Newegg Archive

Most times deals are discussed as they launch or briefly before launch. On November 20th, an upcoming offer began to circulate that, from what I can tell, has generated the most discussion pre-launch of any deal since Al Gore invented the Internet. What makes this deal discussion even more odd, is that most of the specifics related to the deal haven’t even been shared as of yet.

UPDATE: DEAL IS NOW DEAD – Link removed for clarity. Looks like they sold about 100k or so max.

All we know at this point is that Google Offers will run a deal with Newegg for $20 for $40 at some point. We don’t know specifically when they deal will launch, how long it will be available for, how many deals will be offered, what the restrictions are, etc. Yet even knowing so little about the deal, it is discussed like people won’t be sleeping until the deal comes alive.

Here’s what we do know based on chatter and the promotion pages on both the Google Offers and Newegg websites (displayed below). The deal will be for $40 worth of Newegg credit for $20. I have to assume that Google will be strong on enforcing limits unlike early national deals on Groupon and Living Social. Since the promotion of this deal started over a week ago, I am going to guess that this deal will be available on Cyber Monday. I don’t have any confirmation of this but it just seems like the perfect time to run the deal and I can’t see Google wanting to pimp an upcoming deal forever. On the flip side, this upcoming deal has probably helped Google get a ton of new opt-in Google Offers members.

UPDATE: This deal will go live at 9am Pacific (Noon Eastern) so be ready!

If the deal does go live tomorrow, I think it would be comparable to the Old Navy deal that Groupon ran this weekend and should beat out the Office Max deal that Living Social ran. I am still looking forward to seeing if any of the 3 deal sites offer something better than their sub-par Black Friday offerings.

I will update this post once the deal goes live – everyone that has discussed the deal believes it will be short lived so you will need to be quick. My suggestion is to make sure your Google account is hooked into Google Offers and you test out the ordering process so you know where to click and don’t have to read a lot of text as you place the order.

Good news for those of you that shop at Newegg and live in New York State. Back on June 1st, Newegg began to collect sales tax from all customers located in New York. Yesterday they updated their policy and are currently NOT collecting state sales tax.

They do note that you may be required to pay the sales tax when you pay your yearly income tax. Here’s the email from Newegg:

Dear Valued Newegg Customer,

As a result of recent changes in New York State tax law requiring certain out-of-state retailers to collect and remit sales taxes to theState of New York, we began collecting applicable sales tax for all orders shipped to New York addresses starting June 1, 2008.

After careful review and consideration, we are pleased to inform you that we have stopped collecting New York sales tax, effective August 21,2008. This decision was driven by your direct and candid feedback andour continued commitment to you as our valued customers.

We appreciate your patience as we worked through this process, and would like to reiterate our commitment in offering our customers the broadestproduct selection, competitive pricing, fastest shipping, and award-winning customer service.We look forward to continuing to provide you with the premier onlineshopping experience for all of your IT and consumer electronics needs.

Sincerely,
Bernard Luthi
Newegg.com
Company Spokesperson and Vice President of Merchandising

Disclaimer: While Newegg no longer charges sales tax to its New York customers effective August 21, 2008, you may still have an obligation to pay New York State use tax on your purchases. Newegg cannot offer youany tax advice, so please refer to applicable law if you have anyquestions about use tax. Nothing in this email shall be deemed toapprove the validity of any New York State law, including but not limited to section 1101(b)(8)(vi) of the New York State Tax Law, which purports to require Newegg to collect and remit New York State sales taxon its sales to residents of that state.