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Buy.com is one of the original multi-channel online retailers in the United States and is based in Aliso Viejo, California. Although it began selling computers and electronics in 1997 , the company has diversified its offerings to categories such as software, books, movies, music, games, toys, digital cameras, cellular phones, and magazines. Initially the company was known for selling some products below cost, but today it competes as a standard low cost e-tailer. Buy.com is best known for its aggressive promotion of loss leaders and mail-in rebate offers.
History
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Founder Scott Blum left in 1999, just before the company first filed to go public. After debuting high, stock values plummeted and in 2001 , Blum reacquired Buy.com and took it private.
Shipment/return policies
Buy.com has a 14-day return policy for most items. The 14-days is based on when product is shipped to a customer to when a customer may request a RMA (Return Material Authorization). However, it is not uncommon for Buy.com, like Amazon.com, to promote discount products where direct returns to manufacturers are only accepted. These exceptions are prominently noted on the website's product pages.
Customer service
Buy.com's toll-free customer service number is 800-800-0800; wait for option 4 which will transfer you to the customer service line.
The Better Business Bureau gives Buy.com a rating of "A" or "excellent rating"
Reviewers on Epinions.com, where individuals can post multiple ratings up or down have given Buy.com has a rating of 3.5 out of 5. Amazon.com also has 3.5 out of 5 ratings. Of their competitors, only Newegg.com with a rating of 4.5 out of 5 has achieved noticeably higher levels of customer satisfaction. The ratings are based on 3188 reviews, 1463 reviews, and 3663 reviews of Buy.com, Amazon.com, and Newegg.com respectively as of July, 2007.
Shipping
Free shipping is often promoted on Buy.com with specific thresholds defined in different categories for free shipping eligibility. However, upon checkout as is identical with chief competitor Amazon.com, "Standard Shipping" is the default shipping option and it incurs a charge. For any shopper to avail of the promoted free shipping on Buy.com, they must switch to so called "Budget Shipping" in the shipping dropdown menu on Buy.com. The system is identical to Amazon.com system. It has been noted on customer reviews on Buy.com and on third party review sites that the delivery time for Buy.com orders and Amazon.com orders does not seem to differ between Budget and Standard shipping. Buy.com does not deliver outside of the United States.
Advertising
In February 2007, Buy.com started airing TV advertisements that promoted $10 discounts on Google Checkout orders for new Google Checkout customers. As of May 15 2007, this promotion is still in place and appears to be exclusive to Buy.com based on information on the Google Checkout site.
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