Geeks.com Online Shop Has Closed

You should have told me it existed! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 04:50 · Score: 5, Insightful

Damn, I never heard of it before, it never showed up in my searches for parts.

Hint, you can't have a successful business if you don't tell people about it!

Word of mouth only works for drug dealers.

Re:You should have told me it existed! by war4peace · 2013-08-03 05:03 · Score: 3, Informative

Same here. And I've been browsing the Internet for a long time, looking for geeky stuff.
Oh well...

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...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 05:09 · Score: 0

This is the case of the worst kept secret. I most likely would have bought some stuff if had known about it.
I have used the 1000 lbs gorilla a few times & I am not proud of it. I am wiling to spend an extra $1.00 or $2.00 to use a better or more focused service.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Seumas · 2013-08-03 05:09 · Score: 5, Informative

Yep. Never heard of it. *shrug*
Then again, I've only been online for 24 years.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Rizimar · 2013-08-03 05:20 · Score: 5, Insightful

The focus of Geeks.com was largely on refurbished equipment, but when your customers have options like Amazon, Overstock, and Newegg, it is hard to compete. I've been following them for a couple of years, always getting notices of their latest deals in my inbox, and it seemed like they had a lot of the same sorts of products on sale: 1TB internal hard drives, 23" monitors, and always a ton of the same Dell desktop computers that had features that might would have been acceptable in an office environment a couple of years ago (limited RAM and hard drive space, sometimes with a basic Windows install). They recently started offering a lot of first-generation iPads for a couple hundred dollars each as well.
Part of the problem is that customers new to Geeks will quickly lose interest if they bought one of those items because the inventory never really changed, and the deals were always around the same price points. In a market where newer items often sport better features and tend to get cheaper over time for the amount of power and functionality you get, there's less incentive to turn to a refurbished marketplace, especially for such a limited selection of hardware.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by mysidia · 2013-08-03 05:31 · Score: 2

They recently started offering a lot of first-generation iPads for a couple hundred dollars each as well.
A couple hundred? I got a second generation iPad on eBay for a couple hundred, not too long ago.
I'm sure there's a market for folks buying iPad1s, but they've got to get a deep enough discount acquiring the refurbished equipment to sell them for a "fair" price.
They make it out to be the big online retailers selling at a loss -- when it's not. Something was broken with Geeks' business model, or the execution -- it worked once, but the environment changes over time.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by mrmeval · 2013-08-03 05:42 · Score: 1

I never heard of them either but I don't buy refurb ever now. I looked at the other site and won't deal with "log in to view prices" from anyone.
I have at least 20 vendors I buy from which usually beat the juggernauts in one way or another. Since I don't have to spend gas and I can shop for free shipping I'll piece together a system from a dozen vendors.

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I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
Re:You should have told me it existed! by pecosdave · 2013-08-03 05:50 · Score: 1

I'm pretty sure they advertised on Slashdot in the past.....

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The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Nutria · 2013-08-03 05:54 · Score: 1

Or they were relying on geek loyalty to Geeks.com.

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"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Gr8Apes · 2013-08-03 06:35 · Score: 1

The biggest problem facing geeks.com was that the parts market bottomed, as did the wholesale market. When you can buy a brand new PC complete or by parts for less than $300, there's not a lot of room for anything remotely usable for geeks.com's target audience. And if you haven't heard of them, you weren't putting together your own systems 8-17 years ago.

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The cesspool just got a check and balance.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by sconeu · 2013-08-03 06:41 · Score: 5, Interesting

Exactly. This sounds like a place that I would have used... IF I HAD KNOWN ABOUT IT.

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General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 06:45 · Score: 0

Same here. Only been building and buying computers for about 30 years.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 07:02 · Score: 0

Whats an advertised?
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Seumas · 2013-08-03 07:08 · Score: 1

I think Amazon, Overstock, etc have also largely killed auction sites like eBay and my own (with about 100k+ users, since 1997). A few years ago, eBay started to invest heavily into non-auction related projects as they sensed the direction of the wind changing. Shortly after that (2010), I followed suit. My site was still going strong, but I had lost interest in the concept and wanted to open myself up to having time and resources for other projects I cared more about and realized that if eBay (and all the other sites that had action houses, which I have largely forgotten since then) was seeing auctions shrivel, there wasn't much future in it.
Of course, the one place that auctions still thrive are collectibles. Computer hardware, gaming related stuff, action figures, posters. Stuff that there isn't really any other market available for.
I rarely use auction sites, but they are *never* my first thought for *anything*. They are a last-effort choice when Amazon and every other option has fizzled out. Especially now that these sites offer such ridiculously cheap (often free) and fast shipping. It is VERY hard to compete with the shipping options of Amazon, Newegg, Overstock, Zappos and others if you're a small-fry who has to manually process and handle everything and pay regular shipping on items (how Amazon makes profit off their $80/yr for free shipping thing is beyond me).
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 07:12 · Score: 0

Funny, that's how I found them, through searches. Of course this was a really long time ago before searches were flooded with bullshit results.
What made them great for me is the area I live in is one of the poorest in the country. Having a website like compgeeks to order older and refurbished parts for dirt cheap prices allowed me to expand my customer base to people that just barely have any money to spend on computers.
I still use one computer I built almost entirely out of parts from them. It's a home server that's a hodgepodge of things I don't really need but are nice to have. Would have never built that thing if it wasn't for the low overall price tag, I literally mowed two yards to pay for it.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by adosch · 2013-08-03 07:20 · Score: 1

Boo Anon Cow! You must be 15. It's ok, us dinosaurs understand. JK.
Geeks.com (or compgeeks.com which is where I initially discovered them back in circa '98) is/was totally awesome. I bought new or refurbished from them and never had a problem at all. It was one of those 'shop-all' places for yester-new hardware, which IMHO, holds ALOT of merit against shops like newegg and a like today that only house 'latest-and-greatest' and have a pretty short shelf life for old tech. If I needed to find a CPU type to max out an old motherboard to give it's last 'spark' of useful life, or some obscure bargain-basement item that was worth the handful of dollars to try out, it was perfect. It was one of those places you could definitely depend on having that 'focused' item you were looking for in the end-consumer PC hardware market.
Thanks again for everything, Geeks.com. Sad to see you go.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by ChatHuant · 2013-08-03 07:22 · Score: 2

I wonder about the wisdom of advertising on a site dedicated to a community that has both a very negative view of ads and the technical knowhow to block them...
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 07:42 · Score: 0

The used market in PCs is so screwed up because people have no idea how to value them. New computers that are good-enough sell for $300. On the other side, used POSes start at the $100 level and go up from there. For example, a Pentium 4 computer (and not one of the newer generation ones, either) is an easy sale at $100 and people list top-of-the-line-when-new computers that are 3 years or more older for half their purchase price (i.e. $400+). Why on earth would I buy either of those at those prices, but, on the other hand, how do you compete with that on a large scale and make money?
Re:You should have told me it existed! by fredgiblet · 2013-08-03 07:43 · Score: 1

Are you talking about Amazon or Newegg? If you're talking about Newegg I have to say that I'm proud to buy fro ma company that stands up to patent trolls and I think everyone else should be too.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by quantaman · 2013-08-03 08:20 · Score: 1

They recently started offering a lot of first-generation iPads for a couple hundred dollars each as well.
A couple hundred?
I got a second generation iPad on eBay for a couple hundred, not too long ago.
I'm sure there's a market for folks buying iPad1s, but they've got to get a deep enough discount acquiring the refurbished equipment to sell them for a "fair" price.
They make it out to be the big online retailers selling at a loss -- when it's not.
Something was broken with Geeks' business model, or the execution -- it worked once, but the environment changes over time.
Or they've got to offer something eBay can't. eBay is always going to be a bit of a stressful experience, what are the shipping charges? do they ship to your country? is the seller credible? what exactly are they selling (since every page is formatted a little different)? what is the quality like?
ThinkGeek seems to do alright, they can't really out compete amazon on breadth or value so they don't even try. They embrace their niche and can offer a much better experience for consumers in that niche.
There's a niche for a company that sells refurbished equipment at a higher price than eBay but offers a more polished experience. Either geeks.com didn't execute or they didn't get the word out.

