Such A Deal? The Best & Worst Places To Buy On The Web
From big names to cheap no-names, we rate today's PC gear sites for price, selection, and service.by Anne Kandra
2002 Buyers' Guide: Best Places To Buy Online
I'm browsing an online store whose home page features a slick-looking sales rep in shades hawking deals on digital cameras, laptops, and so on--a little cheesy-looking, maybe, but the price is right. Another site's home page is more cluttered than my eight-year-old's bedroom floor, but it offers free shipping. Still another site has a clean layout, lots of product information, and a trusted name, but yikes--high prices!
Choosing where to buy stuff online can be a baffling experience. You want a great price, but not if it means crummy service or shady deals. You also want a site that's easy to get around and tells you everything you want to know--from full product specs to total price with shipping to return policies. Finally, you want a site that'll be there for you if there's a problem.
To find out where you can get the best bargains and service, we shopped at a dozen online computer stores. Our goal? To locate the smoothest overall shopping experience--and to cull the sleazy vendors from the virtuous. In the end, we were pleased to find more good guys than slimy sales reps, though we still encountered snafus. Here's our story.
How We Tested
We ordered from big-name vendors Amazon.com, Buy.com, CDW, Computers4Sure, Dell, ECost, Micro Warehouse, Outpost.com, and PC Connection, along with no-name stores--A2Z Computers, MP Superstore, and TigerDirect--that often show up on shopping search engines because of their low prices. From each store, we bought an IBM ThinkPad R31 notebook, an Olympus Camedia D-40 Zoom digital camera, a 19-inch NEC MultiSync FP955 monitor, and a copy of Microsoft's Office XP Standard Upgrade. If a store didn't have what we wanted, we bought a similarly configured substitute.
We also comparison-shopped 16 other products--from PCs to PDAs to security software--by checking their availability, price, and shipping costs at every store.
We evaluated sales and return policies, shipping options, and overall ease of use. We ordered online and called customer service along the way to test its efficiency. As stuff arrived, we unpacked and powered up each item except the software. Then we returned the items for refunds.
The Big Picture
Our best experience was at Computers4Sure (which is owned by Office Depot), thanks to its easy-to-navigate site, terrific selection, and helpful service. PC Connection, CDW, and Micro Warehouse also came out near the top of our list for their good selection, fair prices, and reliable service. Our gripe: Vendors should make a greater effort to tell shoppers which items are nonreturnable (although Computers4Sure and PC Connection made exceptions by taking products they initially said couldn't be returned).
A2Z and TigerDirect get our booby prize for bungling every step of our shopping experience. A2Z had a lost order, indifferent customer service, and apparently used software being sold as new; TigerDirect had little selection, aggressive marketing, and distrust of its customers.
As for the other sites, each had a major glitch that landed it in the middle. Dell took weeks to refund money for a couple of returned items, and its phone customer service can be like an Escher print: loops leading nowhere. Buy.com makes it difficult to talk to a rep. ECost has a tough return policy, MP Superstore's selection is limited, and Outpost.com's site design is clunky and hard to navigate. And while Amazon.com is a great place to buy books and CDs, we'd go elsewhere for PC gear.
Anne Kandra is the Consumer Watch columnist for PC World. Additional reporting by PC World Associate Editor Grace Aquino and freelance writer Mick Lockey.
Selection: Puny to Plenty
Of the 12 sites, CDW had the broadest selection of computer products, offering 19 of the 20 on our list. Computers4Sure also did well, offering all but 2. Most of the other vendors had 14 to 16 of the products available.
MP Superstore and TigerDirect had the slimmest selection, offering only four and five of the products, respectively. Both companies offered other models by the same maker for some of our items, and we had the impression that TigerDirect tends to sell a vendor's low-end product lines--for example, it sells NEC-Mitsubishi's $270 AccuSync 95F monitor but not the $395 MultiSync FP955. Also, MP Superstore offers hardware only--you can purchase almost anything from a microwave oven to a clock radio, but not software.
In addition to selling PC gear, most of the resellers offer extended warranties. TigerDirect takes an earnest approach in this area. At checkout, I was beseeched with a "special message" from Carl Fiorentino, president of TigerDirect.
Carl apparently understands that I can't afford to have my machine go down, and goes on to explain that peace of mind is just a click--and about $200--away, in the form of TigerDirect's extended warranty.
