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Monoprice or AmazonBasics?

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bro1

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I've always bought my speaker wire, HDMI cords, banana plugs, and wall plates from monoprice but have always hated their shipping and customer service.

Amazon on the other had is the best customer care that I have ever experienced. I've only bought a few things from their AmazonBasic catalog which I was never able to use (shipped them to my parents for their home theater and PC setup). They haven't complained yet but I haven't inspected them for quality.

What are your thoughts? Do you think Monoprice is also going downhill because they have divirsified too much? Selling monitors, speakers, and subs seems to be a bit too much.

Also, thoughts on NewEgg? About a decade ago that is the only place I would buy from for computer parts. But there crazy RMA policy and general crappy customer care and shipping really made Amazon to me the default choice.
 
Depends on how much you're buying. Monoprice is cheaper, but having to pay for shipping kind of fucks over an order if you're only buying one or two things. Having said that, Monoprice is quality across the board. But sometimes Amazon is worth a look. I typically switch off between the two depending on what I'm buying. For example, stuff like HDMI switches seem to be cheaper and better on Amazon.
 
I typically buy from Monoprice but just last week I needed an HDMI cord and rather than pay for shipping from MP for one cord I bought a 2 pack of Amazon basics HDMI cords and the quality seems perfectly fine.
 
Depends on what you're buying and whether you have amazon prime. Lately, I found that with prime and monoprice's shipping costs that amazon basics were cheaper for me.
 
I'm in california so Monoprice can use a local shipping carrier that is both faster and much cheaper than any national shipper

Thus I always go with Monoprice

I'm sure Amazon basics is fine though
 
I used to be like the OP. Monoprice for all my cabling needs

Now though, they are complete trash. Their shipping charges are outrageous.

I needed 3 6ft HDMI cables last week. From monoprice the cables were about twelve bucks, BUT THEN another 12 bucks for basic slowest shipping!! The goddamn shipping cost as much as the items.

I have no idea how they are going to stay in business doing this.

I bought the cables from Amazon. I do have prime so shipping was free...or paid in advance if you will. But I also use prime for hundreds of other things I buy throughout the year.
 
Depends on what you're buying and whether you have amazon prime. Lately, I found that with prime and monoprice's shipping costs that amazon basics were cheaper for me.

Yup. For big orders, Monoprice all the way because the products are generally cheaper so you'll soon hit that threshold where the discount on each item covers the shipping costs. If you're buying 1-2 cables, and have Amazon Prime, then Amazon is the clear answer. After that, it depends on what you're buying. The mounts on Monoprice are quite good for example.
 
I have a mini blu-tooth keyboard from Amazon Basics and it is really nice, especially for the price. I'm sure they are fine for cables etc.
 
I also like having all of my purchases centralized for taxes at the end of the year. Makes the expense report a lot easier.
 
I buy my HDMI cables from the dollar store. $2 for a cable, no shipping required. The cables are all the same, it's a digital signal so it's either there or it isn't. As long as the cable itself isn't broken.
 
I have a number of AmazonBasics cables that work great. I tend to still buy from both Monoprice and Amazon, just depending on how fast I want something and/or how cheap it is.
 
Shipping from Monoprice for me is really fast, typically next day, but that's because they're like a 6 hour drive from me :P Although, sometimes they take WAY to long to actually process and ship out your order. Plus their carrier's tracking system blows. They send out already used numbers way too often.
 
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