Was at Fry's today.....YMMV

[goobee]

Stopped in the Woodland Hills, CA store today. They must be having an unannounced clearance sale of open boxed items. Every aisle I went through had red tags on many of the open box items. I don't trust open box items so I just glanced at the stuff. Most of the boxes were pretty tore up but if you don't mind, you might find what you are looking for.

I kinda feel bad for Fry's to have so much stuff used and returned. :'(

 

[dajeepster]

what's the hot deal?

 

[Kantastic]

Fry's has a tendency to sell returns as new, so if an item is sold as open box, that's a terrible sign.

 

[atrus.eoa]

Maybe the boxes were just too destroyed to get away with selling them as new. I know I'll often see ones with like a few bucks knocked off cause you can tell the package has just been taped back up.

 

[jhansman]

Picked up a 32GB Samsung microSD at Fry's yesterday, and while that took a stroll down DVD player lane. Pathetic; re-taped boxes everywhere, no stock on several models, the rest way overpriced, and no help to be found. How they stay in business is a mystery. I guess by guys like me buying flash memory?

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Fry's has a tendency to sell returns as new, so if an item is sold as open box, that's a terrible sign.

lol. I guess these places are the same regardless of location.

 

[goobee]

what's the hot deal?

These were not the regular repackaged returned items but open box clearance items. I saw motherboards with or without boxes for $30 bux and less, HSFs as lows as $5, a whole slew of lcd panels (didn't catch the prices), some really messed up looking video cards, etc.

The items were priced to move. I debated over an unknown brand dual 120mm fan hsf for $15 but the box was really tore up and the whole thing was covered in packing tape. :whiste:

 

[donfm]

Stopped in the Woodland Hills, CA store today. They must be having an unannounced clearance sale of open boxed items. Every aisle I went through had red tags on many of the open box items. I don't trust open box items so I just glanced at the stuff. Most of the boxes were pretty tore up but if you don't mind, you might find what you are looking for.

I kinda feel bad for Fry's to have so much stuff used and returned. :'(

I wouldn't feel to sorry for Fry's. Not sure about where you live but here in Chicago unless the stuff is on sale their regular prices are the highest prices around. Guessing they don't feel too bad taking your money at full suggested retail bloated price.....

 

[goobee]

I wouldn't feel to sorry for Fry's. Not sure about where you live but here in Chicago unless the stuff is on sale their regular prices are the highest prices around. Guessing they don't feel too bad taking your money at full suggested retail bloated price.....

As far as brick and mortar stores go, we don't have a lot of choice for electronics. Sears is pretty much dead and from what I understand, Fry's is not doing that well either. Once everyone's gone, we will have Best Buy as the remaining major chain electronics retailer. I buy my share from on-line sites but there are times you want to buy retail. No choices mean no incentive to be price competitive.

 

[skrewler2]

Yeah, be careful with their open box stuff.. I bought a GTX 580 that was ~$50 cheaper because it was an open box. I specifically asked the guys at the repairs / service counter if they tested the cards before putting them on the shelf, they said they did.

Take it home and everything has vertical red lines going through it, and trying to play a game crashes after 30 seconds. Luckily their return policy is good, so I just returned it and got my money back. Sure was a huge waste of time though.

 

[djnsmith7]

You should see the GPU section here in the Bay Area...sometimes 70 - 80% of the popular cards have been returned...Haven't bought a GPU there in years.

I've actually seen as many as 5 returned stickers on a GTX580 1.5...one on top of the other...no joke. Oddly enough, the latest sticker actually claimed that all accessories were inside the box & an employee said that had been confirmed. That was almost a surreal experience.

 

[Charlie98]

My last trip to Fry's was my LAST trip, if you see what I mean. I think the only way they stay in business is they have sooooo much crap in that store (Plano, TX) that someone is buying it. I just don't like how the place is run, nor the filthy store itself.

...but, I'm fortunate... I have a MicroCenter, a CompUSA (although it rivals Fry's...,) and several computer supply stores, along with BestBuy, etc... nearby.

 

[jhansman]

To be fair, they did have a few Panny BDT-110s for $88 that appeared to be new and unopened, but at Frys ya never know...

My only trip to a MicroCenter was a completely different experience. Less chaotic, cleaner, plenty of help, better prices. Left with my current mobo and a few other trinkets...

 

[dajeepster]

These were not the regular repackaged returned items but open box clearance items. I saw motherboards with or without boxes for $30 bux and less, HSFs as lows as $5, a whole slew of lcd panels (didn't catch the prices), some really messed up looking video cards, etc.

The items were priced to move. I debated over an unknown brand dual 120mm fan hsf for $15 but the box was really tore up and the whole thing was covered in packing tape. :whiste:

microcenter does the same thing... it's normally stuff that customers have returned because the customer said it was "defective". The stuff that is returned normally gets sent back to the manufacturers where the manufacturers checks it out (such as the computer parts and so forth). if it gets checked out ok, then it's sent back to the store, where at that point the store normally puts it on the self as a used item at a discounted price... not new.

 

[Hawk]

microcenter does the same thing... it's normally stuff that customers have returned because the customer said it was "defective". The stuff that is returned normally gets sent back to the manufacturers where the manufacturers checks it out (such as the computer parts and so forth). if it gets checked out ok, then it's sent back to the store, where at that point the store normally puts it on the self as a used item at a discounted price... not new.

I doubt they waste all that time and money to ship returns back and forth just to test. Who knows, maybe that do that for Microcenter (still highly unlikely), but they definitely don't at Fry's.