Apparently, Asus'
Eee PC is so small, even
NewEgg's atypically quick fulfillment crew couldn't believe that five of these things could fit into a single cardboard shipping box, so they just decided to slap labels on entire cases and let 'em rip. Truth be told, there's no telling how nor why a number of users on the EeeUser.com forums were initially sent five machines for the price of one, but judging by a list of reports and even an accompanying picture, 'tis true. Supposedly, NewEgg caught on to what was happening and began turning shipments around before they were delivered, but rather than getting an apologetic call, credit towards a future purchase and a single overnighted laptop, some customers actually received all five. Granted, we're hearing that those in the latter camp were kind enough to let honesty prevail, but who knows how many lurkers are quietly slipping their newfound Eee PCs onto eBay as we speak. So, the question beckons: did any of you receive a whole lot of unexpected Eee PCs? Do tell.
[Via
DailyTech]
posted Nov 5th 2007 5:19PM
Moral/Legal
What would I do?
I know some kids whose families cannot afford
to have computers. Sorry, I would assume that the universe meant for me to
share the wealth, and give them to these kids.
Well, that certainly brings the price point into the sweet spot!
I second that. I wish I would have ordered one from NewEgg.
One word: CLUSTER!
with four extra Eee PCs, you could do a few scientific tests....
like checking if it will blend, or play doom...
I for one welcome our erroneously over-shipping overlords....
...in soviet russia, five Eee PCs mistakenly ships you!
Wow, that's a difficult position to be in. Do the wrong thing and wind up with 4 free Eee PCs or do the right thing and only keep one but help out one of the greatest retailers ever. Decisions, decisions.
I remember xoxide shipped me a 500W Ultra X-Connect PSU a long time ago for seemingly no reason. I called them up and offered it back and they said they'd send me a pre-paid label to ship it back, but they never did. I emailed back and never heard from them again. I held onto it, I wasn't about to waste my time trying to get them to take it back.
Being facetious or would you really be torn? Just do the right thing, geez.
Why would they want it back? X-connect PSU's are worse than Thermaltake PSU's, somehow.
No, I think it'd actually be difficult. Ultimately I'm fairly certain I'd do the right thing, but it's hard to turn down free stuff.
Regarding the X-Connect, it was free, so yeah. Honestly never had any trouble with it either.
Ahhhhhh.... that's where my PSU went. Bastard!
Donate one to the Charity of Me?
Wow. Wish I ordered :P
I wonder if newegg is actually going to try to contact all those people they sent out units to?
aoeu00: Even if NewEgg did, the dishonest people could just ignore them. I very much doubt NewEgg is going to send thugs after people to get the products back that they screwed up on.
Last year I ordered Motorola S805 bluetooth DJ headphones from Expansys and got two pairs, in separate packages one day after the other.
No further comment.
Yeah me too, i could use those to help my team communicate better with each other lol
See look what you're doing Engadget, ruining it for the rest of us. The new-egg employee's are gonna read this on front page and be like "oh shit lets get those back before everyone gets them" instead of being quiet and letting us "benefit".
I think here, it's horribly unethical not to contact them about it. NewEgg's profit margin can't be that high given how excellent their prices are, and here they shipped well over $1000 in extra equipment by accident, per incident. I hope karma is indeed a bitch for anyone who takes advantage of this.
Yeah I hope they go and accidentally give someone more than they asked or paid for sometime...oh wait, that wouldn't be karma, it'd just be their own fault.
Seriously I like Newegg and all, but that's capitalism baby
Newegg actually does good for them self. Even with the low prices. They are pretty cool about small mistakes and dont really mind. I dont think it would be to big of a deal if they lost maybe 50-150 of them.
What would be an issue is the stock. They are one of the only places that have them, and they are sold out. If you keep yours, someone who was supposed to get one clearly wont. You wouldnt want that to happen to you. Be nice, let someone else play with one. Dont ebay them, let newegg sell them.
They didn't contact Newegg; Newegg contacted them.