--
I stole this Sig
Re:You should have told me it existed! by 1s44c · 2013-08-03 08:26 · Score: 1

Damn, I never heard of it before, it never showed up in my searches for parts.
Hint, you can't have a successful business if you don't tell people about it!
Word of mouth only works for drug dealers.
Same here, I thought I knew all the suppliers but I never heard of them.
How did this get on slashdot? Has everyone else heard of them?
Re:You should have told me it existed! by 1s44c · 2013-08-03 08:31 · Score: 1

Ebay is hell. Paypal is worse.
If I can't afford to buy it new or reconditioned from a respectable supplier I don't buy it. Life is so much better that way.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by 1s44c · 2013-08-03 08:32 · Score: 1

And if you haven't heard of them, you weren't putting together your own systems 8-17 years ago.
I was. I've still never heard of them.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by demonlapin · 2013-08-03 08:43 · Score: 1

Eh, I was buying from those guys since ~'95. Hadn't bought anything in a good while; they had good deals but it was almost all on older hardware and overstock stuff. That said, if they had what you needed, the prices were great.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by demonlapin · 2013-08-03 08:44 · Score: 1

At one point they were compgeeks.com, if that helps.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by demonlapin · 2013-08-03 08:46 · Score: 1

Bought from them all the time in the 90s and early 2000s... then we hit the point where you didn't really need to replace a computer every three or four years and the market they had carved out sort of fell away.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by sylvandb · 2013-08-03 09:19 · Score: 1

Before geeks.com they were compgeeks.com. And before compgeeks.com they were computergeeks.com.
They were one of the first places I shopped that talked about Linux compatibility in their product descriptions. I missed that feature when it went away. I was willing to buy lesser known and more expensive gear because compgeeks said it worked with Linux so I wouldn't have to do the research myself. Doing my own research I was more likely to buy the cheapest and most popular gear instead, and frequently found the Linux mention in reviews at NewEgg so that is where I bought.
I mostly quit buying monitors from them because I did not like their LCD dead pixel policy.
I mostly quit buying power supplies and cases from them because I got tired of the compromises in the "cheapest possible" gear and could afford to buy better quality.
I'm guessing a lot of their former customers have similar stories.
But I still use a GeekU can cozy with the www.computergeeks.com URL.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by evilviper · 2013-08-03 09:39 · Score: 1

Damn, I never heard of it before, it never showed up in my searches for parts.
Geeks.com was a reseller on Amazon.com, and you could find their products via pricewatch.com or froogle.
I bought from them a few times, but they never really rose above the noise because their selection was small and patchy, and their inventory wasn't very deep, so they'd alternate, being out-of-stock on an item for weeks, then it being available again.
All that said, I don't see why they'd shut-down their online store. If they're not making enough money, raise your prices! Maybe reduce your selection from 500 different webcams down to just a couple as well. If you still need all the same infrastructure to service your retail store and other online store, how much manpower can maintaining geeks.com really need? Perhaps a handful of employees? And you aren't making enough profits to pay them?

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Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Re:You should have told me it existed! by mysidia · 2013-08-03 11:06 · Score: 2

There's a niche for a company that sells refurbished equipment at a higher price than eBay but offers a more polished experience. Either geeks.com didn't execute or they didn't get the word out.
You mean that there used to be a niche... back when eBay was young.
The people who want a polished experience go to the retail stores. The people who want to save as much money as possible, and are willing to take risks and extra work to save money dig through local newspaper classifieds around the country and craigslist; the people willing to take risks look around at night for strangers selling iPads out of their trunk for $20 each.
eBay IS the middle ground that provides the more polished experience; albeit not as polished as a pawn shop or an authorized retailer or used car store.
Arguably, the size of the niche in terms of things in between eBay, and the retail channel has been shrinking very much over the past 10 years, as eBay sees its user base and number of transactions continue to expand, and a dismal economy favors eBay even more.
So that supposed niche; might be too small for anyone to have a reasonable chance of success in that business, at the current time. Times change. 10 years from now, after Amazon's finally met their reckoning and had to raise prices.... the ecommerce scene might be very different
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 11:07 · Score: 0

you didnt miss a thing. overpriced old stock, cheap chinese junk, questionable quality refurbs...
Re:You should have told me it existed! by TheSeatOfMyPants · 2013-08-03 11:20 · Score: 1

I didn't use eBay for several years because of its problems, especially with sellers ripping people off. A few months ago, I noticed *Amazon* now has that problem with their tech equipment -- dollar-store quality no-name chargers sent in place of brand-specific ones, counterfeit items, broken stuff, fly-by-night companies reneging on warranties, etc. -- and stopped buying stuff there after discovering firsthand that Amazon's won't intervene when problems like that crop up even if the items were (supposedly) brand-new & sold on the item's main page.
So I tried eBay out of desperation and found they've really cleaned up their act. Their filters can go into a lot more detail, and the site now has a customer satisfaction guarantee...if we run into any problems, they intervene, forcibly refund our money and potentially discipline the seller. It's still nowhere near perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than risking being effectively robbed by Amazon's sellers.

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Now mostly at Usenet:comp.misc & SoylentNews.org (it's made of people!)
Re:You should have told me it existed! by hedwards · 2013-08-03 11:34 · Score: 4, Insightful

I used to shop at computergeeks.com, which was then geeks.com and quite frankly the service was abysmal. Early on it wasn't so bad, but about the time I stopped shopping there they stopped bothering to even fill out the specifications on the things they were selling. The last order I made with them was to use a credit I had from returning the previous thing. The Bluetooth head set didn't work right, and I found out that it was incompatible, but they didn't bother to fill in the specs. I didn't even bother to return it as it would have cost me more to return it, just to get another store credit.
It used to be a decent shop, but this was a self inflicted wound, I'm just surprised they lasted as long as they did, considering how crappy the service had gotten.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by hedwards · 2013-08-03 11:38 · Score: 1

I stopped using them when they stopped researching the items they were offering for sale. I'd go through and most of the products wouldn't have any specs and their return policy was such that you could only get store credit and you'd have to pay for shipping both ways.
Which was a shame because when I first started shopping there the prices were generally good and the merchandise wasn't bad either.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by CastrTroy · 2013-08-03 12:16 · Score: 1

This really bothers me about Amazon. At least with eBay I know that that I'm buying from some random person, but on Amazon, when you first click on an item, it's not clear whether you are buying off Amazon, directly from a reputable manufacturer, or some random person. There's no obvious way to filter searches to only show Amazon stuff either.

--

Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by runeghost · 2013-08-03 13:11 · Score: 1

Ditto, although only 20 years for me. Perhaps they should have arranged to get slashdotted before they went out of business?
Re:You should have told me it existed! by The_Revelation · 2013-08-03 13:38 · Score: 1

Its a pity that, rather than announcing the news of their close, they didn't think to inform Slashdot of their existence. The fact that I, and so many others, seem completely oblivious to this offering is probably a sign that Amazon wasn't the problem in the slightest. SEO, on the other hand, may have gone some distance. (Hell, Amazon only sell books! How is this even competition? Sure, they might sell other stuff in the US, but not to the rest of the world! Last time I checked, the rest of the world actually contained more than twice the population of the US alone. Some food for thought)
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Martin+Blank · 2013-08-03 16:05 · Score: 1

If Amazon isn't selling it, it says right below the price, "Sold by " but may also have "and fulfilled by Amazon" if Amazon shipping options are available.

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You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by tlhIngan · 2013-08-03 17:37 · Score: 1

Hint, you can't have a successful business if you don't tell people about it!
Word of mouth only works for drug dealers.
Ah, but that requires marketing, and everyone knows marketing is the devil! Advertising too.
Can't advertise and can't market, because the geeks block all ads and hate marketers.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by DNS-and-BIND · 2013-08-03 18:43 · Score: 1

You're a geek...the domain name is geeks.com...how did you not find it? Generic top-level domain names are worth their weight in gold for a reason.

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Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-04 00:46 · Score: 0

Same here. I had bought a lot of stuff from geeks.com over the years but as of late I have been stuck on newegg and Amazon.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-04 01:01 · Score: 0

Amazon fan-boy here. I never buy from 3rd parties on Amazon (save for books that is). If it ain't got the prime they don't get my dime. I see those reviews on Amazon complaining about getting ripped off by third parties--never had a problem and I buy *everything* from Amazon. I build my orders on newegg sometimes and then shop prices on Amazon. If amazon sells it and offers it at significant savings then I utilize Prime and get a better deal.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-04 01:14 · Score: 0

Agreed, the time and novelty of the online auction has passed and ebay resembles a giant stinky flea-market.
Amazon doesn't profit off any single prime member, but it does profit on ALL of them. It creates loyalty....the gem of retail sales.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-04 02:38 · Score: 0

Agreed. I'm sure I've been buying from them the whole 17 years. As a matter of fact, I know I purchased 3 of their cheap PCs in the last year or so.
It was a great place to get PCs/parts, electronics, etc. I will miss them!
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-04 04:26 · Score: 0

Obviously, your search skills are lacking. And I disagree, word of mouth still works for business, online or not.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-04 23:00 · Score: 0

Yeah my first thought exactly... if you keep it a secret, well hey, nobody knows, do they? Do i have to spell it out?
The long tail ain't long enough for secret stores.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by kaatochacha · 2013-08-05 12:53 · Score: 1

I've been building my own systems since 1995, and I'd never heard of them.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by tlhIngan · 2013-08-06 03:20 · Score: 1

This really bothers me about Amazon. At least with eBay I know that that I'm buying from some random person, but on Amazon, when you first click on an item, it's not clear whether you are buying off Amazon, directly from a reputable manufacturer, or some random person. There's no obvious way to filter searches to only show Amazon stuff either.
There's a checkbox that says "Sold by" and you can check "Amazon" to show you stuff Amazon sells. If you want "fulfilled by Amazon" as well, check "Prime eligible".
Personally, I never do a zShop - they're just like eBay except hiding behind Amazon's name. And it seems I've found zShops that also do Buy It Now on eBay and who run their own web store, all with differing prices. On the same item.
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-07 21:51 · Score: 0

It was a GREAT place. Keyboards for $1-$2, Optical mice for $5.... Ah a pity its closing
Re:You should have told me it existed! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-15 11:41 · Score: 0

Could not compete?! They sold keyboards for $1.49 and cheap optical mice for $4-$6!! You can't get that anywhere. I've looked! Even with the $10-$13 S+H cost for 10 Lbs, I just bought 10 Lbs worth of keyboards/mice, It was still less than half price of the next cheapest place.
Where the hell am I going to get keyboards for under $4 (after S+H)?! No where that's where.

