Newegg Says Curiously Dormant Shuffle Will Return

Newegg Shuffle Terminator collage
(Image credit: Shutterstock and Newegg)

After facing backlash over its customer service practices last month, some additional changes may be afoot over at Newegg. The retailer has seemingly put its Newegg Shuffle drawing system in timeout. The once-frequent shopping event hasn't happened since February 22.

According to Newegg, the Shuffle "[offers] our customers a fairer way to purchase products in short supply and mitigate behaviors that would give anyone an unfair advantage." While you'll find various items in the Newegg Shuffle, the hottest devices that appear include the Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 Series, AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series, Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

Interestingly, Newegg hasn't held a Shuffle since February 22, which is somewhat curious timing. That date is just one week after Newegg's lingering customer service issues were unearthed, after which the company updated its hassle-free return policy to cover all open-box product categories sold by the company.

While it may be a stretch to directly link the two incidents together, it's worth noting that the Shuffle program hasn't been without criticism. While Newegg bills it as a more democratic way of getting hot-selling items into customers' hands, many customers and commenters have lamented the fact that the Shuffle is often filled with unappetizing bundle offers (adding in superfluous things like monitors, motherboards or SSDs).

And even if you look at the most recent Shuffle from February 22, the prices attached to the promoted GeForce RTX 30 Series cards were well above MSRP. For example, we don't know how many people would be ecstatic about winning the "privilege" of purchasing an Asus TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti for nearly $2,000. And according to our reporting from April 2021, customers' odds of winning an individual shuffle are just 0.01 percent. Given the steady erosion of GPU prices in general, it has often cheaper to purchase a new graphics card from eBay than through the Newegg Shuffle.

Perhaps the Newegg Shuffle is on hiatus due to increased scrutiny placed on the company, but it's also possible that increased supply and cooling demand from crypto miners has made the scheme less successful for the company. Of course, a bit of both is possible as well.

We reached out to Newegg for comment and were told that the Shuffle will return at some point. All we can say is that we wouldn't be sad to see it disappear forever. Unless the Shuffle becomes a lottery where you only need to buy the product you want, at reasonable prices, it will always feel like a tool to push unwanted products on enthusiasts who just want a graphics card upgrade.

Then again, at least Newegg isn't putting its graphics cards behind a scalper-friendly $200 paywall like Best Buy. Hopefully, the prices for graphics cards will continue to fall and all these consumer-unfriendly practices will soon be a thing of the past. We wouldn't bet our RTX 3080 on it, but better days ahead for hardware enthusiasts at least seem like a possibility now.

Brandon Hill

Brandon Hill is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware. He has written about PC and Mac tech since the late 1990s with bylines at AnandTech, DailyTech, and Hot Hardware. When he is not consuming copious amounts of tech news, he can be found enjoying the NC mountains or the beach with his wife and two sons.

  • spongiemaster
    For example, we don't know how many people would be ecstatic about winning the "privilege" of purchasing an Asus TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti for nearly $2,000.

    The blame for the nearly $2000 price falls on Asus. I've seen people mention that Asus boards are produced in China and subject to the 25% import tariff while most other manufacturers produce cards outside China. Don't know if that's true, but if it is, it would certainly explain why Asus' 3000 series cards are so much more expensive than other brands. Best Buy has a lot of 3080Ti's listed (and out of stock). The Tuf mentioned in this article is $1899 (including $101 "discount", list is $2000). The Strix is $2100. The most expensive card from anyone else is $1800, going all the way down to $1450, not including the FE model. Look at the 3050ti MSRP's.


    The two Asus boards at the top are way more expensive than any board from any other AIB. There is a $249 Asus board, but Asus probably produced 7 or 8 or them. Newegg has done some terrible things recently, but over pricing Asus cards isn't one of them. Put the blame where it belongs, on Asus.
    Reply
  • bigdragon
    According to Newegg, the Shuffle " our customers a fairer way to purchase products in short supply and mitigate behaviors that would give anyone an unfair advantage."
    LOL! I signed up for so many 3070 and 3080 shuffles over a year ago. People with automatically generated accounts were winning shuffles left and right -- even on consecutive days -- and boasting about it on Twitter. Newegg did not limit who or how often people could win. Legit customers with transaction histories with Newegg got completely shafted by the shuffle system.

    Today, the pricing on those shuffle 3070 and 3080 products is easily double to triple the Nvidia FE MSRP. I've watched Newegg's pricing climb to the point where scalpers on Newegg's own third party marketplace could be (rarely) cheaper. I stopped trying for shuffles last summer. Newegg isn't a retailer even worth checking for price comparisons on PC components anymore. Newegg is dead to me. Their only use right now is for making fun of ASUS and wondering if EVGA is ever going to fulfill notify queue cards from late 2020.