There's no legal obligation to ship back those Eees, just a moral one. It's not much of a loss for Newegg, but it's a loss for people who had their hearts set on purchasing an Eee... They're probably going to end up being hard-to-find.
Newegg's giving them a gift card, so it's not too bad having to ship back all those Eees...
I'm so glad to see people mentioning newegg's profit margin. I work for a similar company & it's literally single digits % profit (gross) per unit sold. You generally absorb mistakes because time/labor offset the return/resell, but it's still a loss.
I'm happy to see so many people with morals. I was really wondering as I clicked to view comments what people would say & thought I'd see more "finder's keepers" than "would contact them w/ mistake".
When CD-RWs cost about $350 each and their max burn speed was about 8x, I ordered one from a computer retailer which happened to have about the best price. For some reason, I received two, a Sony and the cheaper Creative I purchased. I contacted them, told them of their mistake (which they had no idea about, at least yet) and they apologised and gave me a bit of money to post it back to them (which I did). I don't think I could be as unscrupulous to keep an extra unit if I got one, especially with computer hardware. It is a moral responsibility, and I certainly hope that NewEgg got all their units back. Well done to those who complied too!
Funny so many people here are saying "Karma", "Guilt" etc..... but all of them would jump at a price mistake like that. Most people have illegally downloaded music, far less have stolen a CD from the store.
That is the funny thing... people can far too easily separate virtual stealing vs phsyical stealing.
this probably explains why they ran out of their stock after 1 day (instead of 5?)
If you wire them together I'm sure you could get that shuttlecraft into low orbit...
A few years ago, when 2GB SD cards were damned expensive, I ordered one from Buy.com for $100. 3 days later, I got two identical envelopes in the mail, both with 2GB SD cards. I called customer support, but the guy on the other end of the phone said, "Dude, just keep it!"
Companies like newegg have to get their act together, because, last I knew, if I receive something (in the mail) I didn't ask for, it's legally mine.
As it has been said, it is a more of a "moral obligation" to send it back. You could keep it, but there would (hopefully) be guilt attached to those 4 that you didn't pay for.
i don't think that's true.
if you get too much change, it's not yours,
your are obliged to return it.
if you mistakenly send your landlord two rent checks for the same month. he can't say "too bad. your mistake. mine now!"
Nope, if you receive something you did not order you are not legally obliged to return it. At least that is what I have been told.
They may not let you order from them again but they are powerless to get the items back.
what they say is true, you receive items in the mail you are not legally forced to return it.
This stems from the long ago days where people would "advertise" by sending you magazine subscriptions or small items from catalog for free for a number of months along with a bill that says "Keep this and pay or use this label to return it".
they have customer credit card numbers and they know the weight of the packages shipped. If they dont get the laptops back they have every right under the law to charge for them.
And you have every right to dispute the charge with your receipt showing you only ordered one.
Not if you didn't ask for them!
Working for a retailer, no they don't have any legal right to charge for the additional 4 laptops. You are only allowed to bill for the amount agreed upon by the consumer, this is why it's possible to dispute (and win) undisclosed shipping charges.
I seem to remember a case a while ago where a bank sent a person a check on accident and said person cashed it. They were then legally required to give the money back because it was legally not theirs (no such thing as bank error in your favor I guess :-)
I'm assuming the same would apply in this case. The people who got 5 know those extra units are not theirs and they're legally required to return them. Now, if NewEgg says they don't have to, that's one thing, but otherwise it's stealing.
Why do people always say "legally" but fail to specify what legality they are referring to...
Do you know of a federal law that says these items need to be returned? How about a state law?
Lay people have this view of "legal" that often doesn't make any sense. For something to be illegal, there needs to be a law stating that the act is prohibited.
I have no idea why Charlie has been low ranked and I honestly can't tell which "lay people" Portwineboy is referring to...
A pretty good argument exists under common law quasi-contract principles of quantum meruit (unjust enrichment). Basically, Charlie is correct, if you are unjustly enriched in some manner and you accept the benefit of it, then you are obliged to pay the value of that benefit. This is typical common law defined by state courts. So yes, there is a law - it just happens to be common law, imported from age-old British common law.