Comment removed by account_deleted · 2013-08-03 04:59 · Score: 2

Comment removed based on user account deletion

blast from the past by Dzimas · 2013-08-03 05:03 · Score: 1

Wow. It has been well over a decade since I last visited the computer geeks site, and I assumed they had been gobbled up by a retailing giant. Their cheesy graphics and great deals on 802.11B PCI cards will be forever etched in my memory, along with my boxed copy of Netscape for my PowerPC Mac. It just goes to show that the internet was not the open retail playing field many assumed it would be.

They used to be "Comp Geeks" by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2013-08-03 05:04 · Score: 4, Interesting

I bought my DEC Alpha Multias from them... Same machine Malda started Slashdot on. I had two...

Also got a couple of nice Seimens-made web-terminals, which I converted to low-noise firewalls with Astaro.

--
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."

Re:They used to be "Comp Geeks" by Notabadguy · 2013-08-05 10:41 · Score: 1

Forgive me while I make googly eyes at the three digit dinosaur. O.O

17 Years by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 05:04 · Score: 0

I have probably ordered from them almost 17 yrs. One of the true trustworthy sites. I once ordered a usb wifi unit and somehow was sent an empty box.(?) I called and they sent the correct unit as next day for free (for me). Always excellent, WILL be missed.

I looked at your site once by ozduo4 · 2013-08-03 05:04 · Score: 1

and couldn't find any horn rimmed glasses held together with sticking plaster.

Re:I looked at your site once by IANAAC · 2013-08-03 06:31 · Score: 1

and couldn't find any horn rimmed glasses held together with sticking plaster.
You're thinking of thinkgeek.com.
Joking, but I wouldn't be surprised to see something like that in their store at some point. I'm amazed they're still in business.

1000 lb gorilla by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 05:05 · Score: 1

Can someone elaborate an opinion on the "1000 lb gorilla" mentioned as being able to "lose money with impunity supported by the stock market"? I'm not sure what this refers to and am puzzled by the meaning of these statements.

Re:1000 lb gorilla by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 05:08 · Score: 0

Amazon probably
Galt would laugh at this statement and then spit at the writer
Re:1000 lb gorilla by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 05:12 · Score: 0

Amazon. Was that so hard?
Re:1000 lb gorilla by Nutria · 2013-08-03 05:18 · Score: 1

I first thought NewEgg.

--
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
Re:1000 lb gorilla by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 05:22 · Score: 0

Galt is an implausible fictional character, about as thoroughly thought out as a comic book hero.
Re:1000 lb gorilla by beltsbear · 2013-08-03 06:22 · Score: 2

They are probably referring to Amazon, but Newegg has probably taken more of their business. I do not see Newegg loosing huge sums of money on older inventory.
As a former reseller and heavy previous buyer from their sister company Evertek.com, we slowed our pace greatly when geeks.com came out as they were undercutting us on many deals straight to the consumer. They also sometimes kept stock on geeks.com that they sold out on evertek.com which left us with a bad taste.
Re:1000 lb gorilla by ranton · 2013-08-03 07:17 · Score: 5, Interesting

As everyone knows they were talking about Amazon, but I assume your question was about the "lose money with impunity supported by the stock market" comment. Amazon is not a very profitable company. In fact Amazon it often takes losses quarters on end. I don't have the time to search for the actual figures, but I am pretty sure they have been operating at a loss since 3rd quarter 2012.
Wall Street still keeps their stock price up because of rising revenues so Amazon can borrow money with impunity to make up for these losses. This allows them to keep dropping prices even when they are losing money. A small company cannot do this. It isn't hard to raise revenues when you don't have to care about profitability or cash flow when setting your prices. This is why Geek.com was complaining that Wall Street allows large companies to succeed with business models which would put SMBs out of business.
I am not commenting on whether this is a good thing, but it is undeniable that it is happening.

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-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
Re:1000 lb gorilla by louaish88 · 2013-08-03 08:29 · Score: 1

http://www.neweggflash.com/ was launched a few wee
Re:1000 lb gorilla by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 09:08 · Score: 0

Because Galt is a blatant Mary Sue, as unbelievable as he is badly-written and designed solely for author wish fulfillment appeal?
Re:1000 lb gorilla by Bodero · 2013-08-03 11:17 · Score: 1

Wall Street still keeps their stock price up because of rising revenues so Amazon can borrow money with impunity to make up for these losses. This allows them to keep dropping prices even when they are losing money. A small company cannot do this.
Sure they can, though likely they will do it through private equity, not Wall Street. The problem is that few small companies know how to dramatically increase their revenue by creating new industries like cloud computing, and reselling sunk costs like external fulfillment.
It isn't hard to raise revenues when you don't have to care about profitability or cash flow when setting your prices.
Do you really think Amazon doesn't care about profitability or cash flow? Do you believe their business model is, "Fuck it, sell it at a loss, Wall Street will bail us out?"
Re:1000 lb gorilla by Anonymous+Psychopath · 2013-08-03 12:15 · Score: 1

Wall Street still keeps their stock price up because of rising revenues so Amazon can borrow money with impunity to make up for these losses. This allows them to keep dropping prices even when they are losing money. A small company cannot do this.
Sure they can, though likely they will do it through private equity, not Wall Street. The problem is that few small companies know how to dramatically increase their revenue by creating new industries like cloud computing, and reselling sunk costs like external fulfillment.
It isn't hard to raise revenues when you don't have to care about profitability or cash flow when setting your prices.
Do you really think Amazon doesn't care about profitability or cash flow? Do you believe their business model is, "Fuck it, sell it at a loss, Wall Street will bail us out?"
QFT. If anything, their statement shows a profound misunderstanding of how Wall Street works. Companies that lose money are not rewarded. Hell, often companies that make money aren't rewarded, because it's not enough. The truth is that Amazon has a shitload more buying power and can negotiate more favorable credit terms. But they are not losing money.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
Re:1000 lb gorilla by serviscope_minor · 2013-08-03 20:47 · Score: 1

Years ago, before Amazon as you put it "created cloud computing", the running joke was that they made a loss on every sale but made up for it in volume. So yes, basically, for years on end when they were just a retailer they were propped up making a substantial loss for years on end.

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Re:1000 lb gorilla by datavirtue · 2013-08-04 01:28 · Score: 2

Agreed, Amazon is not losing money. It is however reinvesting all profit aggressively. It is thriving, growing, and slated to rock Wal-Mart (which is starting to look VERY incompetent next to Amazon). Try using Wal-Mart Site-to-Store a few times if you want more inconvenience and trouble than it's worth. Amazon is investing to establish this service, that is why Wal-Mart started it in the first place.

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I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
Re:1000 lb gorilla by Mondragon · 2013-08-04 04:48 · Score: 1

In fact Amazon it often takes losses quarters on end. I don't have the time to search for the actual figures, but I am pretty sure they have been operating at a loss since 3rd quarter 2012.
This information is freely and easily accessible on the internet. You're aware of the internet, right?
Amazon posted positive net income in 4Q 2012 ($98M), and 1Q 2013 ($82M).
Re:1000 lb gorilla by Mondragon · 2013-08-04 05:13 · Score: 1

Years ago, before Amazon as you put it "created cloud computing", the running joke was that they made a loss on every sale but made up for it in volume. So yes, basically, for years on end when they were just a retailer they were propped up making a substantial loss for years on end.
Perhaps you should rephrase this as "for years on end when they were a startup, they were losing money while growing revenues and gaining market penetration".
Every year from 2003 to 2011 amazon posted a net profit, with a very small loss in 2012 (which wasn't really a good year for anyone).
They didn't launch EC2 as a product until 2006, so clearly they were making money before that, and it's not a significant percentage of their revenue even now. AMZN recorded $2.5Bn in "other" revenue in 2012 (this includes AWS, but also includes credit card agreements and advertising services, so the AWS number is somewhat less than the total), and just over $61Bn in total revenue. Even assigning all "other" revenue to AWS means that it nets out at barely 4% of total revenue.
Re:1000 lb gorilla by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-05 15:27 · Score: 0

There's a bit of irony in this, too. As a supplier to Evertek, they had no problem hammering the crap out of us, whining about price adjustments and stock rotation, yet they plainly do not allow their customers to do this to them.
They had not problem quashing other sellers, especially when you'd be able to get the same products at geeks.com for on average of a dollar or two more, without the $100 minimum.
Evertek's meaning of "refurbished" means "wiped off with a spray bottle".
I still find it stunning that they would just throw in the towel. I don't see the retail store lasting that long either, so far disconnected from the warehouse that supplies it. They had a much better selection when it was connected. It's quite disappointing now.
Re:1000 lb gorilla by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-06 12:53 · Score: 0

But small businesses can gain benefits from using Amazon, even if the margins are lower, the reach is much greater. I had never heard of this website before but if they sold their junk on amazon, there's a possibility that I may had bought some stuff from them. Amazon shoppers aren't typically concerned on which company they are supporting, rather than getting the product in their hands, which I suppose remains true in retail anywhere but clicking "add to cart" can come from walmart and nobody really cares. Retail is forever changed and it will basically just be the big gorillas, but that doesn't matter as long as there's some competition. If there's no competition there's no telling what would happen to the prices and quality of service.
Re:1000 lb gorilla by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-06 13:21 · Score: 0

It's hard to imagine newegg/tigerdirect being a competitor these days. Their markups are higher than what you'd find on Amazon, so even the best online retailers for computer parts are now losing a lot of business to king kong. I haven't bought anything from newegg in over 5-years, and newegg generally is cheaper than tigerdirect so it was a few years before then that I used tigerdirect. I really don't care where I buy my stuff so long as it's the same item, in the same condition as it should be for the lower price. Some industries don't require a thousand and one businesses, but a few to consolidate them which is better for business (in theory) and for customers.
Re:1000 lb gorilla by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-07 21:57 · Score: 0

Ah but I don't see $1.49 Keyboards or $5 optical mice at Amazon. You couldn't beat Geek.com prices on many things. When I told my local computer tech about $1 keyboards he gave me a look. I had to prove I wasn't BSing him.

