Geeks.com closing???

[cubby1223]

Why should I feel sorry for the small stores that can't figure out how to survive?

I never said you had to.

Amazon didn't always exist, but now it's enormous because they knew what they were doing.

And had access to a lot of money.

Any small shop can turn into a big dog if they play their cards right, so at what point does a shop get too big and you turn your back on them?

The point at which their size and their power prevent other people from competing. The cost and knowledge barrier to start a competing business is widening. I know so many people who have so many ideas for new products and services, but do not have the means to ever develop those ideas. Amazon is growing so big it is greatly diminishing the ability for individuals to begin their own new businesses.

Jeff Bezos saw an opportunity and ran with it. For fuck's sake it didn't even see a profit in its first several years. But he stuck to his guns and believed that the popularity of e-commerce was progressing as he hoped, and it was only a matter of time before they were profitable. Now Amazon is the largest e-retailer out there, and you have the stones to bitch about it after what it took to get out on top.

They succeeded the way every entrepreneur dreams: to start and see through a successful business. It's the same dream that all of your small business owners have. It started with an idea in a garage and is now a multi-billion dollar corporation. Why do so many people root for the small business until they succeed, and then stab them in the back when they get too big? It involved people working hard and actually succeeding at the american dream, and you go online and bitch about it.

Like I said, you sound like the kind of person who has never desired to develop an idea of his own in his life. I fully expect you to continue happily shopping at whichever business gives you the additional quarter savings per item sold.

 

[halik]

yes cuz your parents arent gonna wanna sell at a loss forever and anybody who can come in and compete at 5 dollars (which will be lots of people) will destroy you.


You gotta take Intermediate Micro and Macro to see this stuff.

This. There are ZERO barriers of entry to selling shit online, if you can undercut amazon there's nothing stopping you.

 

[halik]

And when you start charging $5 people will stop buying your lemonade. What seems to be the problem?

That and the $1-$2 lemonde stand will be back with vengeance.

 

[cubby1223]

This. There are ZERO barriers of entry to selling shit online, if you can undercut amazon there's nothing stopping you.

Are you that clueless to not realize that within the very same sentence you listed the mammoth barrier of entry to running a business in today's world?

It's extremely easy to love everything Amazon when you're not working for an industry Amazon has set their sights on dominating.

To me it's not about consumer prices. I don't fear that Amazon will drive out the competition then raise their prices. The thing to fear is if Amazon puts other people out of work and still keep their prices at a minimum.

 

[HeXen]

Are you that clueless to not realize that within the very same sentence you listed the mammoth barrier of entry to running a business in today's world?

It's extremely easy to love everything Amazon when you're not working for an industry Amazon has set their sights on dominating.

To me it's not about consumer prices. I don't fear that Amazon will drive out the competition then raise their prices. The thing to fear is if Amazon puts other people out of work and still keep their prices at a minimum.

Yes but so long as their prices are minimum, American's don't give a crap who loses a job. Sure we all act like we care as we hypocritically keep buying all the cheap stuff from places like Walmart, Amazon..etc.
Something to think about the next time you choose product A over B with the only difference being the price. I'd bet my next paycheck that everyone here would choose the cheaper even knowing that the other may cost some American's their jobs or help a small mom and pop shop to shut down.

 

[SparkyJJO]

A LOT of small businesses use amazon as a storefront, like renting a strip mall spot. Have you checked how many small business names are selling stuff through Amazon's page? It is mindblowing.

I think Amazon has a nice service to other smaller resellers that gives them exposure that they otherwise wouldn't have.

 

[lothar]

Email I received from Geeks.com

Was it them that said Newegg or was it you that was guessing Newegg?
Newegg isn't publically traded so I don't understand their point (or yours).

 

[Ichinisan]

In all the years Geeks.com existed at the same time as Amazon, they could have become Amazon themselves. Lots of companies played the game. Amazon and Newegg were better at it than Geeks.com was.

 

[jpeyton]

Amazon's 1Q income this year was $82 million. Sure, it's not raking in billions, but it's not losing "millions of dollars to buy customers and suck up inventory" either.

The fact is, Amazon.com is what Geeks.com wished they had become.

 

[notposting]

Once I moved past doing everything on a shoestring budget and got tired of trying to support obsolete hardware, I pretty much quit using geeks. Shame though.

 

[gorcorps]

Yes but so long as their prices are minimum, American's don't give a crap who loses a job. Sure we all act like we care as we hypocritically keep buying all the cheap stuff from places like Walmart, Amazon..etc.
Something to think about the next time you choose product A over B with the only difference being the price. I'd bet my next paycheck that everyone here would choose the cheaper even knowing that the other may cost some American's their jobs or help a small mom and pop shop to shut down.

It'd be stupid to pay more for something if you get literally nothing in return. It used to be that I'd buy local because the premium was worth having somebody local to handle any problems. But now those places can't even get THAT right, so I don't feel bad using Amazon for everything. If mom and pop can't provide good service then mom and pop deserve to lose business.

 

[BoberFett]

The OP should add a poll to this thread.

When is the last time you ordered from CompGeeks?
Less than a year
1-5 year
5-10 years
10-15 years
15+ years

I think we might see why they're truly closing.

 

[Meghan54]

Amazon can save money because it doesn't pay sales taxes, has controversial tax avoidance politicies, doesn't have to carry display merchandise, doesn't have the usual overheads of a b&m store like rent and in short leeches off their b&m rivals.

