Ram Discussion From Marketplace

[brentpresley]

thanks pianowizard...he wants me to go to 130.00

this memory is 150.00 at bb a piece right now!

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp ... 8844598377

150 for both is a great deal and I wont go lower.

You know, this is not directed at him in particular, but just gives me the option to rant about this in GENERAL.

<soapbox on>
Some people don't know a good deal when they see it and when NOT to push their luck. It really bugs me to no end when I have advertised say a CPU on the FS forum for 10-15% below the average selling price on eBay and it is obviously a good deal. Then some people (and it seems to be EXCLUSIVELY to be the junior members here and on other forums) proceed to ask me to take 20% off that. Like I should negotiate on the price even though they KNOW they are already getting a good deal. Like they WANT me to just bend over and take one you know where.

Recently it has gotten bad enough that I have flat out started to tell them that not only will I not budge on price, but they have now been blacklisted from buying anything from me because they seem to want to just waste my time.

Just my 0.02 and sorry for taking the topic in an off direction.
<soapbox off>

If you don't get your $150 for the pair, let me know. It is a great price and I will straight up buy them from you at the price. Even if I don't use them then can be eBay for a substantial profit.

[pianowizard]

The prices of 1GB sticks were going down slowly until several months ago, when they seemed to stop declining or even started to go back up, most likely because so many people are upgrading their computers in preparation for Vista. I bet the demand for these sticks will stay very high in the next few months, so it's unlikely that the prices will drop any time soon. If you think you can get much better deals than 2x1GB for $150 by waiting just a little longer, you'll be disappointed.

[yskim4him]

I'm the one who asked for lower price.

but, please don't get me wrong.

BTW, Let me start saying I closed the deal with him a minute ago, and he has been very quick to response to my inquiries.

The reason why I asked for lower price was that I thought he gave some room for OBO, so I just followed my instinct that he might take lower offer. And some members implied that I may be a rude, or ignorant buyer nagging and/or bugging THE senior members in the forum. but that was not my intention. I'm just trying to save a buck here and a buck there to meet the end's need like many members here. I believe that is one of the reasons to search a good deal of used products here instead of going to BB or Lenovo.com.

Yes, I do not follow the trend of the ram price and because of that, I do not comprehend when I see a good deal. I always wondering whether it's a good deal or not and concerning the possibility of ripping off from an online deal with a person I never met. ( no offence to you jongordo8 at all. I'm just saying my general feeling when I start a deal online).

well, to you brentpresley, I have followed your posts a lot and I am well aware of your reputation. but how would I assure that I'm dealing with a reliable person when I see a seemingly good deal, but it says 'jongordo8 User with bad email address, PLEASE fix!' ?
what I did was initiate with a comunication with him and see if and how he respond to it. please understand many of us who bugs you may be a kind of people like me who seek for good deal but still not very comfortable about online transaction.

Anyway if that is the impression you guys got from me, I apologize to you all for my ignorance. but again please understand that you are dealing with not only the EXPERTs or SENIOR members but also juniors or novices like myself.

Thanks for your comments and I guess I’ve learned one or two things about a deal through online forum from this transaction.

P.S. oh, I should clarify that jongordo8 has a valid e-mail and I had no problem at all to communicate with him and he is a Verified Premier Member.

[Ken Fox]

I'm not commenting on this specific deal (which looks good to me) however on some of the comments on this thread. Personally speaking, I would not buy "commodity" type items such as memory sticks here unless they were substantially (and I mean SUBSTANTIALLY) cheaper than I could buy them in the free market from players like Newegg, zipzoomfly, frys (and their dot.com), and about 27 other places I'd list if it weren't so late

OK, let's accept it as a given, XXX and YYY and ZZZ who frequently sell stuff on this forum are great guys and no one has a bad thing to say about them. So what. If you buy a commodity item like memory from a real store you have real recourse, I don't mean DOA recourse, I mean if the thing dies on you 2 months from from now. Often, when you hunt around you can find rebates for these sorts of items, or good deals that don't fit the standard or necessarily pop up in a pricegrabber search but they exist. For example, I bought 2x1gb Kingston PC4200 DDR2 sticks for my new T43 10 days ago for $164 delivered from frys.com, and this without any rebates to file.

