Asking where to buy computer parts is actually a fairly in-depth question. Many people swear by sites like Newegg or TigerDirect, but making a smart decision depends on several factors. Both the market and your personal wishes will affect how you want to go about finding the various parts. You will need to assess how you feel about your purchase before you go about buying parts.
First off, the most important question is: How much risk are you willing to take? Building your own computer is nowhere near as reliable as buying a pre-built one. Parts arrive DOA (dead-on-arrival), parts are mixed up, and I’m sure anyone who’s built a few computers has dealt with an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization, or for those of us who like to misconstrue acronyms, Return to Manufacturer) process at least once. This is important, as an eBay seller or small website might not give you the opportunity to return your product. Granted, you may still be able to return straight to the manufacturer, but this may be difficult.
Secondly, you need to assess how much time you have to purchase and build your computer. If you have a short timeframe, it makes sense to buy all of the parts from one seller, that way they all are shipped to you at the same time. If you have a lot more time, it makes sense to try to find the best deal on each individual part. There are many different ways to go about getting a good deal, such as coupon/promo codes, combo deals, barebone kits, etc. I’m not going to go in-depth on these topics in this article, however, as I will cover these better in another article. The important thing is that advertised prices – the ones you see on places like Google shopping – aren’t necessarily what you’ll be paying. What I suggest is putting groups of items into baskets at several different sites and then comparing overall price. Just don’t forget to look for promo codes or coupons, as these can turn a not-so-good deal into a fantastic one.
Finally, since what I’ve said so far is all based on theoretical situations, I’m now going to give you eight straightforward tips when choosing where and how to buy parts:
2. Ratings on a product often seem more negative than the product really deserves. If there are 15 positive reviews on a product and 3 reviews saying there was something wrong with it, the likelihood is that there were a lot more satisfied people than you see. I’d say maybe ten to twenty percent of happy customers post reviews, but something like sixty to eighty percent of unhappy customers give a review. If you’re willing to take a little risk, don’t hesitate on giving a product with a few bad reviews a shot.
3. Don’t ever buy a product at its retail value. No matter what the product is, even if it just came out, there are bound to be sites selling at a few percent under retail to try to diversify from their competition. Take advantage of this if it makes sense to you in terms of risk and timeframe.
4. Don’t ever buy a product with no returns available. If someone says they don’t know if a product works or not, the likelihood is that it doesn’t and they are lying in order to make a sale. Avoid these at all costs, especially if the price seems too good to be true.
5. Don’t constantly over-extend your budget because you see a good deal. If you have a budget to build a $1000 computer, don’t fall into the trap of buying a computer for $1500 because you think it’s worth $2000. Granted, some people may have a more lenient budget than others, but this is one of the main reasons why people get into debt and/or waste money. If the computer is only for you, there’s no reason to buy more than you need.
6. If prices on a certain part are going up (for example, DDR2 RAM prices are skyrocketing right now), look for stragglers in the pack. I bought some RAM a few months ago for $50 dollars that I’d now be lucky to find under $100. If you can find a site that has yet to update the price on their product and is selling at last month’s market value, you can save a lot of money.
7. Make sure you know what you are getting for your purchase. You want as many specs on the product as possible to ensure you are getting quality. I’d feel much safer buying a hard drive with a full spec-sheet at Newegg than I would buying a “Western Digital 320GB HD” with no further description somewhere else. The less descriptive the description is, the more likely it is that you won’t get what you want.
8. Look into cash-back shopping (Bing has a great program) to save an additional few dollars. This can be a deal breaker as some sites offer 5-10 times as much cash back as others, and this can really change the overall cost of what you’re buying.
Happy shopping and check back for more articles on buying computer parts soon!