I don't think this qualifies under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) as a non-conforming shipment of goods (since you DID get the EEE that you requested), but if it did, then acceptance of the delivery STILL obliges you to pay the value of the shipment.
So my question to the community is again... why is Charlie low-ranked when he's correct? Bravo, Charlie, on not being one of the laymen.
Either way,
Actually, I believe they do have the right to charge your credit card under Ratification if my memory business law is correct.
Ratification is basically a person confirming a contract through his actions.
For example, if you order a $10 Cobb Salad at a restaurant and the waiter brings you a $30 Steak & Lobster, they have a right to charge you $30 on your bill if you ate it--despite the waiter mixing up the order.
Of course NewEgg needs to PROVE that they sent you 5. Sure they can point to the weight, get witnesses statements from honest buyers who returned them, etc...but its probably easier for them to write it off and fire the person who screwed up.
Just like how the restaurant would hate you for taking advantage of the mix-up, but would probably not charge you for the $30 Steak & Lobster if you put up a big fuss--even though its in their legal right too. Its bad PR for the restaurant, a bad tip for the waiter, and a bad experience for the other diners if a lot of commotion is being made about it.
@J
That is incorrect. What you are forgetting is intent. In order for common law to work in this case, one would have to prove that the recipient willfully intended to defraud NewEgg. By NewEgg admitting the mistake, there was no intent.
My understanding is that the Postal code does apply to these kinds of situations. Which in case means the customer does not have to do anything if they don't want to.
"If you do not wish to pay for unsolicited merchandise or make a donation to a charity sending such an item, you may do one of three things (in each case, by law, you have no obligation to the sender): "
As the third option on the USPS website states
"If you open the package and like what you find, you may keep it for free. In this instance, "finders-keepers" applies unconditionally."
It even goes on to say
"Furthermore, it is illegal for a company that sends you unordered merchandise to follow the mailing with a bill or dunning communication."
So as long as this falls under the postal code Newegg can't do anything once the customer receives the package.
Cris, if you're going to say I'm wrong, you probably want to be clearer as to why.
You said:
"What you are forgetting is intent. In order for common law to work in this case, one would have to prove that the recipient willfully intended to defraud NewEgg. By NewEgg admitting the mistake, there was no intent."
Note that I was talking about unjust enrichment, a quasi-contractual claim. You sound like you're talking about the intentional tort of defrauding someone, a distinctly different legal claim.
Moreover, I'm not sure why the intent of the recipient matters in this case, and why you are targetting the recipient as possibly being guilty of fraud. If anything, one could argue that NewEgg is guilty of fraud by shipping products and then charging for them (something CD distribution companies once did). I fail to see how the intent of the recipient turns on the willingness of the sender to admit mistake or not. Intent is a state of mind of a party-actor and typically doesn't depend on the actions of the victim.
@Kenban
That's a good find, Kenban, and pretty interesting. I'm wondering if this applies to all shipments or just shipments using USPS. I have no idea.
As a final note, if you look at the statute upon which this is based, USC Title 39, Chapter 30, Section 3009, it states that this is applicable to "unordered merchandise." I'm wondering how a court will determine unordered merchandise in this case. I know CD companies used to pull the above-referenced scam (sending and then charging), but where it is a genuine mistake on the part of a sender and where there WAS an agreement between sender and recipient as to the shipment of at least ONE of the items, then I'm not sure how this would play out.
Anyway, just food for thought.
Heh, love how my previous comment is ranked so low... Sorry guys, but the truth of the matter is that you should return them. Here's some information on at least the bank rules:
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/sav/Nov06_bank_errora1.asp
Granted, I don't know if they would apply in this case, but I'd rather not find out and have to pay the consequences. Besides, as previous people said, NewEgg is a cool company and I wouldn't want to screw them over just because I'm feeling a little greedy...
@Cris
You are totally right, dude. Furthermore, under the Articles of Confederation, NewEgg must provide you with a free Dodge Stratus (color of your choice) in the event that it fails to ship its merchandise inside exactly the type of packaging materials that you specify (i.e. bubble wrap when you expected styrofoam = free car, dude! Nice!).