Some of the backslapping and promoting of other regulars' unimpressive (or at least not very impressive) deals here is a bit disingenuous. Any marketplace is based on supply and demand, bid and ask, call it what you will. If someone wants to offer these RAM sticks for $1000 and someone else offers $27, that is all fair. Whether the seller will actually find someone to buy the ram sticks for $1000 or will accept a bid of $27 is entirely the province of the two people on both sides of the trade.

I recently tried to sell a T42 here and wasted a whole lot of time on emails with tire kickers. I'm not blaming the tire kickers, and it is my fault that I wasted the time doing it, but I'd much prefer an anonymous marketplace like ebay in the future rather than getting into head games about who is doing whom a favor and that sort of stuff. Screw it. If I were a salesman I'd find this sort of thing interesting but I'm not, just some ordinary person who occasionally wants to buy something or unload something I no longer want. Simple as that.

I don't have any use for someone who acts like he's doing my a favor selling me something at what he thinks is a good deal based upon his own calculations. There are many places to buy this sort of thing and barring a great deal, there are not so many benefits to buying here from some frequent poster/seller as there are to just buying from the usual places.

[brentpresley]

I'm the one who asked for lower price.

but, please don't get me wrong.

BTW, Let me start saying I closed the deal with him a minute ago, and he has been very quick to response to my inquiries.

The reason why I asked for lower price was that I thought he gave some room for OBO, so I just followed my instinct that he might take lower offer. And some members implied that I may be a rude, or ignorant buyer nagging and/or bugging THE senior members in the forum. but that was not my intention. I'm just trying to save a buck here and a buck there to meet the end's need like many members here. I believe that is one of the reasons to search a good deal of used products here instead of going to BB or Lenovo.com.

Yes, I do not follow the trend of the ram price and because of that, I do not comprehend when I see a good deal. I always wondering whether it's a good deal or not and concerning the possibility of ripping off from an online deal with a person I never met. ( no offence to you jongordo8 at all. I'm just saying my general feeling when I start a deal online).

well, to you brentpresley, I have followed your posts a lot and I am well aware of your reputation. but how would I assure that I'm dealing with a reliable person when I see a seemingly good deal, but it says 'jongordo8 User with bad email address, PLEASE fix!' ?
what I did was initiate with a comunication with him and see if and how he respond to it. please understand many of us who bugs you may be a kind of people like me who seek for good deal but still not very comfortable about online transaction.

Anyway if that is the impression you guys got from me, I apologize to you all for my ignorance. but again please understand that you are dealing with not only the EXPERTs or SENIOR members but also juniors or novices like myself.

Thanks for your comments and I guess I’ve learned one or two things about a deal through online forum from this transaction.

P.S. oh, I should clarify that jongordo8 has a valid e-mail and I had no problem at all to communicate with him and he is a Verified Premier Member.

As pointed out earlier, my comments were NOT directed at you personally, but directed to address a GROWING trend in this an other forums.

At $150 per 2GB for Kingston PC2700 this is an exceptional DEAL. These sticks are $175 shipped EACH at Newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820136016). Even the cheap "valueram" is ~$120 each.

That represents an EXCEPTIONAL deal. (Ken, this should address your point of a SUBSTANTIAL discount).

To address your WARRANTY concern: memory and CPUs are solid state components. Of the hundreds I have sold in the last year, I have only heard of 3 having ANY problems (and I offered to replace those at my COST to those individuals). These things just don't fail if properly installed (i.e. avoid static electricity).

If you were to eBay these, you could set a buy-it now for $105 each and have them gone in days with no problems. Especially if you have a significant feedback rating.


MY point was that low-balling, by anyone, at these already NICE discounts is really unprofessional. That was all I was trying to get across.

[Ken Fox]

(Ken, this should address your point of a SUBSTANTIAL discount).

MY point was that low-balling, by anyone, at these already NICE discounts is really unprofessional. That was all I was trying to get across.

