Newegg/ZipZoomFly/Monarch/TigerDirect

[imported_KuJaX]

This has been going on through my head as of late. I have been building custom built systems for fellow friends/family/relatives and referrals. I do not advertise nor do I try to make sales. If someone needs a system and contacted me, they were referred from someone.

I've been buying most of my components from Newegg for the last 4 years, but have seen a steady increase in their pricing and shipping costs, where I actually look around and generally buy from other e-tailers.

I have a reseller account at dandh.com and have visited malabs.com back when they had a demo password, however, rarely do I find items in dandh.com or malabs.com that are cheaper in price then Newegg and other e-tailers. dandh.com is suppose to be one of the largest distributors for electronics in the United States, but cannot even get prices cheaper then Newegg?

Basically what i'm getting to, is where do these e-tailers buy their products? Do they buy in such large quantity that they can actually buy straight from the manufacturers? I wonder how much their actual margins are.

 

[neonerd]

no, they go through distributors. Because they buy in bulk, they get cheaper prices than you or I can get from distributors (provided you have a company registered with the distributor)

 

[Aquaman]

Originally posted by: neonerd
no, they go through distributors. Because they buy in bulk, they get cheaper prices than you or I can get from distributors (provided you have a company registered with the distributor)

Bingo.

Since you are a small "fry" in comparison to bigger stores that buy volume........ you will not get the better pricing.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[imported_KuJaX]

Do they generally buy from "offline" distributors or do you think they actually have an account with dandh.com/malabs.com/asipartner.com (others????)

 

[jonnyGURU]

Depends.

Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. They're often in the same boat you're in.

For example: We'd buy a bunch of boards from Shuttle, but then SED has a rebate and free freight over $750 so we go through SED.

Long time ago, I ordered some Diamond modems from SED (tells you how long ago this was.) The next time ordered the modems, they were out. But I had already spec'd the modems out for a customer, so I found them over at MA Labs for the SAME PRICE as SED. It just would take longer to get them because MA is in Cali, SED is in GA and I'm in FL. I had them send them via UPS 2-day.

After I got the modems in, I found that they had SED stickers on them! I called SED and asked, "How many of these things does MA Labs buy from SED in order to sell them for the same price you sell them to me for?!?" The answer I got was; "You would never believe me." So volume matters.

A lot of times, manufacturers ENCOURAGE people to buy from distributors even if they sell direct because then the support load is lighter. For example, I needed 12 1000VA UPS's. I called the manufacturer. He told me to call SED and tell them that they can get a $4 rebate on each unit I buy. I called SED and they said that they were out of the UPS's. I called the manufacturer back and he told me that the manufacturer would actually DROP SHIP the UPS's for me if I just placed the order with SED. That tells me that there's a HELL OF A LOT of hassle for manufacturers to deal with resellers directly if they're willing to drop ship product for free as long as they don't have to physically take the order.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Looking at your list of resellers....

D&H is like Tech Data. Only good for retail product (Netgear, IBM, etc.) Even Ingram Micro is better than those two. Ma Labs is good for OEM CPU's and software and SuperTalent memory is some good stuff. ASI is only good if they have a warehouse in your town. Otherwise, their prices are high and their service sucks. Take a look into SED and Bell Micro when you get a chance. You might be pleased (or you might not.)

 

[imported_KuJaX]

Thanks for the information jonnyGURU! any other advice from others?

 

[pecel]

Interesting thread OP

 

[OCfreakley]

yes, very interesting
good post
keep this one up
:thumbsup:

 

[Wizkid]

I buy most of my stuff from Insight. I have a very good rep who gives me the highest discount level that their system allows. These guys are paid based on sales so they will pretty much do whatever they need to in order to get the sale... take advantage of it