Geeks.com? by pecosdave · 2013-08-03 05:06 · Score: 1

I was ordering from there where it was CompGeeks.com

They always had the coolest sell outs and unique, unexpected, weird items. Just whatever they stumbled across. I bought an IBM CRT monitor back in the day with unpowered Bose speakers in it, of course there was a proprietary IBM connector. They actually had a how-to on their website to wire your own standard connector up (and would do it for a fee). Found an amplified sound card, awesome sound.

Cheap monitors for the Japanese market, they sold LCD's for a fraction of what other people did when few people had LCD's due to some inventory error somewhere.

I think I paid $2 for a briefcase bag I used for a long time.

I can't remember everything I bought from there, but they always had awesome service.

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The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.

Foolish by iamhassi · 2013-08-03 05:09 · Score: 3, Interesting

You don't shutdown, you adapt: newegg, amazon, sears and even walmart adapted to the ebay model, so now sellers can sell their own merchandise on amazon and newegg and buyers don't even know the difference. Only way you can tell is it says "item provided by $SELLERS_NAME" somewhere. That way geeks.com wouldn't need any merchandise, they would just operate the domain and hosting and take a percentage of every sale.

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my karma will be here long after I'm gone

Re:Foolish by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 06:05 · Score: 0

And doing geek shopping at newegg is now unpleasant. Their front page is full of wristwatches and coffee makers. If Geeks.com became the same shitty everything-and-nothing permutation as everyone else, there would be no point in its existence anyway. I'm counting down the years until Amazon is literally the only online store, and then we can all spend the rest of our lives wading through three hundred pages of iPhone cases being sold by strangers when we're actually looking for a hard drive, because Amazon sells so much that they can't be bothered to sort or categorize it themselves. Geeks.com knew what they had, and they put it where it belonged. It was heaven. Now all that's left is rapidly decaying shit.
Re:Foolish by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 07:19 · Score: 0

While I do make sure I'm buying form Amazon or at least a 'fulfilled by amazon' when shopping there or filter the products to Newegg only shopping there sometimes it is nice to be able to pickup something random from either of those that they don't stock directly without having to setup another account with another merchant.
Re:Foolish by bill_mcgonigle · 2013-08-03 08:51 · Score: 1

Amazon sells so much that they can't be bothered to sort or categorize it themselves.
That sounds very 2005. Try searching for 'Xeon CPU' in Computers...

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Re:Foolish by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 20:17 · Score: 0

I went drugstore.com to look for a new razor. I typed in razor and it is a couple pages of that scooter thing and razor scooter accessories. At *DRUGSTORE*.com. Once narrowing in on the actual razors one might want at drugstore.com, I saw the same overpriced goods that my local Wal*Mart sold. In fact, I'd have been content overpaying for cartridges but for them putting their razors on lockdown so I need "assistance" to spend too much money.
Googled my problem and quickly found:
http://www.dorcousa.com/
Razors! It seems to be all they sell. $26 later I got about 26 cartridges, the 4-blade razor (not ready for fuck-it 5), and it delivered in a couple days.
Often I know what I want, but what brand....? Anyway, the best site with best drill down and best service (IMO - of course we live near a distibution center which helps) is
http://www.mcmaster.com/
Of course, if you're looking for something they don't sell, you won't see it. But that's kind of the point, ain't it?
I might use amazon after identifying what I wanted elsewhere although there are many exceptions. I bought a food scale and bathroom scale there and did rely on the reviews, am satisfied with both and had free shipping on each item. I'm not a hater, I just see lots of ways to compete with them.

CAPITALISM AT WORK !! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 05:10 · Score: 0

Be glad it does !!

Remember GUM ?? Where in Soviet Russia, stores' empty shelves swallowed you !!

WHAT?!? by Pollux · 2013-08-03 05:10 · Score: 1

I'm angry and sad at the same time.

First purchase was made back in 2001...pair of Benwin speakers....still with me this moment on my desk. Been a customer ever since. Even did many a purchase on behalf of the school district.

Too, too bad.

Does anyone else know of a good online fire-sale type vendor like CompGeeks?

Re:WHAT?!? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 05:52 · Score: 0

Have you ever heard of a little website called Amazon.com?
If you can't find what you are looking for there, you can usually find it on Google. This is search engine that you can use to find things on the internet.
Is a fire-sale type vendor something like in the movie Live Free Or Die Hard where they had a fire sale? I think they also said something about fire sales in the movie Hackers, too.

Going to miss them by ToasterTester · 2013-08-03 05:10 · Score: 3, Interesting

I discovered them years ago and bought from them both for myself, but also companies I worked for. Their customer service was great. All the best with the store front.

The mega corporations are buying up or pushing out of business all the small businesses. I recently sold by house and moved and in process used a lot of local businesses. Talking with them most were saying they will probably be gone in 3-4 years. The big corporations are cutting deals with cash strapped cites for major concessions that are driving the little guys out with extra fees, permits, and licenses.

Re:Going to miss them by iggymanz · 2013-08-03 05:31 · Score: 0

it's a bigger problem than driving mom and pop shops out of business. Those corporations have our government and most others in their pocket, they are our "overlords". They are the reason the USA and UK (to name a couple places of interest to most of the slashdot audience) are turning into police states.
Re:Going to miss them by Mitreya · 2013-08-03 05:33 · Score: 1

The mega corporations are buying up or pushing out of business all the small businesses.
There must be other reasons in play here. Amazon and such are not big on offering cheap/refurbished equipment, which is what Geeks.com sold a lot of (to me, anyway)
Re: Going to miss them by hemp · 2013-08-03 06:55 · Score: 1

Geek also sold on Amazon.com. In fact, their shopping cart allowed you to login with your Amazon account.

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Re:Going to miss them by DerekLyons · 2013-08-03 17:05 · Score: 1

Talking with them most were saying they will probably be gone in 3-4 years.
That attitude probably has more to do with why they'll be gone in 3-4 years than any tinfoil hat conspiracy about being driven out of business by dark forces. Seriously, I've seen any number of local businesses go under over the last decade, and the ruling factors in most of them seems to be inertia (I.E. failing to realize it's 2013 and still doing business like it was 1963) and failing to compete (I.E. more of the previous).
Re:Going to miss them by datavirtue · 2013-08-04 01:37 · Score: 1

Small businesses are small because they are inefficient. They are also characterized by xenophobic attitudes which are fueled by a narrow view of the world. Managers of growing businesses and large corporations are very "worldly" and have a firm grasp of who the competition is and why they (the competition) are successful as well. Even when you are making good money in a strong business you have to ask yourself: what are my threats and weaknesses? Small business owners are usually too busy with customers, running to the bank, and joshing with the bookkeeper.

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I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock

Damn... waited too long by erroneus · 2013-08-03 05:14 · Score: 1

I wanted to buy another of those Antec USB power adapters. They are really nice and work well in my car plugged into my 750w power inverter. (Those damned car-power adapters just suck and usually top out at 0.5a which isn't enough for my tablet which draws more power than that from its battery.

I guess I'll end up paying more elsewhere.

Re:Damn... waited too long by Strider- · 2013-08-03 05:58 · Score: 1

I guess you've never been to Monoprice. I use one of their 2.1A car lighter adapters for my iPad, and it works very well. The main issue i have is getting it out of the socket, rather than having it stay in.

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...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...

Not surprised by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 05:16 · Score: 0

I've never seen Geeks.com show up in search results. i only heard about them via word of month about six months ago. (In fact, I think I read about geeks.com in a post on /.) I only shopped with them once. As it turned out, while their prices were indeed low, those prices didn't include shipping, or cross-border duty. Those more than doubled the cost of my (previously believed to be) inexpensive item. It ended up costing me more to do business with the discount geeks.com site than shopping local retail or going to NewEgg. As a result it was my only experience with geeks.com. Though I will say their shipping time and their customer service were excellent. If I lived in th States I probably would have gone back to them, just for the friendly customer service.

"one of the Best kept secrets in shopping"... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 05:17 · Score: 5, Insightful

Well there's your problem right there...

The funny thing about this... by Red_Chaos1 · 2013-08-03 05:20 · Score: 4, Informative

...is that it all comes from one warehouse location there in Oceanside. I worked for them for a short time as a temp. It was a less than fond experience, but that's beside the point. All merchandise for the 3 arms of the company come from the same stock. I forget what the 3rd company name they sold under was, but the items you bought under geeks.com was the same stuff you bought "wholesale" under evertek.com. I can only guess at why they feel the need to end the online arm of geeks.com if the store part will remain open, and the other arms (if the third still operates) use the same pool of stock. I will say this, they sold a lot of things that I wouldn't bother going to Newegg for because it would cost more.