Brent,

this is not about being "professional" or "unprofessional." As a new physician I'll let you deal with what is professional or not in realm of your practice, but as far as I know this is an open marketplace where forum members list stuff for sale. It is offered for FREE, which is a huge deal to those who use it (talk about a bargain; Bill, if you are reading this, I suggest you start charging a nominal fee to list items for sale, to help you to support this site; you could even make it voluntary on a per item or percentage basis).

As a sales forum, people can list things for prices of their choosing and buyers can buy or not buy or offer to pay prices of their own choosing. It isn't about being professional, its a flea market of bits and bytes.

ken
(retired physician, very happy to be retired)

[brentpresley]

(Ken, this should address your point of a SUBSTANTIAL discount).

MY point was that low-balling, by anyone, at these already NICE discounts is really unprofessional. That was all I was trying to get across.

Brent,

this is not about being "professional" or "unprofessional." As a new physician I'll let you deal with what is professional or not in realm of your practice, but as far as I know this is an open marketplace where forum members list stuff for sale. It is offered for FREE, which is a huge deal to those who use it (talk about a bargain; Bill, if you are reading this, I suggest you start charging a nominal fee to list items for sale, to help you to support this site; you could even make it voluntary on a per item or percentage basis).

As a sales forum, people can list things for prices of their choosing and buyers can buy or not buy or offer to pay prices of their own choosing. It isn't about being professional, its a flea market of bits and bytes.

ken
(retired physician, very happy to be retired)

Ken,

You are incorrect. SOME of us PAY Bill for EVERY single item sold here. Nothing is free.

Brent

[Ken Fox]

Ken,

You are incorrect. SOME of us PAY Bill for EVERY single item sold here. Nothing is free.

Brent

Well that's good. I've listed two things for sale here and not sold either of them (here) for whatever reason. I have no problems selling stuff on ebay and have 100% positive feedback rating there, which makes it easy to sell there.

I think people should support this site. I've been here for only a little bit more than a month and have already made two contributions to Bill's kitty (although he won't be able to make it to the next town, no less the Caribbean on my small donations )

[rkawakami]

Some people are more comfortable dealing with the members of this forum as opposed to the teaming masses of sellers on eBay. Even if it means paying MORE for the product or selling it for LESS than the majority of eBay deals. In my opinion, it's the fact that there isn't the large amount of competition here that one deals with on eBay. If somebody does their homework, crafts a good search string, is patient, and snipes auctions, and is VERY lucky, then the same Kingston 1GB module can be had (and HAS been had) for less on eBay than what we saw here.

Yes, you could get ripped off on eBay even if you think you are being careful (it has happened to me a couple of times already). The paltry feedback comments of 80 characters usually isn't much to go on when trying to determine why a particular deal went bad. Also, some eBay buyers will not leave negative feedback because they don't want a retaliatory negative in response. If a buyer is displeased with an auction, they may choose not to leave any feedback at all. Such is the nature of eBay feedback.

I would say that one of the main reasons members here prefer trading in the Marketplace over eBay is that this is a much smaller community. It's geared toward a specific interest and the majority of items being sold in the Marketplace IS Thinkpad related. While the same facelessness exists here as well, I think it's mostly overshadowed by the fact that the majority of the deals here are between people who are not trying to run a profitable "business", but rather are here because it's a hobby or a way to help out others. That's just my opinion.

With the type of open marketplace like we have here (i.e., no real auction; usually a set price is declared or a best or reasonable offer taken under consideration), there's always the possibility of encountering window shoppers or hagglers and maybe even the occasional shill . That is one of the downsides in comparison to eBay and it should be understood by the sellers and buyers here. As it has been said already, if the buyer is happy with what he/she has paid and has received the goods as advertised, then that should be all that matters.

[JSC]

At $150 per 2GB for Kingston PC2700 this is an exceptional DEAL. These sticks are $175 shipped EACH at Newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820136016). Even the cheap "valueram" is ~$120 each.

That represents an EXCEPTIONAL deal. (Ken, this should address your point of a SUBSTANTIAL discount).

To address your WARRANTY concern: memory and CPUs are solid state components. Of the hundreds I have sold in the last year, I have only heard of 3 having ANY problems (and I offered to replace those at my COST to those individuals). These things just don't fail if properly installed (i.e. avoid static electricity).