Turning down the warranty is as simple as clicking the "no" option (which is the default), and you don't have to read Carl's plea, which says that you'll never pay for any "approved repair" but neglects to specify what's "approved." Always compare an extended warranty against the maker's.
Usability: Clean vs. Clunky
What's more frustrating than a Web site that doesn't sell what you want? One that sells the item but makes it impossible to find.
To test each Web site's ease of use, I plugged the manufacturer number of each product into the search field to make sure I got the correct item in one click. Manufacturers' product numbers are available from their Web sites and at pricing search engines like PriceGrabber. Five of the 12 sites--A2Z, CDW, Computers4Sure, ECost, Micro Warehouse, and PC Connection--found every item by its number on the first try, and most others came up with at least one or two.
It's a good thing that A2Z's search feature found most of the products right away, because the site's design is clunky and hard to negotiate. The home page lists three categories: Computers, Notebooks, and, obscurely, Barebones (which consists of computer cases, processors, memory chips, graphics cards, fans, and so on), along with several dozen subcategories for specific components.
Speaking of bare bones, that generously describes A2Z's product information. When I linked to the IBM ThinkPad (which wasn't in stock), I got a cryptic list of abbreviated configuration details (the product description read "TP R31 P3/1130 128MB 30GB 14.1 DVD 56K ETH W2K"); it tells you what you want to know if you speak geek, but it would have been nice to see a description using actual words and sentences, and maybe a product photo. In fact, the model name of the notebook wasn't even listed anywhere, so it took me a while to confirm that I had indeed found the right item.
At least at A2Z I knew where I was. At Amazon.com's home page, the main search field didn't recognize any of the manufacturer numbers I entered, and because Amazon recommends items that are closely related to the product I'm searching for, I found myself in cybermall hell, clicking through things I didn't need.
I eventually made it to Amazon's electronics store and located the products I wanted by entering the product name in the search field. This worked fine and was intuitive enough, but because the site tries so hard to be everything to everyone, you have to click through many levels to find what you're after. Thankfully, Amazon provides useful online tools to let you track your purchase, set up buying histories, compare product features, and return or even auction off unwanted items.
TigerDirect didn't recognize any of the products' manufacturer numbers either--mostly because, except for the software, it didn't sell any of the items on our list. Locating similar substitutes for the monitor, camera, and notebook took well over an hour. The site's home page is cluttered and text-heavy, and searching involves working your way through multiple screens as you narrow the listings. To its credit, TigerDirect's site does provide very thorough product descriptions and good--and enlargeable--photographs of its products.
Unfortunately, TigerDirect's user-friendly product descriptions don't make up for the relentless hounding that you're subjected to upon checkout. First comes the pitch for an extended warranty, but wait--there's more. Its customer information form asked me for my Social Security number, although the company no longer asks for this on its checkout page. Before the site confirms your order, you're hit up to buy a $50 monthly telephone service in order to get a "free" phone calling card. TigerDirect's final strike: Its order confirmation didn't include any price, tax, or shipping costs.
Another exceptionally kludgy site is Outpost.com (which is owned by computer retailer Fry's Electronics), where I spent more time searching for products than I did preparing for my last karate belt. Do a search using a product name, and you're forced to sort through endless lists. Try culling it down by using one of its other puzzling search parameters, and the whole thing is more trouble than it's worth. And don't ask me why, but as I searched the site in vain for my IBM ThinkPad, I somehow kept ending up on the "Board Sports" page. (Outpost sells toys, kitchen tools, and home goods along with its notebooks and network routers--good news if you're tempted to pick up a blender or a Trivial Pursuit game while you're shopping for a new PC.)
In contrast, PC Connection's site is clean and well organized, and it provides excellent product photos and descriptions, including details like compatibility notes and system requirements. CDW seems geared to IT departments; it has corporate-sounding titles like "Resources" and CDW@Work and includes categories for networking and telephony equipment as well as training and other business services. The site is a bit text-heavy but straightforward and easy to navigate.