Re:The funny thing about this... by RudyHartmann · 2013-08-03 05:30 · Score: 4, Informative

There are 3 companies. Genica, Evertek, and Geeks. They're 2 blocks away from me in Temecula, California. Only the brick and mortar retail store is in Oceanside now. If you're a business, you can still buy from Evertek. I think they just bailed out of the online retail business. They have a pretty huge warehouse right here in Temecula. I just got the email notice, so I'm not sure what the rest of all this means yet. I'll find out more Monday though.

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Re:The funny thing about this... by Red_Chaos1 · 2013-08-03 18:47 · Score: 1

Ah yes, IIRC Genica is the parent company, and you could buy keyboards and mice and such under that brand. Computer Geeks was the retail arm and Evertek was the wholesale/business arm. They must have expanded at some point if they have a warehouse in Temecula, when I worked there the O'side location was the main and only one.
Re:The funny thing about this... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 23:50 · Score: 0

As a customer, I also had major problems with the company's owner. The company made a mistake on the website and, because I should have "known" the price was too low, I got a very angry owner on the phone with me telling me that I was a jerk for placing the order. That was the last time I did business with them.
Re:The funny thing about this... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-05 00:22 · Score: 0

I used to work for Geeks/ETK as well. I can only speculate that the reasons Geeks.com was closed down, and ETK was not was that the customer service overhead to support the retail customers for Geeks, not to mention the issues with onesie shipping, was massive, and ETK, especially the international sales division, was the lions share of the business, and growing. Less headaches, fewer customers, way smaller staff... They probably will be more profitable in this model.

Re:Geeks.com by Noughmad · 2013-08-03 05:20 · Score: 1

Yes, but after she was finished, did they give you the seven monitors or not?

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A sad day by a9db0 · 2013-08-03 05:21 · Score: 2

I can't remember how long I've been a Geeks customer - years. I've bought laptops, CPUs, memory, and miscellaneous hardware from them over the years. They were always a great place to check when you needed an older or oddball piece of hardware - often times they had it. Great service, great people.

You will be missed.

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-- "Never underestimate the power of human stupidity." - R.A.H.

"1000 lb gorilla" by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 05:32 · Score: 0

Can someone please clarify who they are referring to in that part of the summary? I actually don't know..

Evertek == geeks? by WaffleMonster · 2013-08-03 05:35 · Score: 1

I was really sad to get email they were closing down been a customer since the dawn of civilization.

But then they mentioned evertek.com and WTF it is essentially the geeks site and inventory just with a different skin.

Re:Evertek == geeks? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 11:17 · Score: 0

so that sounds like they probably sold the domain, geeks.com, for a boat load and might be why they kept redundant sites up.

Sorry but... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 05:45 · Score: 0

I know a lot of you have memories of this place but 1. I never heard of them. Marketing fail. 2. At Evertek, you have to LOG IN just to view the fucking price. They deserve to die.

Re:Sorry but... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 06:40 · Score: 0

Evertek is a wholesale site, B2B, not a consumer site. It's not uncommon for those types of sites to require that.
Re:Sorry but... by istartedi · 2013-08-03 07:38 · Score: 1

That's no excuse. It just makes it that much harder to do cost analysis. Sorry. All your "I'm a b2b site" chest thumping doesn't mean squat. If I'm a purchaser, especially a bulk-purchaser, I'm expected to do some comparison. That means going through log-ins on all your stupid sites, instead of being able to automate it in some sane way. Electronic stock exchanges quote slightly different prices that get arbitraged away, and that business doesn't hurt, so the idea that price transparency will hurt your business doesn't fly with me. It's just a nuisance to customers.

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For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Re:Sorry but... by evilviper · 2013-08-03 09:47 · Score: 1

If I'm a purchaser, especially a bulk-purchaser, I'm expected to do some comparison. That means going through log-ins on all your stupid sites, instead of being able to automate it in some sane way.
It doesn't work that way. If you're "a purchaser" you're only comparing prices from the handful of approved sellers that your company has already worked-out a contract terms with.
Only once in a great while, if you're ambitious, will you decide a product is massively over-priced, and start looking around for the cheapest, and if it's a SUBSTANTIAL price different, may recommend negotiating terms with that company as a new supplier.
It's quite different from consumer purchases, where the cheapest price, every time, is all you care about, no matter who you have to buy it from.

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Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Re:Sorry but... by istartedi · 2013-08-03 11:02 · Score: 1

Well, that might be how it works; but that doesn't mean it isn't broken. It seems like the cost of this opacity is born by the customer and/or the supplier that thinks it's a good idea when in reality they're turning away small companies that might grow into larger customer. I've had conversations like this:
Manager: Wow, that sounds like it might be a better solution. How much does it cost?
Me: It's "Call U$" pricing again...
Manager: Fuck it. Stay with Transparent Company, Inc.
Note, I've got no problem with larger prices and/or denial of orders in onesies and twosies. After all, that's the definition of "wholesale". I've got a real distaste for "Call U$". The other one that gets me is, "must be at an office" when the product is not dangerous or regulated, and is commonly shipped by UPS. It's like Keiretsu, and I don't see how you can defend it. Acknowledge that it exists, sure; but that's it.

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For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Re:Sorry but... by datavirtue · 2013-08-04 01:50 · Score: 1

Wholesale prices are different for each customer based on volume. You can't just paste prices on the web dumbass.

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I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
Re:Sorry but... by istartedi · 2013-08-04 03:55 · Score: 1

Wholesale prices are different for each customer based on volume. You can't just paste prices on the web dumbass.
Yes you can. You just have to use a table. Maybe you have to query the database. Some people even (gasp!) will pull from the database to let you know how many are in stock! Heresy, I know. Were you, pray tell, an Encyclopedia Britannica salesman at some point?
Of course if you've cut a sweetheart deal with a customer based on something *other* than order volume, that's your right; but that doesn't prevent you from posting baseline prices based on a simple algorithm.

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For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?

Amazon by rsilvergun · 2013-08-03 05:47 · Score: 2

I'm assuming he means Amazon.com. Newegg is big, but hardly a 1000lb gorilla, and there really isn't anyone else major selling anything online. Amazon's investors are basically taking a huge loss right now with the assumption that Amazon will be the next Walmart. e.g. you'll get everything from them and when that happens they'll jack up prices.

Makes me wonder what America's going to do. Amazon and Walmart are putting the last of the mid sized companies out of business. They're already show that when that happens prices go way up (Amazon did it for books, Walmart does it in every market they take over). Are we gonna suck it down and just live worse or will we regulate them with the gov't?

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Re:Amazon by Type44Q · 2013-08-03 06:04 · Score: 1

Are we gonna suck it down and just live worse or will we regulate them with the gov't?
try Option C: They'll regulate us with the gov't.
Re:Amazon by colfer · 2013-08-03 06:23 · Score: 1

Amazon is still losing money on books, according to the other bookstores. At one time it would have been considered a monopoly and forced to negotiate a settlement. Probably not now. I think dumping is one factor in a legal determination of monopolistic behavior.
Re:Amazon by hjf · 2013-08-03 06:34 · Score: 1, Insightful

DUUUH I will buy wherever it's cheaper DUUUUUH I don't care about brick and mortar stores DUUUUH they are too expensive and if they can't compete they should go out of busines DUUUUUUUH I don't feel sorry for them, they should have found another job. DUUUH i don't care if they had the store for 30 years and are about to retire, it's their fault because they should have adapted DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRR.
There's your answer. Look around slashdot and you'll see the average geek is a lot like the average person. They only care about the lowest price TODAY.
Re:Amazon by garyoa1 · 2013-08-03 09:43 · Score: 1

? Newegg is pretty much second only to Amazon. They're in 3 countries including a new center in China now.

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Re:Amazon by xlsior · 2013-08-03 13:04 · Score: 1

I'm assuming he means Amazon.com. Newegg is big, but hardly a 1000lb gorilla, and there really isn't anyone else major selling anything online

amazon is far in the lead indeed:

Amazon 2011 revenue: 48 billion
Rakuten / buy.com 2011 revenue: 4.7 billion
Newegg 2011 revenue: 2.5 billion

(Supposedly Newegg is the #2 online retailer in the US though, a good portion of Rakuten's sales are in SE Asia)
Re:Amazon by Anonymous+Psychopath · 2013-08-03 13:08 · Score: 1

DUUUH I will buy wherever it's cheaper DUUUUUH I don't care about brick and mortar stores DUUUUH they are too expensive and if they can't compete they should go out of busines DUUUUUUUH I don't feel sorry for them, they should have found another job. DUUUH i don't care if they had the store for 30 years and are about to retire, it's their fault because they should have adapted DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRR.
There's your answer. Look around slashdot and you'll see the average geek is a lot like the average person. They only care about the lowest price TODAY.
Although price is always going to be a factor, I tend to buy from specific online retailers because I like dealing with them (like Newegg, Monoprice, Amazon, etc.). But you're right, I couldn't give two shits that the brick-and-mortar store, that I never had a need to patronize, decides to shuts down.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Ancient history by Tvingo · 2013-08-03 05:48 · Score: 1

I haven't bought from them in ages. Seemed anytime I went there lately they just had old refurbished junk and the prices weren't even that great compared to what you could get that stuff for off ebay.