If you were to eBay these, you could set a buy-it now for $105 each and have them gone in days with no problems. Especially if you have a significant feedback rating.

MY point was that low-balling, by anyone, at these already NICE discounts is really unprofessional. That was all I was trying to get across.

My .02... I'd have to agree with Ken.

With all due respect Brent... just because YOU say something is an "exceptional" deal, does not make it so. Saying it twice will not convince me otherwise either. Here's a few recently completed eBay auctions for 1gb memory:

$57.98 shipped
$67.87 shipped
$73.99 shipped
$75.94 shipped

Some of the sellers have a low number of feedbacks, some have a higher number of feedbacks, but all of them are positive enough for me to potentially bid on their items. Yes, there are plenty of auctions that sold for more than the $105 you stated, but that does not mean that $75 per 1gb is an "exceptional deal", especially given that plenty of auctions completed with values between $75 and $100 shipped.

So $75/1gb may or may not be a "substantial" discount if you're comparing it to used prices (not full retail price). Is it still a good deal? Seems like yskim4him thought so (and by the way, I agree... it was a good deal).

As for warranty issues, you basically prove Ken's point. If one buys something at a normal retail outlet, you can easily return or exchange the item. But you are saying that if you sell a stick of memory that fails, then the purchaser can "buy" another item at a reduced price (i.e. your cost). Although the risk of failure may be small, there's still a substantial difference in your "warranty" and that offered from a retail store.

Please don't take all this the wrong way. I'm not trying to be argumentative and I have lurked on this forum long enough to know you are a respected senior member and very reputable seller in the Marketplace. However, looking at this situation from a step back, it almost seems like yskim4him was called out and shamed into making the purchase. It doesn't matter if it was indeed a good deal or not, but rather whether it was more than s/he wanted to spend. And s/he should NOT be apologizing for anything. There's plenty of haggling that goes on in the Marketplace, and if we all had to apologize for it, there would be a long line.

As for professional or unprofessional, I think of the Marketplace like Ken does... as a flea market of sorts... an informal place, where people can exchange stuff they no longer want or need. As such, there is no such thing as "professional" in my mind. This is not BB or CC or NewEgg. For the most part, there are no set prices, unless they are stated as "FIRM".

But given that you are a regular seller and "PAY for EVERY single item sold here", I can understand that you've encountered more than your fair share of lowballers and tire kickers. So, I can only imagine how frustrating it may be after a while. But for other more "casual" members like myself, I personally feel that a bit of negotiation is to be expected, given the informal setting.

[JSC]

Oh, and with that all said... to get back on topic...

jongordo8...

Since you did say OBO... I'll offer $60 shipped for the (2) 512mb of PC2700 memory.

[brentpresley]

At $150 per 2GB for Kingston PC2700 this is an exceptional DEAL. These sticks are $175 shipped EACH at Newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820136016). Even the cheap "valueram" is ~$120 each.

That represents an EXCEPTIONAL deal. (Ken, this should address your point of a SUBSTANTIAL discount).

To address your WARRANTY concern: memory and CPUs are solid state components. Of the hundreds I have sold in the last year, I have only heard of 3 having ANY problems (and I offered to replace those at my COST to those individuals). These things just don't fail if properly installed (i.e. avoid static electricity).

If you were to eBay these, you could set a buy-it now for $105 each and have them gone in days with no problems. Especially if you have a significant feedback rating.

MY point was that low-balling, by anyone, at these already NICE discounts is really unprofessional. That was all I was trying to get across.

My .02... I'd have to agree with Ken.

With all due respect Brent... just because YOU say something is an "exceptional" deal, does not make it so. Saying it twice will not convince me otherwise either. Here's a few recently completed eBay auctions for 1gb memory:

$57.98 shipped
$67.87 shipped
$73.99 shipped
$75.94 shipped

Some of the sellers have a low number of feedbacks, some have a higher number of feedbacks, but all of them are positive enough for me to potentially bid on their items. Yes, there are plenty of auctions that sold for more than the $105 you stated, but that does not mean that $75 per 1gb is an "exceptional deal", especially given that plenty of auctions completed with values between $75 and $100 shipped.

