CompTIA_Rep :
Why do people fear buying at a local mom/pop shop?
<--- Builds w/o grief and with near newegg prices.
Because in some markets there are no local mom & pop shops. Or the local choice may only be BB-CC-RatShack.
But in most cases the customers is trying to squeeze every last penny of savings out of every purchase while fighting the offerings of the mom & pop.
What do I mean? Well I was quoted an $50 higher than the 'net price for one brand of an 8800GTS 640mb by a local mom & pop. Rip off. Evil. Whatever you want to call it. But the same store's price on the 8800GTS 320mb by another brand was only $21 more than the 'net price.
Obviously the mom & pop wants to sell brand A over brand B. But it is more than that. The store wants to deal in the middle ground (I asked). $300 GPU's and $300 CPU's (and cheaper) are more popular than than $400, $500 etc price points. The store stocks the middle ground and special orders the higher end stuff. Buy what the brand store wants to sell and is within their speciality and the price can be quite fair.
To me $21 more than the 'net is very fair. Freight costs can be $21 if one is not careful. In fact I would pay a much larger premium just to have a local source to confirm my new gidet is DOA. $50 may be extreme, but it is only a 10-12% premium over the 'net price for that item. Many people look at the $ amount of the premium rather than the % amount of the premium. The $21 premimum on the cheaper card is 8% premium over the 'net price.
Of course some people are more concerned with the absolute price without regard to support and service.
And then there is the "no sales tax" issue. Actually it is a false issue.
Most people read Tax Free and read the first sentence of a statement such as :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax-free_shopping but fail to follow the link in the first sentence :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_tax
Yep, sales tax can't be avoided.
Stop. Don't claim you get away with it.
My business is audited about every 18 months by the state sales tax people. I have seen enough paperwork laying on the desks and seen the documents being handled to know the state is searching for documentation (sales invoices and shipping records) that is being sought by other state tax entities.
A $50 computer part with $4 in use tax due is not going to get somebody's panties in a wad. Try hiding a $5000 purchase with $400 in use tax due.