 minutes to realise what I even meant! Otherwise we have the likes of Curry's and Comet. Both of these are just electrical stores who started out selling washing machines and fridges. They've started doing more computer stuff but still their components and extra's supply is fairly limited. The only place you used to be able to get half decent stuff was "The Computer Shop" who sadly went into administration a couple of years back. That leaves it down to the independant shops, but they simply cannot compete in terms of price. I would normally happily pay that little bit extra to get a decent level of service but sometimes it can be 20-30% more expensive. __________________ I tried to put my signature in here but my pen ruined the monitor. http://www.peytonmusic.com/ http://forum.peytonmusic.com/ the most uplifting soulful music you will ever hear...

11-18-2007, 12:48 PM	#10 (permalink)
mep916 Moderator - F@H Guru Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Northern Cali Age: 28 Posts: 3,603	Last year, a really nice, small computer components shop opened up down the street fron my house. The guy was really smart, and he was very excited about his new store. In less than a year, he had to shut down. Too much competition from online retailers'. Personally, I wanted to buy from him, but his prices were simply too high. __________________ Q9450 @ 3.6 GHz \|\| Zalman CNPS9700 ASUS Rampage Formula 320MB 8800 GTS (G80) 4GB Ballistix Tracer @ 900 MHz 150GB WD Raptor 1TB Hitachi Deskstar Antec Nine Hundred Case 750W Quad Silencer FOLDING FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND:F@H Team 44358 \|\| Team Stats \|\| My Stats \|\| Hardware Contributions: Q9450/PS3/P4

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