So $75/1gb may or may not be a "substantial" discount if you're comparing it to used prices (not full retail price). Is it still a good deal? Seems like yskim4him thought so (and by the way, I agree... it was a good deal).

As for warranty issues, you basically prove Ken's point. If one buys something at a normal retail outlet, you can easily return or exchange the item. But you are saying that if you sell a stick of memory that fails, then the purchaser can "buy" another item at a reduced price (i.e. your cost). Although the risk of failure may be small, there's still a substantial difference in your "warranty" and that offered from a retail store.

Please don't take all this the wrong way. I'm not trying to be argumentative and I have lurked on this forum long enough to know you are a respected senior member and very reputable seller in the Marketplace. However, looking at this situation from a step back, it almost seems like yskim4him was called out and shamed into making the purchase. It doesn't matter if it was indeed a good deal or not, but rather whether it was more than s/he wanted to spend. And s/he should NOT be apologizing for anything. There's plenty of haggling that goes on in the Marketplace, and if we all had to apologize for it, there would be a long line.

As for professional or unprofessional, I think of the Marketplace like Ken does... as a flea market of sorts... an informal place, where people can exchange stuff they no longer want or need. As such, there is no such thing as "professional" in my mind. This is not BB or CC or NewEgg. For the most part, there are no set prices, unless they are stated as "FIRM".

But given that you are a regular seller and "PAY for EVERY single item sold here", I can understand that you've encountered more than your fair share of lowballers and tire kickers. So, I can only imagine how frustrating it may be after a while. But for other more "casual" members like myself, I personally feel that a bit of negotiation is to be expected, given the informal setting.

Well, I guess I sit at a fundamentally different perspective than everyone else. I keep very close tabs on all the memory prices (I have to or I will lose my shirt ) and know exactly what I can get for the above mentioned modules. Same for CPUs. I always ask right around the average selling price on eBay for my modules, but that is because 1) they have been thoroughly tested and 2) they are actually warrantied (for 60 days - if anything is going to go wrong it is 99.999999999% of the time within that time-frame).

I'm not trying to be argumentative (and it is possible that I'm still cranky from writing that bloody dissertation), but I know for a fact that if I list Kingston 1GB PC2700 modules on eBay (and include that they are TP compatible - that is KEY) that used they will fly off the shelves at $105 each.

Same reason you probably never see me sell the 1GB Samsung modules here anymore. I learned that they are one of the few brands compatible with Powerbook G4 laptops (these machines are incredibly picky, FYI, and won't take standard PC2700), and as such they sell for a substantial premium over generic memory.

Only the last two auctions you listed were actually Kingston modules. The first two were generics and they always go for a heavy discount. Just a quick browsing this morning on eBay for "Kingston 1GB Thinkpad" pulled up 6-7 that sold for $119+$7SH at Buy-It-Now.

I guess it is just market research. I'm willing to negotiate with buyers as well, but I have to get something in return to budge on price (like you have to buy in bulk or take something off my hands that has been listed for a while and hasn't sold well). Otherwise there is no incentive for me to sell RAM/CPUs/etc. at a reduced price when I know that after eBay/Paypal fees I can go get more for them.

[jongordo8]

1 gig sticks are sold...2 sticks of 512 are pending.

[pianowizard]

Here's a few recently completed eBay auctions for 1gb memory:

$57.98 shipped
$67.87 shipped
$73.99 shipped
$75.94 shipped

Deals like these are extremely hard to get. One has to be constantly at the computer waiting for newly listed auctions and grab them within seconds after they're listed. It needs to be done within seconds because dozens of other people are doing the same thing. I tried this approach before and had some luck (e.g. picking up a mint condition T23 for $165 shipped half a year ago, and 256MB low-density PC100 SODIMM for $19 shipped a year ago), but it requires many hours of work. It was a HUGE waste of time. If the same amount of time had been spent working at a supermarket earning the minimum wage, I would have made more money than what I saved.