Of course Amazon doesn't pay sales tax. NO retailer pays sales taxes, the purchasing consumer does. All a retailer that collects sales tax does do is fill out the appropriate sales tax form(s) for the appropriate state/county/city, send in the tax collected from sales in that state/county/city, and viola....sales tax done.

Remember, the taxing locality does rebate a portion of the tax collected to the retailer as a way to defray the cost of record keeping and sending in the taxes collected.

In no way would Amazon "pay" sales tax, so sales tax itself would not eat into Amazon's or any other business's profits. Of course, the cost of record keeping could be enormous for Amazon given it sells in darned near every county in the US, which is how far sales tax record keeping has to be broken down.

 

[EricFiskCGD]

A year ago I was looking for a second processor to go into my 7210 Gateway server. I bought one from a local shop years earlier that didn’t have the same stepping as the first one so I put it in a box and forgot about for a while. I went to Amazon and did a search for processors with the correct stepping and the site gave me a link to a retailer that had exactly what I was looking for.

I eventually bought the right processor with the correct stepping from a vendor I wouldn’t have heard of before via Amazon.

I use Amazon because they have all my account information, I can simply click “Buy Now” (or whatever) and buy the part from that other vendor via Amazon and not have to worry giving my Credit Card information to a company I’ve never heard of. Were it not for Amazon those other businesses wouldn’t have earned my patronage.

If there was another on-line company that could do the same for computer parts that Amazon has done for books and I’m able to buy exactly what I need when I need it I would give them my business immediately. Of course I’m looking for suggestions…

What website is the best “Amazon-For-Computer-Geeks?”

 

[Jeffg010]

At First I though this site http://www.thinkgeek.com/ was what got shut down.

www.geeks.com no big deal.

 

[gorcorps]

At First I though this site http://www.thinkgeek.com/ was what got shut down.

www.geeks.com no big deal.

Yeah, I thought that at first too and wondered "where am I going to buy USB missile launchers now?"

Then I googled for it, realized I was wrong and felt stupid

 

[Ichinisan]

The OP should add a poll to this thread.

When is the last time you ordered from CompGeeks?
Less than a year
1-5 year
5-10 years
10-15 years
15+ years

I think we might see why they're truly closing.

There would need to be an option for "not once ever."

 

[Via]

I ordered maybe 10 things from Geeks.

In the beginning I was pretty happy with them, and I would have kept using them, but it got bad towards the end (4 or so years ago).

They kept sending me used products that were supposed to be new, and they didn't make much of an effort to even hide it. I bought my PS3 from them when the hysteria over the loss of backward compatibility was at it's height. My living room/TV area was small, and my PS2 was wearing out anyway, so I really wanted a backwards compatible PS3. I bought the metal storm/virtual tennis pack for $600.

What did they send me? A crudely re-packaged console (really just rebagged); it still had fingerprints on it. Obviously used games were thrown in on top. I was pretty shocked when I opened it.

To be fair - it did work, and it still works to this day; I had to put a three prong adapter on the power cord to get rid of interference, but I was just happy to have a PS3 that played my PS2 games, so I kept it.

I think I only ordered one more thing from them, a DVD player/writer that never did work properly, before giving up on them.

 

[bradley]

The OP should add a poll to this thread.

When is the last time you ordered from CompGeeks?
Less than a year
1-5 year
5-10 years
10-15 years
15+ years

I think we might see why they're truly closing.

Good idea. My last purchase from them was 2000.

 

[EricFiskCGD]

I have no problem buying old computer parts for some of my legacy machines. I would rather buy new parts but it’s getting harder and harder to find unopened boxes from the eras that I’m looking for but that’s the way it goes. I’ve also been burned from shops that have charged me full price for a used item but I have no problem burning people with the evidence of their wrong doing on-line.

I’m not asking for a lot; I only want what I’m paying for and a reliable store to get the items I need/want. Treat me right and I’ll sing your praises and give you free advertising if and when I can; I’ve written scathing revives and burned them back and I’ve either been offered refunds or free swaps for exchange of taking those reviews down or modified. Being a loudmouth jerk sometimes has its benefits.

 

[ultimatebob]

There would need to be an option for "not once ever."

Yeah, put me down for that. I try not to buy refurbs unless they are a really REALLY good deal.

 

[TwiceOver]

Bought a couple surplus servers from Geeks. Good deals on those, they still work great too.

 

[geecee]

I used to shop at compgeeks.com, and remember them with a sense of nostalgia - the good old days. Never encountered any misrepresentation on their part. Everything was labeled as new/refurb/system pull/used, etc, and they used to have ratings for the condition of anything not new.

I remember getting a system pull AGP Radeon 9800Pro from them for really cheap, and being thrilled with the fps. I also remember getting good prices on OEM/system pull cpus as well. They were pretty reasonable as well, I remember they shipped me a refurb s478 motherboard without the case backplate. I told them about it and they credited me $10 on a $40-50 purchase, which was more than fair.

My last order with them was probably back in 2009-2010, so I can't really say anything as to their recent business practices. I stopped shopping with them mostly because my more recent purchases tended to be new, and they just didn't have that much selection of new items. They were also a little behind the curve in getting "just released" stuff, as in they never seemed to have new CPUs on their release date. I think they were offered as a vendor option (other than their own website) through Amazon or buy.com for a while as well, as I remember seeing them as an option for ordering somewhere.

I will miss them.

 

[Red Storm]

Never shopped there.

 

[SunnyD]

The OP should add a poll to this thread.

When is the last time you ordered from CompGeeks?
Less than a year
1-5 year
5-10 years
10-15 years
15+ years

I think we might see why they're truly closing.

This.