Although I have mentioned this before, Newegg puts products in different conditions all as refurbs.
I can think of (and have experience of getting) three different types of conditions as follow.
1. Customer Returns ? Open Box
These are ones returned by customers without any claim of them being defect or dead. People return products for many different reasons. They usually make sure to claim when products which they received are dead or defect. If these are the cases, knowing Newegg, they will probably send them back to the manufacturers. If they get sent back because customers just made wrong purchases (i.e. did not fit, not compatible, and etc.), they will probably sell them as refurbs. What we need to be careful is that some people kill products after abusing them (ie. overclocking), installing them wrong (ie. cracking CPU core) or etc. but return them as if there is nothing wrong with them. Of course, Newegg should check all the returned products, but it does not seem like they do. As a result, these products end up in the refurb section.
2. RMA Repairs from Manufacturers
These are the RMA replacements sent back from the manufacturers. When customers send back defect or dead products, Newegg send replacements out of their stock to the customers and send those defect or dead products to the manufacturers for repair. After a couple or several weeks, Newegg receives the replacements from the manufacturers, they put those RMA replacements in the refurb section. In case of motherboards, some manufacturers include all the accessories in their RMA replacements but package them in a generic box (such as Epox as far as I know). Others just send back just boards without any accessories (such as Asus and Gigabyte).
3. Discontinued or Refurb Products Liquidated by Manufacturers
These could be either new and complete with all the accessories or just bare OEM. These are the ones which you usually see at Compgeeks, Overstock, and other online resellers. You rarely see them at Newegg, but every once in a while, you see products in large volume offered there (just put 99 in the order quantity and update to find out the actual quantity in stock).
#2 and #3 are usually OK, while #1 is pretty much hit and miss. #3 is pretty easy to spot by the volume. The major difference between #1 and #2 is that the RMA repairs cannot be the latest products which just come out. If you see Geforce3, Socket S370 motherboard, or any other older products there, the chances are that they are most likely #2 (or #3), especially if you no longer see the same products sold as NEW. On the other hand, if you see, GeforceFX5900, nForce2, or any other products which just come out, they are pretty much all #1; hence, you have higher chance of getting screwed.
They are pretty much based on my own assumptions here, but I am pretty sure that they are quite accurate.
I can think of (and have experience of getting) three different types of conditions as follow.
1. Customer Returns ? Open Box
These are ones returned by customers without any claim of them being defect or dead. People return products for many different reasons. They usually make sure to claim when products which they received are dead or defect. If these are the cases, knowing Newegg, they will probably send them back to the manufacturers. If they get sent back because customers just made wrong purchases (i.e. did not fit, not compatible, and etc.), they will probably sell them as refurbs. What we need to be careful is that some people kill products after abusing them (ie. overclocking), installing them wrong (ie. cracking CPU core) or etc. but return them as if there is nothing wrong with them. Of course, Newegg should check all the returned products, but it does not seem like they do. As a result, these products end up in the refurb section.
2. RMA Repairs from Manufacturers
These are the RMA replacements sent back from the manufacturers. When customers send back defect or dead products, Newegg send replacements out of their stock to the customers and send those defect or dead products to the manufacturers for repair. After a couple or several weeks, Newegg receives the replacements from the manufacturers, they put those RMA replacements in the refurb section. In case of motherboards, some manufacturers include all the accessories in their RMA replacements but package them in a generic box (such as Epox as far as I know). Others just send back just boards without any accessories (such as Asus and Gigabyte).
3. Discontinued or Refurb Products Liquidated by Manufacturers
These could be either new and complete with all the accessories or just bare OEM. These are the ones which you usually see at Compgeeks, Overstock, and other online resellers. You rarely see them at Newegg, but every once in a while, you see products in large volume offered there (just put 99 in the order quantity and update to find out the actual quantity in stock).
#2 and #3 are usually OK, while #1 is pretty much hit and miss. #3 is pretty easy to spot by the volume. The major difference between #1 and #2 is that the RMA repairs cannot be the latest products which just come out. If you see Geforce3, Socket S370 motherboard, or any other older products there, the chances are that they are most likely #2 (or #3), especially if you no longer see the same products sold as NEW. On the other hand, if you see, GeforceFX5900, nForce2, or any other products which just come out, they are pretty much all #1; hence, you have higher chance of getting screwed.
They are pretty much based on my own assumptions here, but I am pretty sure that they are quite accurate.