[yskim4him]

jongordo8
you got a e-mail

[Ken Fox]

For me, the only value of a marketplace like this, on an enthusiast board, is the ability to find items that are specific to Thinkpads. I guess you can make the argument that (maybe) the T60 is so picky about the memory it will accept that you might say that some types of memory for sale here fit that description, but if you go to Newegg and read product reviews you will find positive comments from people using all sorts of memory successfully in all models of Thinkpads. And if what you bought doesn't work you can always RMA it back as "incompatible" or defective; they are not going to give you static over that so your risk is basically the shipping cost in both directions for a very small lightweight item.

Hard drives are just generic; that's all there is to it. The only exceptions I can come up with are the X41 and its 1.8" drives, and (arguably) the T43 with its firmware issues (although as long as you buy the right HDs and are willing to flash them, even that argument disappears). There are faster and slower, bigger and smaller, hard drives, but there is little special to differentiate them for use in a Thinkpad or any other brand.

Memory used to be very expensive, as did larger capacity hard drives. Even with recent increases in memory prices, it is still hugely cheaper than it was even two or three years ago (considering module size and speed).

For me, this marketplace could be a good resource for hard to find thinkpad parts, proprietary parts such as batteries, and maybe the commodity items (HDs & RAM) too but with the latter only if cheap.

[pianowizard]

Ken, you accused me of ruining the sale of your T42 several weeks back, but aren't you potentially do the same to jongordo8 here?

[brentpresley]

Ken,
I am failing to see your point here (assuming it is directed at me).

For the EXACT same items, my prices are ALWAYS significantly cheaper.

E.G:
Micron PC2-5300 1GB stick - $105 ($135 at the egg)
100GB Hitachi/Seagate HDs - $120-135 (at the time, $165-170 at the egg).

So please clarify, WHAT EXACTLY is your point?

Thanks,
Brent

[pianowizard]

Ken,
I am failing to see your point here (assuming it is directed at me).

For the EXACT same items, my prices are ALWAYS significantly cheaper.

Brent, I wouldn't be too bothered by what Ken is saying. Many people here, including me, would rather buy memory sticks from you than from Newegg even if yours were only several bucks cheaper. (But of course, your prices are always more than several bucks cheaper.) He is just expressing his personal opinion.

[brentpresley]

Ken,
I am failing to see your point here (assuming it is directed at me).

For the EXACT same items, my prices are ALWAYS significantly cheaper.

Brent, I wouldn't be too bothered by what Ken is saying. Many people here, including me, would rather buy memory sticks from you than from Newegg even if yours were only several bucks cheaper. (But of course, your prices are always more than several bucks cheaper.) He is just expressing his personal opinion.

Well, if his desire is that I stop selling, he will get that in a few months. Once I go back to med school, there will be no time to do this anymore. So you guys can only expect VOLUME out of me for the next 6 months or so.

[Ken Fox]

In answer to questions directed at my post(s) in this thread:

(1) I said my comments were divorced from the sales listing that started this thread and in fact said I thought that what was being sold was a good deal. That would not meet my definition of thread crapping.

(2) As long as Bill thinks it is ok, I think you can sell anything you want here and I"m not telling anyone not to sell memory or hard drives in this marketplace.

(3) what I am saying is that for me, RAM and Hard Drives are commodity items which are widely available, including cheaply from a bunch of very reputable online merchants. Personally speaking (and only for myself) I'd much rather buy stuff like this from Newegg or a number of other merchants than from ANY private party. Why would I say something like that? Here's one reason, it is just an example from Newegg, taken from their FAQs regarding their return policy:

"Products sold by Newegg.com are supported by our Standard Return Policy unless otherwise indicated. Merchandise under our Standard Return Policy may be returned within 30 days of the original invoice date for a refund or within one year of the original invoice date for a replacement."

No private seller can match that. We are talking about a period of ONE YEAR during which you can return a memory stick or a hard drive (or many other things) and get a replacement directly from them. That's worth something, at least to me, and even if I would not expect to take advantage of it very often.

In order to compensate the buyer for giving up a return policy like that, which serves like a second layer of guarantees on top of the manufacturer's warranty, one has every right to expect a great deal. Each person can define "great deal" for themself. For me, it is good enough that I'll take the added risk, and for cheaper hardware like hard disks and RAM, it is hard to meet that threshold.