Features Comparison Shopping Sites: Computers4Sure Leads the Pack
| Online store | Out of 20 products, it had... | Products' cost vs. average cost at other stores | Bottom-line price before purchase1 | Site design and navigation | Product descriptions and photos | Restocking fee | Refund within...2 | Comments |
Computers4Sure (http://www.computers4sure.com)  | 18 | 2 percent more | Yes | Excellent | Excellent | None | 2 to 5 days | All-around decent online store offers a great selection of computer products. Provided good service on our orders. |
PC Connection (http://www.pcconnection.com)  | 12 | 7 percent more | No | Excellent | Excellent | 15 percent | 5 to 7 days | Gives helpful information on its Web site and easy checkout process, but has so-so selection. |
CDW (http://www.cdw.com)  | 19 | 4 percent less | Yes | Very good | Very good | None | 3 to 6 days | Has the best selection here and an easy-to-navigate site. But no returns on several PC brands, including IBM. |
| Micro Warehouse (http://www.microwarehouse.com) | 16 | 1 percent less | No | Good | Good | 15 percent | 3 to 5 days | Middle-of-the-road online vendor sells most of the items we looked for but has a weak search engine. |
Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com)  | 16 | 7 percent less | Yes | Good | Good | None | 15 to 43 days | Good return policies, and selection has below-average prices. But there's no phone ordering, and finding PC gear can be tedious. |
| Buy.com (http://www.buy.com) | 16 | 1 percent more | Yes | Good | Good | 15 percent | 4 to 20 days | Easy to find products, but it's very difficult to call company with questions. Hard-sells extended warranty. |
| Dell (http://www.dell.com) | 14 | 2 percent less | No | Good | Very good | 15 percent | 4 to 49 days | Good prices, but took a long time to refund our money and put us through looping phone menus at customer service. |
| ECost (http://www.ecost.com) | 16 | 5 percent more | Yes | Good | Good | 15 percent | 1 to 7 days | Provides a pleasing shopping experience, but charges handling fee and you can't return things from several manufacturers. |
Outpost.com (http://www.outpost.com)  | 11 | 3 percent more | Yes | Poor | Good | None | 3 to 5 days | Finding items was difficult. Site doesn't save user info for separate orders, unless you set up an Express account. |
MP Superstore (http://www.mpsuperstore.com)  | 4 | 6 percent less | No | Adequate | Adequate | 15 percent | 8 to 28 days | Poor selection--it doesn't sell software. Web site is difficult to use, and product information is sparse. |
A2Z Computers (http://www.a2zcomputers.com)  | 14 | 3 percent less | No | Poor | Good | None | 7 days | Offers good deals but doesn't list tax and shipping charges before you pay. Has a very clunky Web site and spotty service. |
| TigerDirect (http://www.tigerdirect.com) | 5 | 11 percent more | Yes | Poor | Very good | 15 percent | 2 to 5 days | Limits many products to second-class makers. Accepts no returns on software, even unopened. Pushes extended warranty. |
Price: Wheelin' & Dealin'
A great price can tempt you into going with a dark horse over the tried-and-true. But remember to look at the whole picture. Sometimes that terrific bargain isn't so terrific after you factor in taxes, shipping, and other fees.
I found significant price variations on some of the items I bought--and some of the best deals came from big vendors. For example, Amazon had the lowest price for the Office XP Upgrade, at $193; A2Z was the priciest, at $240.
If saving nearly $50 isn't compelling enough, consider this: Amazon's software arrived shrink-wrapped and factory fresh, with all warranties, documentation, and discs intact. A2Z's shipment included a box full of packing peanuts with a scratched, dirty jewel case containing two smudged discs that looked liked they'd been handled before. The software also lacked any warranty or product documentation. "It must've been a shipping error," says an A2Z spokesperson. According to a Microsoft spokesperson, the software's product key is legitimate, although all genuine Microsoft software should come in a retail box with a license agreement, manuals, and a certificate of authenticity.
Some bargains came from small players like MP Superstore, which sold Olympus's Camedia D-40 for $505--about $100 less than most of the other vendors. Dell charged the highest camera price at $699.
All resellers let you choose the shipping method, from standard (the least expensive option that takes about 5 to 7 business days) to overnight delivery. CDW offered the most choices by far, with more than 30 shipping alternatives.
I asked for standard shipping for everything I bought and found that costs varied more widely than you might expect. ECost, unlike others, charges a handling fee (although for our purchases this was offset by its free shipping offer if you spend over $500), and its shipping costs were generally higher than those of the other vendors. For example, I paid a steep $78 to ship the NEC monitor, compared to just under $40 at PC Connection, Computers4Sure, and several others.
