NewEgg’s Canadian Counterpart Launched

If you happen to be a computer enthusiast who lives in Canada, you are probably well aware that purchasing equipment isn’t the easiest of processes. The absolute first e-tailer I ever learned of was NCIX, and since then, I’ve used them for most of my PC equipment, but their selection is sometimes lacking. There’s Tiger Direct, but their shipping options (and shipping prices) are asinine. Aside from these two, the competition has been rather slim.

One common complaint from fellow Canucks was that American’s have NewEgg… the “ultimate” e-tailer. They offer almost anything most people need, and at reasonable prices. So when we first learned back in July the Californian-based e-tailer would be making their way up to Canada, people got psyched. Well, the new website has finally opened, and I have to say, I’m not too impressed.

At first glance, their prices seem competitive for non-sale items, but NCIX offers sales each and every week that trump almost any popular item. Seagate’s 1TB drive, for example, is $144 at NewEgg.ca, while it’s been $136 at NCIX for the past few weeks with their weekly sale. The same thing applies for all other items I checked as well, including processors and graphic cards.

The biggest caveat seems to be the fact that the Canadian website ships their product from their US warehouse, which means that Canadians will almost positively receive duty fees once the product arrives. I could be wrong, but I have never ordered from a US-based retailer and have not had that happen. The second issue is that they only offer shipping through UPS, who I’ve found to be completely and utterly unreliable. Hopefully NewEgg will eventually give us a reason to go through them, but so far, I don’t see a single one.

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