Yes, the Treaty of Ghent modified this doctrine somewhat, but man, let's not get into that!
Wrong. Federal law is that it is the responsibility of the sender to ensure the items are correct. If unordered items are shipped it is within the receiver's rights to keep or toss them. I've had similar situations arise and looked up the laws. If they're nice about it and reimburse me for my time I return them, if they give me even the slightest bit of attitude...free stuff for me. :)
My statement was referring to common law and common law only. There has to be malicious intent involved. In this case, the recipient cannot be prosecuted because he/she did nothing to cause Newegg to ship 4 extra computers. The key is that Newegg made a mistake. There is no proof that actions from the recipients caused Newegg to make that mistake. Actually, by keeping the computers, recipients can quote "possession is 9/10...", which is also based on common law. Newegg could probably go after them in civil; but litigation would probably cost more than the computers.
BTW, they should be returned. I say this professionally because I am in law enforcement... personally because it is the right thing to do. Those that would not return them... think about it if Newegg charged your CC for 5 computers when you ordered one, and they shipped just one to you. You would go ballistic and scream fraud.
Wow, that sucks, I really love newegg! Send them back chumps.
Sure it's legally yours, but won't you feel just a lil bad about it?
compromise, send back two ;)
how about 3?
buy one get one isn't a bad deal either :-P
or just ebay the second and recoup your costs.
You might even make a little profit now that theres a shipping error induced shortage!
It would actually restore some of my faith in mankind if they were returned...
Really? It would take such a little thing to restore even some of your faith? I wouldn't have settled for less than "World Peace" after all the wrongfully accused on death row and the torture and the regime change wars and etc etc etc... Misshipments are such a minor thing.
I bet all of the people who talk about ethics and returning them would do differently if they had received 5 PCs for the price of one, I value the fact that I'm a good person, but I have no doubt that I would have some lucky friends if it were me.
Lucky friends?
why give them to the people you like when you could have $1000 in pocket for very little leg work?
So does that make it an Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee PC?
I get it!
It's a trap!
Can I ask why there have been so many posts about one single laptop?????? I think you guys are averaging one article (or more) a day on this "Eee PC". Can we move on please? It's a small laptop...nothing new...thanks.
Indeed...I do enjoy to see less gadget news than more.
I'm assuming that was sarcasm Jeff. I'm all for gadget news, that's why I visit daily. All I'm saying is over the past week there have been numerous articles on this specific laptop. Tell us about the launch, tell us about the great features, even tell us that its selling well but it starts getting a bit old after that. A lot of laptops launch every day. I really don't see the big deal about this specific one and why we need to know that a retailer is shipping people free laptops. Micro form factor laptops have been around for years!! But hey, that's just my opinion.
the fact that you admit to not understanding why this EEE pc is a big deal tells me that you don't understand gadgets and the evolution of technology
how about:
1) mega-ultra-super portable (7" screen) FULLY functional laptop for the cheap (take a look at the sony TZ series), from an extremely respectable laptop maker (one that also makes laptops for sony and apple)
2) this one ships with the linux OS, not windows, not OSX, but linux.
3) it's cheap
4) it created controversy with its announced price points
5) it's cheap
did u also complain about news regarding apple? are you going to complain about news about android?
LordFark, you win. I do not understand technology, I will hang my head in shame. In the meantime please continue the ongoing Eee articles. Tomorrow I hope to read about how someone not only received 5 of them (because they were so small the staff didn't realise they were shipping 5 instead of one) but how an Eee managed to find its way to the international space station, because it was so small the NASA crew accidentally packed it along with the food and provisions.
Ventris
don't twist my words: i didn't say that THIS article is one important piece of news, i'm saying that the EEE pc itself is important
nor your own wods: you said you don't get the point of the EEE pc, not this news - "It's a small laptop...nothing new...thanks", "I really don't see the big deal about this specific one ", "Micro form factor laptops have been around for years!!"
don't you dare twist my words/logic and try to win over an argument by using highschool tactics. either own up that you were being a sad whiner or that you really didn't understand why this particular pc deserves attention.
kaythxbye
This isn't about 1 laptop, this is about 5!!!
