If you’re reading this, there’s a pretty good chance that you have a soft-spot for electronics. With so many electronic toys and gadgets to choose from, and many places to buy, it can be difficult to know where the best place is to buy. A recent article from ConsumerReports.org answers the question, “Where should I buy my electronics.” Based upon over 90,000 purchases made, their readers rated walk-in and online stores to determine where to buy electronics. Here are some of the results.
Top Online Stores for electronics:
When it came to shopping online for electronics in terms of products, Crutchfield.com earned the overall highest reader score. They earned great scores for selection, customer service, and their web site. Not surprising, Amazon.com came in 2nd with high scores in price, selection, and website. The list of the top five include:
- Crutchfield.com
- Amazon.com
- Costco.com (great scores for price)
- Jr.com (price and selection)
- BuyDig.com (price and selection)
Top Walk-in Stores for electronics:
- Local independent stores (quality and customer service)
- Tweeter (great customer service)
- Costco (price)
- Ritz Camera (customer service, checkout speed)
- Ultimate Electronics (customer service)
Not all of the stores listed above are ideal for purchasing PCs. The stores that rated the best for PCs include:
- PC Connection.com
- Newegg.com
- Amazon.com
- PCMall.com
- TigerDirect.com
In the market for a mac?
If you’re in the market for a Mac computer, as you may expect, the best choices are, well, Apple… and Apple. More specifically, Apple.com or the Apple store were rated the best for places to purchase Mac computers. They were given high scores for customer service and selection (well I’d hope they’d have a good selection!), but not for price. If you’re wanting a good deal on a Mac, it was determined that your best option is MacConnection.com, Amazon.com, or MacMall.com.
I think out of all those sites i’ve really only used newegg for electronics
It’s so easy to compare prices nowadays…there really is no reason to stick with one company, the competition is great though 
I’m the same way. I check all of my options first, then buy.
Ultimate Electronics is the worst retailer ever. Their sales people sure put in the effort, and wow you with free bottles of water, but if you’re not buying, they do everything possible to brush you off. They destroyed the interior of my car when they installed an alarm I bought, and they didn’t even hook it up right the first two times, took me a total of 5 visits to get try and get everything fixed before I gave up on them and fixed it myself.
I’ll go to virtually any site to research a product. When it comes to making a purchase, though, for me, the lack of sales tax, the cheap (usually free) shipping, the easy return process, and the 30-day price-drop-refund guarantee make Amazon my preferred merchant.
For research, I like Crutchfield for their big, high-quality product photos, and NewEgg & specialty sites (like AVSForum, for example) for user reviews.
Conversely, I can’t stand Buy.com. That has to be one of the most frustrating, disorganized, poorly-executed electronics site I’ve ever used.
I’m just like you Scott. I absolutely love the reviews on NewEgg, and that’s one of the highest points of value on their site.
Although I have had a lot of good experiences with Buy.com, so I can’t really complain.
I only go to Buy.com when I’m buying books — usually they’re the cheapest– even cheaper than Amazon.