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Nothing i have to say is worth saying.

Re:Ancient history by klashn · 2013-08-03 12:31 · Score: 1

I used to go to Compgeeks.com for Cobweb Corner, but they kind of removed that section about 10 years ago, and I stopped visiting the site. As many have mentioned the deals to be had were mediocre, and usually refurb equipment. This was fine in the days that the difference between a refurb and a new computer was significant, but now, they haven't adapted, so therefore they become Ancient History.

Long time customer by Bodhammer · 2013-08-03 05:49 · Score: 1

I extended a computer for about two years because I was able to pick up a P4 Extreme Edition CPU (Original List Price $1000) for $79. That was the most stable computer I ever had and was smoking fast in the day. Geeks will be missed.

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"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

Geeks... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 05:50 · Score: 0

I stopped looking at Geeks because I could most often get better overall pricing for items at other shops when taking into account their (geeks) shipping charges....

Re:Geeks... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 08:28 · Score: 0

^this^
Even during their Black Friday sales or using geekcodes. Then they automatically sign me up for some dubious 3rd party buyer protection service who now has my purchase details and contact information without my consent. I left them after that and haven't looked back...

Crappy timing by damn_registrars · 2013-08-03 05:50 · Score: 1

I actually just sent something back to them recently and was waiting for its replacement to ship. I see they plan to honor such liabilities, so I should still see the replacement come. Nonetheless, I was planning to purchase some additional items from them soon and now that clearly won't happen as I live a couple thousand miles away from their store. I guess it's back to Microcenter for me...

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the price is the problem by Joining+Yet+Again · 2013-08-03 05:54 · Score: 1

Why do people persist to offer second hand stuff cheapest on eBay and Amazon? I am not referring to the cheap Chinese sellers who flood the market with first-hand but second-rate good-enough stuff, but people who for some reason decide that the only place that you can offer older stuff is Amazon/eBay, and if you also have a web site, to charge MORE on that web site - even though it is trivial to get a payment processor who will take way less of a cut.

So... reasons, please?

Re:the price is the problem by timeOday · 2013-08-03 06:29 · Score: 1

Maintaining an independent web presence requires a big outlay in advertising, so you have to charge people who shop there enough to pay for the ads that brought them there. Your flea market presence on ebay or amazon doesn't benefit from your brand, and wouldn't be competitive in that market if your margins were enough to sustain an independent brand.
Re:the price is the problem by Joining+Yet+Again · 2013-08-03 06:36 · Score: 1

OK, let me be more direct: you can list something both on eBay and on your web site, but you list it for less on your web site, because you will pay less to sell the item there than on eBay. So you use eBay as a promotional tool, but prefer for customers to perform checkout on your web site, and encourage repeat customers to use your web site.
Since my credit card provider is better at challenging badly behaving vendors than Paypal/eBay is, and Paypal hate it when you chargeback, I'd also be happier buying off an independent web site.
Re:the price is the problem by hjf · 2013-08-03 06:38 · Score: 1

It costs money to run a business. It's not the same to buy to Joe Sysadmin who stole a Catalyst 2900 from work than to buy from a store that has to keep a big warehouse, employees, and pay taxes.
Re:the price is the problem by couchslug · 2013-08-03 07:48 · Score: 1

Exposure!
It may not be the cheapest, but Ebay is very convenient for customers doing comparison shopping between new and used items. The combination of vendors and the wide variety of photos of different and similar items facilitate comparison.

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"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Re:the price is the problem by timeOday · 2013-08-03 07:48 · Score: 1

It must happen, since ebay is riddled with scary warnings against completing transactions outside ebay. I guess ebay must do some level of policing against sellers using their website to advertise other websites. But after all, the ability to search in one place and shop under one reasonably consistent set of policies is worth something to customers. There's no way your Backdoor Specials will always beat everybody on ebay, so for people to find them they'll have to search ebay, and your site, and every other one of a thousand companies with the same idea. Personally I'm pretty cheap so I WILL do that, but only for largish purchases.
Re:the price is the problem by VanessaE · 2013-08-03 08:00 · Score: 1

"So you use eBay as a promotional tool, but prefer for customers to perform checkout on your web site, and encourage repeat customers to use your web site."
Because doing so is somewhat contrary to eBay policy:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/rfe-spam-non-ebay-sale.html
Re:the price is the problem by Joining+Yet+Again · 2013-08-03 08:10 · Score: 1

Except that many sellers include obvious branding in their packages or in e-mails, and everyone's cool about it. And the policy is partly just a way for eBay to try to stop people from moving outside the eBay system, obviously - although part of it is there to stop unscupulous fraudsters from offering to sell a specific listed (but often non-existent) item outside of eBay.

You can complain about the megcorps but.... by DigitalReverend · 2013-08-03 05:57 · Score: 4, Insightful

They didn't become mega corps by being " best kept secrets in shopping". There's been a lot of this on /. where some little known entity is shutting down their website or closing their doors. I think too many people actually believe in the field of dreams, but I am sorry, just because you build it, they aren't necessarily going to come, unless you tell them about it.

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I read Slashdot for the headlines, because the headlines, unlike the articles, are usually original and never duplicated

So what? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 06:00 · Score: 0

Big deal.

That actually makes me sad by itwasgreektome · 2013-08-03 06:04 · Score: 1

I've been purchasing from them for years. Even with myself, it was true I'd forget about them for periods of time while ordering on Amazon. But then I would rediscover it. Bought a lot of electronics off them over the years. Makes me feel like an asshole for buying from Amazon....

Re:That actually makes me sad by itwasgreektome · 2013-08-03 06:08 · Score: 2

To me, it was always "Computer geeks" or "compgeeks." The plain geeks.com wasn't familiar to me. Like when Facebook used to be thefacebook.com, and later changed it; for a long while I insisted on still writing out thefacebook.com cause it felt wrong to shorten it, not being true to it's original state.

75% of my orders there were defective by Osgeld · 2013-08-03 06:15 · Score: 1

including the last one which is on its second return waiting for a refund

good riddance to the garbage peddlers

Re:75% of my orders there were defective by Nov8tr · 2013-08-03 06:40 · Score: 0

Wow Karma is sure following your ass. You must have been a mass murderer in your last life. I NEVER had anything defective from them. Oh well you know the saying "what goes around comes around". So maybe you should just atone for your evil deeds now. :P

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I'm old, not dead. Well that's my 2 cents worth, your mileage may vary. I say what I think, not what you want to hear.
Re:75% of my orders there were defective by Osgeld · 2013-08-03 11:40 · Score: 1

What in God's holy name are you blathering about?
Re:75% of my orders there were defective by chakmol · 2013-08-03 13:20 · Score: 1

including the last one which is on its second return waiting for a refund

good riddance to the garbage peddlers
Agree entirely. I gave up in 2001 after receiving one after the other of non-working Thinkpads. All garbage. I took a beating on the time and shipping. I should have just started out by buying a new one made out of gold.
Re:75% of my orders there were defective by Osgeld · 2013-08-03 16:09 · Score: 1

my last order was a laptop drive, tossed raw in a cardboard box and shipped 2000+ miles flopping around, and THAT was the replacement they sent me for the first one which looked like it had been stepped on
amazing they lasted this long and their other company still exists
Re:75% of my orders there were defective by Nov8tr · 2013-08-04 07:49 · Score: 0

Blathering? I thought I made it pretty clear to anyone with a brain. I have bought MANY products from them over the years. And NONE of them were defective. What part of NONE do you not understand? You are the one blathering about "75% of my orders were defective". Hmm OK, wink, wink.
Meriam Webster: NONE 1) not any 2) not one: Nobody 3) not any such thing or person 4) no part: nothing,
My brother bought parts from them, the company we owned bought parts from them. My customers bought parts from them. Seems you and the guy below are the only people who got bad parts. I dont believe in Karma, IT WAS A JOKE. I was saying WHY are you the only one out of a hundreds who posted above, to get 75% defective??
Very odd wouldn't you say?
Maybe for your sake, next time I'll put "THIS IS A FUNNY STATEMENT". It was "funny" as in karma being real, old sayings such as "what goes around" comes around. I was stating that you must have done some really really wrong in your life to have 1000 times the bad luck of everyone else in this thread. Sorry you didn't understand. Do you understand now? Please carry on with YOUR blathering.

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I'm old, not dead. Well that's my 2 cents worth, your mileage may vary. I say what I think, not what you want to hear.

Sorry to see you go by Nov8tr · 2013-08-03 06:37 · Score: 0

Sad to hear this news. I've done business with them from time to time for many years. I understand what they are going through with the changing market. I've been there before. I hope they read slashdot and can at least for myself say THANK YOU FOR ALL THE YEARS YOU WERE HERE.

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I'm old, not dead. Well that's my 2 cents worth, your mileage may vary. I say what I think, not what you want to hear.

On a related note... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 07:03 · Score: 0

On a related note I recently stopped by HSC (http://halted.com/) in Rohnert Park to pick up some components on my way home from work. Their Santa Clara store (~2 hours distant) still exists and the website is still up, but I'm gonna miss wandering around the aisles looking for things I didn't know I needed.