I actually got 3 eee pc's and newegg called me saying they would gimme 500 dollars of newegg credit if I gave them one. Apparently they thought I got 2 so I got 2 ee pc's and 500$ for accessories!!!!!!!! no lie.
I call Shenanigans!
second!
Keeping the extra laptops if NewEgg doesn't mention anything is bad enough (and it's pretty bad), but if they offer you a great deal for doing something you should have done for free, keeping the 3rd one is downright mean.
you would think he would rather have another $500 credit from newegg than $200 from ebay for his 3rd. plus it seems that people are getting them in 5s, not in 3s.
when I say they asked me to give them one I mean return one if you're confused
I'd keep them, give a couple to family, maybe sell one or two.
Nope. Got one, helluva shipping price for 2.5lbs box. Paid 2$ addional for the 2-day UPS rather than 3-day. Bought it as soon as Newegg had it available - Oct 31, 2007 6:53 AM (timestamp of their email)
That’s kind of marketing that they did to increase sales i guess… that’s all.
Why, oh why does this never happen to me?
I once had a package dropped off at my house accidentally. Yeah, it was women's clothes, so of course I found the buyer, who lived in the area. I'm honest and sure I would've done the same with a laptop or something really expensive, but it definitely would've been harder.
I ordered my Eee PC from New Egg while all this was going on (I got it on Friday 10/9/07). But I just got the one. I am glad too as I ordered it rush/overnight to get it the next day. And I wuuub my widdow Eee PC! I want to marry it! (I kid...)
- Kiteless
I can't believe some of you think that these people who got 5 units when they ordered one are "legally" required to return them!
In some area's if a store has a wrong price up in the store they are "legally" required to sell it at that price. This situation is no different.
If I buy 1 EEE PC and NewEgg mucks it up and sends me 5, well, the others are legally mine, AFTER they are delivered. They can ask me to send them back, I can refuse. I am not responsible for their mistake nor am I required to help them resolve it. If they try and charge me I Can legally dispute it since I have a receipt saying I bought only 1.
This is "legally" NOT "morally".
I'd send the extras back.
bbsux: This law varies from state to state. In California if you are sent something like this you are required to mail a letter to the sender giving them a reasonable amount of time to contact you and make arrangements to get it back. If they don't respond in said reasonable amount of time it is yours. I learned this one the hard way when I was sent 2 digital cameras from a company in New York and decided to sit on it. But since I didn't mail them a letter, I was billed for the camera. D'oh!
In other states, if they make that mistake, it's yours and you have the option to mail it back to them or not.
My cousin deposited some money 2 months ago. The cashier hit the numbers wrong and credited his account $1400 more than she should have.
He went back and told her she made a mistake as he knew she would probably get fired when they checked the books and saw that according to the cash on hand that had been deposited $1400 was missing and she might have been accused of theft.
She was so thankful she was in tears. Couldnt believe how honest he was.
Thats a tough choice. I dont know if I could have done the same thing.
First comment on second page!
Nope haha
I just bought some wheels for my skateboard online, and the shipper was late sending them out... I contacted him, and he told me he'd personally make sure they went out that day. About a week later, they arrived! They came in a box with a printed label. Then, a day after that, they arrived again, with a hand-written label!
I talked with the seller, and heres what I went through:
Go to the psot office, for free, for you, and mail them back... A waste of my hour.
Pay full price for the wheels, which I did not have in my budget.
I worked out a deal with the seller, and paid about 80% fo the value. Fair enough, I say.
Bottom line: Yes, they sent it. Their mistake. Why dont they meet you halfway? You know they are a buisness... They cant give away free stuff.
I think Newegg should track shipment, and offer reward for the missing EEEs. Offer some reward.