Once again, just my opinion, nothing more.

[Boricua65]

Dibs on the 256MB PC2100 if no one has it.

[pianowizard]

We are talking about a period of ONE YEAR during which you can return a memory stick or a hard drive (or many other things) and get a replacement directly from them.

I thought most RAM sticks, including those sold privately, have lifetime warranty from the manufacturers, no?

[Ken Fox]

We are talking about a period of ONE YEAR during which you can return a memory stick or a hard drive (or many other things) and get a replacement directly from them.

I thought most RAM sticks, including those sold privately, have lifetime warranty from the manufacturers, no?

I honestly do not know how mfr. warranties are impacted by where or from whom the item was purchased. My assumption is that this is highly variable. I have had hard disk failures within a few months of purchase and in those cases the mfr (generally it was WD or Maxtor) said they would replace the drive based upon the manufacturing date printed on the drive, which made sending a purchase receipt unnecessary. In other cases a manufacturer might make warranty service contingent on being able to prove the item was purchased through an "authorized dealer."

Even if the mfr. will extend a lifetime warranty on a RAM stick, exactly what you get back could differ. I had a Western Digital Passport drive (USB2 2.5" drive) purchase recently and the thing was defective out of the box. I called WD because I wanted to be sure the thing was defective (it functioned weirdly and could not be formatted, but it did spin). When the lady confirmed it was defective she advised me to send it back to the merchant, because they (WD) would send me a refurb, whereas the dealer would simply send me a new in box product.

Without question the mfrs. get back a ton of RAM sticks. Some of them are grossly defective, some have been damaged by customers, and some are simply incompatible with whatever machine they were initially put into. One would assume that they don't just toss all these RAM sticks into the trash, especially if their own testing shows that most of them work. So, one very likely gets back "refurbed" RAM from the mfr. if a stick is returned back to them on their lifetime warranties. I would be surprised if their written warranties don't say as much, e.g. that replacement product under warranty may be new or refurbed.

Given a choice of getting some RAM that some unknown prior owner put into their laptop and then returned to the point of sale or the mfr, vs. getting a new sealed package from Newegg 10 months after the first module was purchased, I'll take the retail packaged new product every time. In addition, it is very easy to get ahold of Newegg's customer service. Wait times generally are less than 10 minutes. Dealing with manufacturers can be very time consuming and whereas Newegg will ship out your new stick immediately, the mfr. may be less accommodating.

[Ken Fox]

Ken,
I am failing to see your point here (assuming it is directed at me).

For the EXACT same items, my prices are ALWAYS significantly cheaper.

E.G:
Micron PC2-5300 1GB stick - $105 ($135 at the egg)
100GB Hitachi/Seagate HDs - $120-135 (at the time, $165-170 at the egg).

So please clarify, WHAT EXACTLY is your point?

Thanks,
Brent

Brent,

I have bought similar products in the last couple of weeks, new in the box, and paid less than the prices you quote. For example, I bought a SATA Hitachi 7k100 100gb drive for $121 delivered from Newegg, and two 7K100 PATA versions of this drive for $131 delivered. I have not checked back on the Newegg site to see if they are still offering these items at these prices; the SATA drive deal required an instant discount of $15 they had 2 weeks ago.

I bought OCZ and Buffalo 1gb PC5300/PC5400 RAM sticks, also from Newegg, for $95 after rebate for the former and $70 after rebate and coupon code for the latter. Frys.com sold me a matched pair of Kingston PC4200 1gb RAM sticks for $164 delivered. All went through 4 passes or more of Memtest86+ in the machines they live in now, plus have functioned fine without problems since. Memory timings as shown by CPU-Z are as advertised, as well.

I'm sure you are great to deal with and I'm not knocking what you do, however I don't think your comparison prices are entirely valid, either.

My initial comment on this thread was partially motivated by your comment, many posts above, that you were excluding some buyers from dealing with you because they tried to haggle. That is a silly attitude in my opinion, and I felt it called for a response, which is what you have gotten from me, nothing more.

[Kyocera]

Moved off from the marketplace.

[JaneL]

And locked. Take this outside, gentlemen.