Either way by rsilvergun · 2013-08-03 07:18 · Score: 1

I keep hearing this argument. That we shouldn't use the gov't and democracy to better our lives because the corps will abuse it. Newsflash, they already _are_ abusing it. Seriously. You have absolutely nothing to lose here. There's only to possible outcomes there. Does it really matter if the jackboot at your neck is a Free Market Jackboot (tm) or belongs to the gov't. At least with the gov't option you had a chance...

--
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Re:Either way by Type44Q · 2013-08-03 13:16 · Score: 1

I keep hearing this argument.
What argument? That was merely an observation.

Thank you geeks.com! by kninja · 2013-08-03 07:23 · Score: 2

I should have placed another order last month. I need a few things.

I loved Geeks.com, for buying extra cables for internal builds, tiny mice for laptops, hard drive mounting brackets, and all these little things you need to keep in stock for builds. My current graphics card (GTX460 for $90) and laptop mouse came from geeks.com.

If the owners are reading this, thank you guys for the good service over the years. I've been recommending you since 1999.

If you start up a leaner or updated business model, send out an email to your former customers and let us know.

It's fine if brick n mortor goes away by rsilvergun · 2013-08-03 07:26 · Score: 1

if we're willing to accept solutions to the problems that creates. I see two problems: 1. lost jobs and 2. price increases when competition goes away.

Basically, the modern capitalist economy breaks down in the face of progress. I realize it's hard to get past that realization. In school I was never taught even the concept that there were alternatives to Adam Smith style 'competition makes everything better' capitalism. I don't mean I wasn't taught competing systems, I mean the notion that there _were_ alternatives wasn't taught. Capitalism was and is a tautology.

Automation is making labor obsolete. It's taking longer than we expected. Some things turned out to be trickier. But it's happening. So what are we gonna do? We still want all this stuff (books, movies, appliances, etc). The first world got by for 20 years or so by sending our slums to China. But we're running out of work. Foxconn's using robots now. China's losing out to poorer East Asian countries. We're all in a race to the bottom.

Given that our entire society is built around a 'if you don't work you don't get to eat' model, I really only see two options. Socialism and redistribution of wealth or abject poverty for all but a lucky few. (BTW, If you're reading /. in your spare time you're not one of those lucky few. ).

I'm open to alternatives, but all the ones I've heard from my libertarian buddies are either pipe dreams where people share their wealth in ways they have no reason too and never have in all of civilization, or just boil down to a round about way of achieving socialism. When I point that out they usually change the subject or just say 'well, screw it, I got mine. Let 'em die'.

--
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Re:It's fine if brick n mortor goes away by fredgiblet · 2013-08-03 08:16 · Score: 1

I'm not so certain that the old Communists weren't right about Capitalism being a stepping stone to Communism/Socialism (Yes I know there's a difference, but they're in the same category). I personally see the best option as a gradual shift towards reducing what's considered "full" employment, instead of 40 hours per week being considered the standard make it 35, then more people have to have jobs to pick up the slack. Raise wages to make up the difference in money for the lower-class, for the middle and upper classes perhaps just spend less on extravagances. Not sure that would work, at least not without enforcement by people who might have to take a paycut, but if it did it would solve a lot of employment issues. I'd also like to see a push for closed cycle living, recycling done on the backend where unskilled labor is absorbed by sorting through garbage to make sure that everything that can be recycled is.

Dude, even *I'm* selling on Amazon. by sootman · 2013-08-03 07:46 · Score: 1

They can too. If you have inventory, and you can sell it for more than you bought it for, you should be OK. Or even eBay. The last thing I bought on eBay was a random part to fix my clothes dryer from a seller with many thousands of good feedback. Get started!

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Re:Dude, even *I'm* selling on Amazon. by eclectro · 2013-08-03 08:34 · Score: 1

I think that is the "1000lb" Gorilla that they speak about on their webpage! It's probably hard to do business with a former competitor.

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Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"

It's OK. by denzacar · 2013-08-03 08:07 · Score: 1

Nothing of value was lost.

Well, for you, me, many others...

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Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens

I bought from them.. by Falkentyne · 2013-08-03 08:23 · Score: 0

Years and years ago when they were relevant. I think the most expensive item I bought was a refurbished digital camera that didn't work - they did take it back though and issue credit which I used for a different one that did work - bit of a long process though which didn't give me much faith in their stock. I probably bought some crappy keyboards too. They've had a couple sales over the years where the deals were lukewarm enough that I considered purchasing but by and large what they offered was a "decent discount". That about sums it up. Unfortunately for them I could get decent discounts from anybody and awesome discounts from a few other online retailers. There was also some issue a while back where they were hacked and I think some credit cards may have been compromised.

What they should have done was leverage their inventory using other online retailer's tools. Tigerdirect, Best Buy and other retailers have a presence on Amazon, Buy.com/Rakuten, Ebay etc.. the more exposure you have the more you can sell.

Never heard of the place by Skapare · 2013-08-03 08:47 · Score: 1

... until today. So are they gonna ride on the Slashdot Effect fame, now?

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now we need to go OSS in diesel cars

The reason it closed by DaveV1.0 · 2013-08-03 08:50 · Score: 1

"Best kept secret" + "retail outlet" = "closed business"

If the people you want as customers don't know you exist, you won't have the customers you want and your business will fail. It is that simple

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There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.

A lesson for everyone buying web advertising by frovingslosh · 2013-08-03 09:16 · Score: 1

I had heard of them before. I had even bought things from them. Sad to see another potential supplier drop out, but to be honest I had not bought from then in years and had lost interest. While I had not even looked lately, the good deals and interesting items were getting fewer and fewer when I stopped shopping there. And they seemed to use shipping as a profit center, not just to cover shipping costs but to make a bit extra there. So you had to factor that in when you saw what at first looked like good deals.

As to not having heard of them before, I have to say that it is absurd the way that we are being tracked and marketed to by the likes of Google. There are other sellers on the web that I had never heard of before, until after I did a web search for a particular item and happened upon them myself. However, once I started browsing their website and buying from them, it seems that I can hardly visit any website without seeing ads for the company. Worse, those ads are custom tailored to show me the exact items that I already looked at from that vendor (in some cases, items I had already bought). They sell tens of thousands of items and I'm only shown the items that they or Google know that I'm already aware of!

They would be far better to maximize their advertising dollar by telling Google not to keep barraging a loyal customer with ads for things he already know they sell. Either show him something new or, better yet, spend finite advertising money to put those ads up for others on the Internet who may be visiting and shopping with their competitors and don't even know they exist. If Geeks was spending advertising money with Google (and I don't know if they were or not) then they likely were only keeping their face in front of people who already knew about them and had visited their site recently. Not the best way to get the word out and find new customers.

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I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.

Domain name for sale? by gd2shoe · 2013-08-03 09:23 · Score: 4, Interesting

I suspect one of the real points to this article is to let interested buyers know that the domain name may be for sale soon (to pump up the price). I'm sure that is one asset that has greatly appreciated over the years.

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I won't join Slashcott. OTOH, If Beta goes live, I just won't be back until it's fixed. Sorry Dice.

Re:Domain name for sale? by mysidia · 2013-08-03 11:08 · Score: 1

I suspect one of the real points to this article is to let interested buyers know that the domain name may be for sale soon (to pump up the price).
That's a good point... Geeks.com is a really neat domain name; i'd be willing to pay as much as a $1000 for it.
Re:Domain name for sale? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-04 00:52 · Score: 0

Cute domain names are useless in the age of search. People use search to find everything. The domain name obsession stems from a time where you had to guess your way around the internet like a low-level noob in their first dungeon without a torch. The best domain names now are SEO optimized sentence-long dot-orgs.
Re:Domain name for sale? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-04 02:33 · Score: 0

optimized sentence-long dot-orgs.
...which are then shortened to things like http://goo.gl/3w876jg when someone want to post it to twitter.

Note, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SITE I MAY HAVE LINKED!!! I just mashed the keyboard. Click at your own risk.

Tried to order last night when I saw this by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 10:16 · Score: 0

Last night, literally 15 minutes after I walked in the door after leaving work, I went to geeks.com to buy a dual quad-core Xeon HP workstation and saw the notice. I posted it on /g/ and the thread lived for a few hours. Man I bought a ton of stuff from them over the years. Sad to see them go.

Real shame by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 10:16 · Score: 0

I have built dozens of systems with parts from this store from many different people, a real shame I loved shopping from them

I bought a NEC 24" touchscreen from them by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 10:53 · Score: 0

Priced after a coupon at amost $150, it may possibly be the most bang I've ever gotten for the buck.

Dang! by hambone142 · 2013-08-03 10:59 · Score: 1

Sorry to hear they've gone out of business. I've bought 4 desktops and two laptops from them over the years and a couple of thousand bucks worth of assorted electronics. When I went to their site today, I was rather shocked to see they threw in the towel. I never realized they were having financial problems. I've found them to be a great place to pick up refurb. equipment at a decent price. Heck, I bought my first desktop from them (a HP 750C) back in the 90's. I've never seen deals on the purported "gorillas" that could compete with them. RIP Geeks.

Us in Sac... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 12:25 · Score: 0

already had to deal with that like 5-7 years ago.

HSC had started treating the sac store as the redheaded stepchild a while ago, the manager there began providing horrible service/prices (To the point of having the same price as fry's with a far worse warranty... on *NEW* stuff.) As the years dragged on their inventory stopped moving, leading to longer and longer stretches between visits (Since half of the fun had been wandering the aisles and looking at all the new stuff.