When I was a kid, I was getting ready for a summer recreation trip to the circus. I went into JD's ice cream shop in New Paltz, NY, and put ten cents into the candy machine to get a package of Sugar Babies for the trip. Well, the coil that dispenses the candies kept rolling after I got the first one...the second one...the fifth one...etc. I ended up with about ten for the price of one. I couldn't believe how lucky a kid I was!!! I had a great, sugar-filled day at the circus.
About a month ago, I went to Best Buy and purchased a few items. Two items got stuck together and the cashier rang them up as one unit. I didn't notice, but my friend who I was with did. When we got out of the store, he asked to see my receipt, and he showed me how the cashier didn't charge me for the item. I went right back into the store and told the cashier about the mistake. She rang me up, but do you think she gave a damn? Not so much as a thank you. I bet she went home and told her family how she had a stupid customer who gave up a freebie.
I wouldn't mind getting my hands on an Eee PC, but I have a Fujitsu Lifebook P1510D. It's about the same size and a LOT more powerful.
Good lord, if I get more than one tomorrow when the nice UPS man arrives, I'll do a little happydance and then sit down for some serious ruminating.
"MMMMMMM... ohmmmmmmmmmmmm...." working on that cosmic karma...
Seriously, I think if I got more than one in the mail, I think I'd just send Newegg another $400.. this is looking like such a good "one in each room" computer, especially if I've got a $200 gOS machine serving as media server in the basement.
Mmmmmmmmm.... karmaaaaa......
I read this earlier today and thought this would never happen to me. I get home and open my Amazon package, expecting to see one SATA cable. Instead they shipped the master pack with 10!
The bottom line is, NewEgg will not lose in this situation - their customers ultimately will.
They will just raise their prices on those or other items to recoup the losses, and net-net they will be back at the profit margin they plan for.
The few who are the "lucky recipients" of this windfall will make out, but in the long run, all the other customers will pay for it.
Economics 101.
If TigerDirect or Overstock or some other shitty company sent me 5-for-1, I'd keep the extras without batting an eye. If it was newegg, I'd definitely return them. They're without question the best online store I've ever dealt with. Cheap prices, fast shipping, easy returns, detailed product images and specs...
Can I trade someones extra for mine (with stuck pixels)?
wow, dang... i ordered 5, but only got 3 in the mail.... no wonder i didn't get my other 2 Eees.... damn you all!!!! go give back what you took.... guilt will always win... you know you want to give it back... you're not that guiltless that you're going to sell them on ebay, are you? contact and give them back, give 3 if u're nice, give 2 if u're nice... just give aleast one if u got 5 in the mail!
Now if only I could order that so-called sub-macbook pro laptop, maybe Apple would ship me 5 by accident. Now that would be a fiasco!
Thanks newegg, time to post these bad boys on ebay.
looks like most of these are already on ebay anyway with those guys making around $575 US each.... Arrest em! its stealing
why these things never happened with me ? :D
It's only illegal if they have been ordered with the intent of receiving more that you entitled to. This should clear anything up ftc.gov.
Watch out, XO laptop, NewEgg & ASUS testing a Get-1, Get-5-more deal.
I've never been to that site before but you better believe I'll shop there, now!
Make the guys in shipping pay for the difference, how do you mess that up?
My statement was referring to common law and common law only. There has to be malicious intent involved. In this case, the recipient cannot be prosecuted because he/she did nothing to cause Newegg to ship 4 extra computers. The key is that Newegg made a mistake. There is no proof that actions from the recipients caused Newegg to make that mistake. Actually, by keeping the computers, recipients can quote "possession is 9/10...", which is also based on common law. Newegg could probably go after them in civil; but litigation would probably cost more than the computers.
BTW, they should be returned. I say this professionally because I am in law enforcement... personally because it is the right thing to do. Those that would not return them... think about it if Newegg charged your CC for 5 computers when you ordered one, and they shipped just one to you. You would go ballistic and scream fraud.
I ordered 1 PC and recieved 3 as well, when I opened up the 2 extra boxes though all I found was 2 halfs of a dead kitten. Damn you Newegg, not again!