Vendors often provide free shipping, especially for heavier items like monitors or desktop PCs, so it's worth scouting these deals out. Don't forget about sales tax--you'll have to pay it if the company you're buying from has a store, warehouse, or facility of any kind in your state.
Service: Highs & Lows
When online shopping works as it's supposed to, you can buy anything from PCs to antique coins without ever talking to a human being.
Sound antisocial? Maybe. But if you've waited on the phone for a rep, a bit of antisocial behavior doesn't sound so bad.
Some companies, including Amazon and Buy.com, make it next to impossible to reach anyone by phone. But to be fair, Amazon puts enough information on its site that you'll probably find the answer to your question if you look hard enough. If not, you can e-mail the help department, as I did to ask why my credit card was turned down for one of my purchases. I got an e-mail response within an hour. In contrast, an e-mail query I sent to A2Z apparently went straight to the online circular file--I never got a response.
My shopping cohort, PC World Associate Editor Grace Aquino, had a less satisfying experience with Amazon's customer service. Her IBM ThinkPad order involved numerous e-mail messages but no computer. Amazon confirmed her order but could not process her payment; she had to go through Amazon affiliate EBS. She e-mailed EBS a few times to finalize the sale. Days later, an EBS rep e-mailed to say that the laptop was unavailable; he could order the product but could not guarantee when it would arrive. Aquino didn't bother with the order.
Most reps we spoke with were polite and knowledgeable, with a few exceptions. When our shopping researcher, Mick Lockey, called A2Z to check the price for Symantec Norton Internet Security 2002, he learned that it was a nonretail box copy without manuals. When he asked what recourse he would have if he had any problems, the rep responded, "Don't worry, it's a brand-new disc."
Sometimes you might know more than the rep does. Aquino called Outpost to arrange a return of Office XP and was told that the company didn't accept returns on software. When she pointed out that the site says unopened software boxes were returnable, the rep agreed. We wonder: Was he sneaky or just uninformed?
Bill Crawford, operations manager at the nonprofit Community Access Center in Riverside, California, had a more frustrating time with Outpost. He bought two scanners from the company. One scanner worked fine, but the other was dead on arrival. An Outpost rep told him to send the broken scanner back for a full refund. Crawford did, then waited and waited. When he called Outpost, reps would promise to call him back but never did. It wasn't until almost eight months after the purchase that he got the refund. The center, which helps people with disabilities live independently, survives on government funding and grants, Crawford says. "We do not have funds available to 'loan' businesses like Outpost $250."
But talking to customer service isn't always negative. MP Superstore e-mailed me, asking me to call. Uh-oh, I thought, here comes the pitch to buy more stuff. Turned out that the rep, Sam, called to tell me the IBM laptop was unavailable. He was helpful at providing alternatives.
Service at Computers4Sure, however, is a little worrisome. The reps sounded as if I'd interrupted naptime--one rep was bored and sleepy and another actually yawned while explaining return policies.
But at least they didn't argue with me, as the reps at TigerDirect did. When I called to find out why the Toshiba notebook I ordered never arrived, the rep brusquely informed me that the laptop was on back-order and he had no idea when it would be available.
I asked him to cancel the order. He sighed and told me he couldn't, mumbling something about the order "already being at the manufacturer." I told him to call the manufacturer, and he sighed and mumbled again. I heard the phone drop, followed by a long silence. As I was about to hang up, he returned and offered to let me buy another item. When I told him I just wanted to cancel the order, he sighed, mumbled, and dropped the phone again. After an even longer silence, he returned and grudgingly agreed to cancel the order.
Aquino also got a taste of customer service TigerDirect-style. When she asked to return her unopened copy of Office XP, the rep refused, explaining, "People could buy a shrink-wrap machine, copy the software, and return it as if it's never been opened." Now that's what we call trust.
Delivery: As Promised
Shopping and service aside, how did the companies do in delivering the goods? The good news: Almost everything I ordered arrived in time and in good condition--except for A2Z's incomplete Office XP. The bad news: Aquino didn't fare as well.
Once again, A2Z dropped the ball. More than two weeks after she ordered her notebook and camera, neither had arrived, although she had received an e-mail confirmation and her credit card had been charged for both purchases. She called a rep, who promised to look into the matter and call her back within 10 minutes.