Eventually they shuttered shop, leading some former customers to buy that store and all the former stock. Unfortunately they didn't have too great of a business strategy and provided even worse prices than HSC with even less turnover in stock. (Had some excellently knowledgable greybeard types working there though. Also a couple of complete amateurs however. Including one of the guys doing pricing for stuff.) Additionally they never had new parts in stock, leading them to lose a bunch of sales despite being far and away the closest electronics shop in the area. It was sad since they'd had some awesome pieces of hardware show up through the store towards the end there, but at prices that made them ridiculous (10 dollars for a 370 -> Slot 1 adapter for instace... in like 2007+!)

Regardless, 2013 is not the 70s through very early '00s anymore, and the store full of deprecated electronics hardware is much harder to move than it was then. Between the sudden increases in performance in the mid-late '00s, to the increasing focus on energy efficiency, to the abandonment of software support for legacy platforms (Seriously, go talk to some open source types about supporting pentium 3's, never mind ppros or pentiums, or god forbid 386/486's (The 486 being the ABSOLUTE bottom of x86 support anymore, and many people making it i686. LLVM/Clang for instance.)

The past of computer history is at the same time becoming much more accessable digitally, while becoming much less accessable physically. There's no stores to go snag a quick part for your vintage mini-computer or microcomputer restoration project. There's fewer offline places to socialize with such groups (There's some occasional swap meets around here, but honestly I've only heard about them through local friends into the 'fleabay' scene, and not so much through local techies.)

Newegg is NOT the company that ... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-03 12:32 · Score: 0

.... drops prices under cost in order to take over a new market.

I don't think the Communists were right by rsilvergun · 2013-08-03 12:43 · Score: 1

I don't see communism as inevitable. That assumption is based on the idea that there's only so much people will put up with. But if you lack the power and resources to do anything about it then you'll put up with anything. You don't have a choice. If 20 guys with riot gear and the training to use it want you to do what they say, you're going to do what they say. No amount of wishful thinking will change that.

Recycling can't really be done on the backend like that. It requires too many chemicals and produces too much waste. You can't get people to design products that either last or are easily recyclable because in a 'Free' market those products cost more. If you subsidize them you've got socialism again, and if you're going to do that I still think you might as well go whole hog and do it right...

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What's the point of dropping online retail? by sethstorm · 2013-08-03 13:40 · Score: 1

If they're just dropping the online retail to reserve themselves for middlemen, then what's the exact point of things?

They're not going out of business, just avoiding online retail.

--
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.

Re:I've been a customer for a long time by Kazymyr · 2013-08-04 01:25 · Score: 1

Same here. Started buying from them around 1999-2000. In fact I bought a few hard drives from them just last week. I dunno where I'll be getting older technology HDDs at steal prices. I have a few devices that I'm maintaining that are incompatible with newer tech (4k sector) HDDs, which everyone makes these days... I need another source for older tech (512byte sector) HDDs.

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I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet -Stanislaw Lem

geeks.com by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-04 01:58 · Score: 0

I have order from them , but only stuff that was on sale,other wise there prices were not that low. Newegg has better low prices and sales!

Requiescant In Pace ... by Rambo+Tribble · 2013-08-04 02:00 · Score: 1

... Geekbert.

Out Of Business by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-04 04:46 · Score: 0

The geeks.com can create e-commerce website but not really good at business? Like a carpenter who can't fix his own house?

You Should Have Told Me It Existed!?!? by agrisea · 2013-08-04 05:16 · Score: 1

Way back when, 1986-ish, San Diego & LA was the hub of places to purchase computing things from. I was a local business back in those days so purchased from a number of distributors/retail stores in SoCal, including that place in Oceanside that became geeks.com, The online part, which of course did not show up until after 1993, was very useful to me due to their carrying things that were hard to find elsewhere, their pricing and replacement policy was great, and I no longer lived in the area so could not "pop-in" for stuff.

I really am not sure which 1k gorilla geeks is alluding to, because there has been a lot of them over the years. For example, tigerdirect used to be a source I'd purchase from until they totally screwed a large order. Ecost.com was yet another but their web site became a bear to navigate. And Newegg actually started out in retail stores in SoCal as Egghead, though I use neweggbusiness.com now. Another place I use for hard to find items is CyberGuys.com, which has a distributor side. When I need consumables, I go to go4supply.com. I used to buy cpu's and memory chips (remember those?) from thechipmerchant.com, another SoCal store that is online.

And that really is why so many of you may never have heard of some of the other companies I mentioned, because they started out selling only to VARs, VADs, OEMs, etc, though geeks is an exception because of their store you could walk in to.

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If you never heard of them by ToddInSF · 2013-08-04 07:03 · Score: 1

You must have been living under a rock for 15 years.

Their stuff was cheap crap, roughly half of everything I bought from them was broken or defective.

I stopped buying anything from them about 5 years back once I realized that spending twice as much on an item that actually works as advertised is waaay smarter than spending half on something that's busted or useless because it isn't what they claimed it was.

They can blame amazon all they want, but the last straw was that new vid card I ordered that arrived in a torn esd bag in an open box inside the shipping box, and their total lack of responsiveness when I informed them.

So no, I'm not shedding tears for geeks, their business model devolved over the years, and they simply couldn't compete. I suspect the real reasons they're closing have more to do with consumer saturation. I have a box in the closet of cheap busted geeks.com shit as a remider to be waaay more skeptical of online "deals". After all, how much cheap disposable busted electronic crap do YOU need ?

Ah, damn.... by Reziac · 2013-08-04 09:58 · Score: 1

I've been a fan since they were Compgeeks, back-when. Geeks was a good place to do business. All other factors being equal, they were my first choice, because you could always get hold of a human with clues, and they were flexible about warranties -- a few days out, or an ongoing issue, and they'd still cover it. An item worth not much more than postage? don't bother returning it, we'll just refund you.

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~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?

yes by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-04 16:31 · Score: 0

this is all about obomaba care
end of story

best place for old stuff by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-05 00:00 · Score: 0

I have built two test beds from their refurbed servers. Count less small businesses and a few non profits are running their servers and desktops. They have been my go to place for all non production machines. What will I do now?

Geeks.com closing by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-05 03:58 · Score: 0

I've purchased a ton of stuff from Geeks.com since 1999. I loved this store and will miss them greatly.

Sorry to see you go.... by Independent_forever · 2013-08-05 08:06 · Score: 1

Another example of a monopoly (although no one seems to admit it) crushing the little guy....trust that when one online door closes a new one opens or does not open for a reason...thanks for the years of service....cheers~

Re:Sorry to see you go.... by TheSkepticalOptimist · 2013-08-06 06:47 · Score: 1

Oh fuck off.
I tire of this crap.
It's called economy of scale. If you can buy more product wholesale from a vendor then you can sell it more cheaply. There are no ulterior motives here. Its not like Best Buy or Amazon or other "monopolies" as you call them are selling stuff at a profit loss just to screw over a place like Geeks.com. If you buy something in bulk on the quantity of millions, your are going to get a bigger discount from the manufacturer then if you buy a few hundred of the same thing.
If you are "the small guy" you have to do more than just sell the stuff that the big box stores are already selling cheaper anyways. I mean it's absolutely FUCKING STUPID for the small guy to sell something that bigger stores are selling for cheaper, and then expect to stay in business. That goes for all the "ma and pa" stores that have been "crushed" by Walmart. I mean, you can't sell toilette paper ar $10 a package when Walmart sells it for $5. There is no fucking reason for a ma and pa store to stay in business. Either you go upscale and sell stuff the big box stores won't touch, or you find out ways to add value to the purchase through excellent customer service that the big box stores can't match. You can't do either, then you go out of business, period.
Look at how fucking successful monoprice.com is. They found a way to outsell ALL the big box stores by going direct to the Chinese manufactures and cutting out the middleman. This is how "small" companies can innovate and compete, not by selling the same stuff at higher prices but finding new ways of winning over their customers.
I don't believe in the idea that just because you are local or small or the underdog that you should succeed and that all big box companies are evil heartless corporations. How many people did Geeks.com have working for them, how many does Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart employ? Big box is simply better for the fucking economy.
So fuck off with your trite little "ah look, big business kills the little guy". If you want to pay 50% to 500% for the same fucking thing you can get cheaper a Best Buy, go right ahead, but no store can stay in business long with that pricing structure because 99% of people with a brain will get their stuff at the cheaper price.
Finally it might not have anything to do with "the monopolies" because as the PC market dies then the appeal of buying PC parts and accessories is also dying. Big Box is adapting by selling more consumer electronics, specialty sites like this place has limited appeal. You can't stay in business selling shit nobody wants.

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I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.

Techforless? by kaatochacha · 2013-08-05 12:59 · Score: 1

Sounds similar to techforless.com, in Colorado Springs.
I've bought oddball stuff from them in the past.

I always had good luck by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-15 10:29 · Score: 0

Perhaps I'm one of the few who will miss them. I've used them in the past but have reduced my shopping over the past year or so. In fact I actually have a refurbished HP desktop that I'm using to this day. Fine for browsing and light gaming (OK, real light) and it's never let me down and was a decent deal. In any case I'll miss any loss of competition among the various Internet re-sellers.

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Geeks.com Online Shop Has Closed

187 comments