Why is MicroCenter so Cheap?

[TheAmazingCookieFromSquare]

Is MicroCenter a Scam?I am taking a trip to New York City where there are like 3 MicroCenter locations.Like the 5820K is $299.99 over there while in normal stores it's $380.99+.Like $80 off a CPU seems like a scam.

[ZetZet]

No, it's just microcenter.

[beach_boy98]

Defiantly not a scam. They just don't have the mark up of most over retailers. Because of this they get more popular thus making more money.

[stconquest]

They have a team of acquisition/curation staff that perform sexual favors to lower the cost of bulk purchases from tech manufacturers... perfectly legit.

[ImBleu]

Because Micro Centre doesn't charge you $100 for the privilege of walking into their store.

[blueballs]

nice price

[Lays]

You have to pay sales tax on top of it, so that $299 ends up being a bit more.

[terrytek]

You have to pay sales tax on top of it, so that $299 ends up being a bit more.

Well so do others.

[TheAmazingCookieFromSquare]

Well so do others.

Nice signature....

Sorry I just had to

[ANewFace]

Not at all, I buy stuff from there all the time

[Bouzoo]

I remember a friend bought there a i7-4790K for $179,00 on some sale. Here? Only $420. Damn Americans and their tech prices. Yes, jealous too much.

[Guest trucker2]

They are really smart. The founders worked at radio shack, probably during the trs 4 days, and decided they could do better.

[Lays]

Well so do others.

Not every state has sales tax.

[evilarceus]

Didn't know they had a Micro Center in Orange County. Since my dad works in Oceanside, I'll tell him to go buy something for me   (or for himself)

[Polyvalent]

I'll have to find the closest one.  I need to upgrade soon and I really don't want to pay the full amount.  It's a lot.

[CatzRuleZWorld]

It's because they hope you will go in and buy not only the CPU but your whole system there.

[LAwLz]

It's because they hope you will go in and buy not only the CPU but your whole system there.

I'm surprised it took so long for someone to answer it correctly.

 

In Swedish we have a term for this. We call it "lockvaror" (direct translation would be "lure product"). It's when a store has some items at really low prices (the store might make next to no money, or possibly even lose money by selling it), but it attracts customers which hopefully will buy more things and thus turning it into profit.

[deVIZtation]

Is MicroCenter a Scam?I am taking a trip to New York City where there are like 3 MicroCenter locations.Like the 5820K is $299.99 over there while in normal stores it's $380.99+.Like $80 off a CPU seems like a scam.

CPU prices are amazing, and you also get 40 bucks off a MOBO as well. SSD, GPU, and PSU prices are mehhh though.

[ronniedimaio]

You can get warranties for all graphics cards bought at MicroCenter. What you do is buy a graphics card with a warranty. Before the warranty is up, bring the card back in and say it's not working. Because you have the warranty, they let you put the money you paid for the original card toward the purchase of a new one. You just have to purchase a new warranty to do the same again. Since nVidia is updating their cards every year this works out great.

[CatzRuleZWorld]

I'm surprised it took so long for someone to answer it correctly.

In Swedish we have a term for this. We call it "lockvaror" (direct translation would be "lure product"). It's when a store has some items at really low prices (the store might make next to no money, or possibly even lose money by selling it), but it attracts customers which hopefully will buy more things and thus turning it into profit.

Apparently Amazon does this too. They have main products at cheap prices then have their accessories at a higher price than they normally would. I know this of micro center because when I was buying my g3258 there I was trying to buy another for a computer I was building for my grandma but they enforced the the "limit one per customer". I was told if I was buying all my parts there they could let it slide but since I was only getting 2 CPUs, 1 motherboard, 1 case/psu, and 1 GPU they didn't let me. I was told "we're losing tons of money from this deal (of selling g3258s for $49 or $59(can't remember)). I ended up getting the g3258 for myself and a g3250 for my grandma's.

[GigaSnow]

Microcenter is the promised land. I think it was even mentioned once or twice in the Bible, something about Moses needing to upgrade his CPU, or something.

 

Seriously though, we have one in Minnesota and it's a great place to shop. It's really the only full blown parts store that I have any kind of access too. 

[legend8887]

Not a scam lol. Got my 4790K for very cheap there lol.

[Snadzies]

Like has been said, they lose money on CPUs and motherboards with the hope they make it up by getting you to buy other parts there.

If you look at the prices of the other components they are usually a little bit more ($5-$10) than if you were to order online.

On average if you were to order everything from Microcenter vs ordering everything online you'd come out about even.

[Admiral Naismith]

I got my 'refurbished' motherboard and 4790k for like 50-less than what it would normally cost. I've gone there 10s of times. They are a great store for CPUs, Motherboards, when you need to make a quick run for a missing cable, and the occasional killer deal.

 

The only thing that is remotely 'scammy' is the prebuilts and laptops departments. The staff (I assume they make commission) tend to be annoying and will try to get you to buy as much stuff as they can. Pretty sure this happens at any large tech store that sells prebuits, as the employees just want the money. Just make sure your clear with that 'No' if you steer over there. They'll stop bothering you.

 

A while ago, my dad almost got suckered into buying a computer. The sales guy compared two systems (with different processors) and said one was definitely faster because the CPU was 0.33ghz faster... I internally face palmed. One google search later proved that because the 'slower' processor was newer, it was actually faster. The sales guy simply went with 'moar numbers = moar speeeeeeed'.

[rayden54]

You have to pay sales tax on top of it, so that $299 ends up being a bit more.

Or quite a bit more. Last time I looked at one of their combos, it went from being $40 less than Amazon/Newegg to less than $10 less just due to sales tax. Still better, but it means it really isn't worth it if you don't live nearby. Really isn't worth it to me since it's about than 150 miles from here.