No one called back. Aquino called again. Nobody at A2Z seemed to have any idea what had happened to her order. The order was canceled, and the accounting department promised a refund. Not only did she never get an explanation of why her order was lost, but her refund was short by $3. When she called to complain, the accounting rep she talked to couldn't explain that mistake either. She eventually got a full refund.
Aquino's other disappointment came from Amazon, which didn't deliver either of the items she ordered--first the notebook, then the digital camera. Since she'd received a confirmation of both the order and the shipment of the camera, she expected that to arrive. No luck--nearly two and a half weeks after her order, she got an e-mail from Amazon that said the camera was undeliverable, indicating that the shipping address (which was different from her billing address) was incorrect (even though the address indicated in the confirmation e-mail was accurate), so the camera would be returned to inventory and Aquino would be refunded for it.
"Shouldn't someone have called to verify the shipping address?" she notes. "If they tried to deliver on a Saturday when [my company's] mailroom was closed, shouldn't they have tried again on Monday?" Maybe not--after all, that would mean making a phone call.
Point of No Returns
As you might expect from any retailer, online computer stores want you to buy stuff. They don't want it returned. They'll do anything to keep you from returning it. That said, all the sites we shopped at do allow returns, but most have restrictions. Many of the stores exclude returns on products by certain manufacturers, such as Compaq, IBM, and others. Unless you read the site's return policy before you close the deal, you won't know that.
Some sites have return policies that seem downright strange. Take Pam Falcioni's experience at Buy.com. Her father bought her a 100MB Zip drive but she wanted to exchange it for a 250MB version. Falcioni, a Web designer in Bend, Oregon, got the receipt from her father and contacted Buy.com.
She was astonished that they refused to accept an exchange from anyone but her father. She traded several e-mail messages with Buy.com reps, but never got a good explanation of the policy. "That was the most frustrating part," Falcioni recalls. "It's a nonsense policy for which they have no justification." In the end, she went to her local Staples store, where it took just minutes to exchange the drive for a higher-capacity one.
Always read the return policy before placing an order because there may be hidden rules. ECost's return policy, for example, excludes a large number of products, and the company has a clause that seems to have been written by a vengeful vice principal: If you claim to be returning an unopened box and are caught in a lie about that, the site will charge you a jaw-dropping 50 percent restocking fee (rather than the normal 15 percent). Take that, naughty customer!
While I didn't have any problems returning products to A2Z, the company does include a rather sneaky twist to its generous-sounding return policy. A large number of products are marked with an asterisk indicating "special order." These items are not returnable.
Browsing For Bargains
If you're in the market for a new PC, or shopping around for a digital camera, should you go online? Sure. Plenty of Internet shops, such as Computers4Sure, offer good deals, dependable service, and an efficient shopping experience. But how do you find the best sites?
First, compare prices at different vendors, but don't just go for the cheapest one. Call or e-mail customer service to test its responsiveness--if a price looks suspiciously low, ask for more specific information, such as whether the item is new or used, and intended for U.S. consumers, and check the warranty terms. Finally, always read the company's terms of service, especially the vendor's return policy, before you buy. Armed with these rules, look to make some great deals.
Shopping Tips: Caution--Shady Site Ahead
Shopping search engines are great for sniffing out low prices, but they're lousy judges of character. If the site points you to a store of questionable integrity, be prepared to do a little background check of your own. Take your business elsewhere if you get three or more of these warning signs.
Dirt-cheap, eh? Some stores deal in gray-market goods, selling things like digital cameras and other electronics intended for foreign markets. The warranty and manuals are likely to be useless in the United States. Confirm that the product is intended for American consumers.
Can't order online? Either the site isn't set up to process online payments--a red light in itself--or it asks you to call to close the deal, where you might end up in an endless sales pitch.
Too much information: Opt out if a vendor asks for your Social Security number or bank account information. A reputable site will require only your name, shipping and billing address, and credit card information--anything more should be optional.
No company address: Some sites--even upstanding ones like Amazon--prefer you to contact them via e-mail and make it tricky to find phone numbers, but it should be listed somewhere. Call the number to make sure there's someone at the other end.
No info on policies: Always look for info on shipping rates, ways to track shipments, and sales tax. Also read the entire return policy before you place an order.
Bad grammar: Poor writing indicates sloppiness. A company with a well-designed, well-edited Web site is generally more likely to put the same effort into customer service.