    I hope Toms Hardware got compensated for this article. You shouldn't be giving free advertising to Newegg.
    Reply
  • Heat_Fan89
    Steve from Gamers Nexus got Scammed by Newegg.

    2fnXsmXzphIView: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fnXsmXzphI

    CL-eB_Bv5IkView: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL-eB_Bv5Ik
    Reply
  • JarredWaltonGPU
    Heat_Fan89 said:
    Steve from Gamers Nexus got Scammed by Newegg.
    2fnXsmXzphIView: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fnXsmXzphICL-eB_Bv5IkView: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL-eB_Bv5Ik
    You mean like we mentioned in the article?
    bigdragon said:
    I hope Toms Hardware got compensated for this article. You shouldn't be giving free advertising to Newegg.
    You must subscribe to the "any mention of our name is good marketing" school of thought. The article is clearly not pro-Newegg and notes multiple criticisms of the company and the Shuffle program. So yeah, we got paid a lot for that. :rolleyes:
    For the record, the only stories that are ever paid for content are not written by Tom's Hardware editorial staff and clearly state that they are sponsored content.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    JarredWaltonGPU said:
    For the record, the only stories that are ever paid for content are not written by Tom's Hardware editorial staff and clearly state that they are sponsored content.
    Bull. I have inside sources that told me Aunt Jemima herself paid for the pancake frying article you guys posted in return for a strategically placed syrup bottle in one of the article pictures.

    AMD vs Intel: Which CPU Cooks Better Pancakes? - Tom's Hardware | Tom's Hardware (tomshardware.com)

    You guys need to come clean on this one before it blows up into a bigger reputation destroying scandal.
    Reply
  • bigdragon
    JarredWaltonGPU said:
    You must subscribe to the "any mention of our name is good marketing" school of thought. The article is clearly not pro-Newegg and notes multiple criticisms of the company and the Shuffle program. So yeah, we got paid a lot for that. :rolleyes:
    For the record, the only stories that are ever paid for content are not written by Tom's Hardware editorial staff and clearly state that they are sponsored content.
    The content of the article is fair. I'm just taking the opportunity to dump on a company that has been exacerbating the GPU crisis because I see a headline that says something akin to "wildly unfair system -- that doesn't help get GPUs into the hands of gamers/artists or limit purchases -- is coming back." You mistake my anger at Newegg and desire to see them face some sort of cost or consequence with a shot at your editorial staff. I'm just an angry former customer trying to scare off other Newegg customers because I want the company to do better. The GPU crisis should have been solved by now.
    Reply
  • JarredWaltonGPU
    bigdragon said:
    The content of the article is fair. I'm just taking the opportunity to dump on a company that has been exacerbating the GPU crisis because I see a headline that says something akin to "wildly unfair system -- that doesn't help get GPUs into the hands of gamers/artists or limit purchases -- is coming back." You mistake my anger at Newegg and desire to see them face some sort of cost or consequence with a shot at your editorial staff. I'm just an angry former customer trying to scare off other Newegg customers because I want the company to do better. The GPU crisis should have been solved by now.
    Pandemic and shortages aren't over, and Newegg most certainly isn't the one directly prolonging the shortages. AMD and Nvidia are still fighting for wafers to some degree, and I'm sure Nvidia at this point is more focused on Ada than on improving supply of Ampere. Mining demand is certainly tapering off, but we'll have to see if scalpers eventually see potential profits diminish to the point where they stop buying everything.
    Reply
  • HaveGunsWillTravel
    This is an interesting topic to me having recent experience...

    So I got tapped for a shuffle and got an RTX3070 for $799 when they were going 1300+ on eBay so not bad. I needed one. I entered every week for months (it took ~3.5) and almost missed the payment window too, 9 minutes to spare! So,
    spongiemaster said:
    The blame for the nearly $2000 price falls on Asus.

    Is not exactly fair, I think it is definitely Newegg and

    bigdragon said:
    Newegg did not limit who or how often people could win. Legit customers with transaction histories with Newegg got completely shafted by the shuffle system.

    Is true on the no-limits! But not true at all on shafting. I will tell you why...I won, and then I got tapped again 4 months later. Diligently entering every single week with finger taps, not bots. Bots don't work because it is a raffle not a race, you only get to enter once, and it doesn't matter when you enter. The window closes and the shuffle begins. Have you ever entered for real? You would have known that if so. It isn't them shafting, it is them exploiting. This time the same exact ROG STRIX card was $1250 (same as eBay brand new) plus some crappy second item for way too much. Now that is some BS. That definitely supports any claims of unhappy Newegg shuffle customers (I am one despite my good grab in the beginning). I let that one go to the next 'winner' and unsubscribed seeing it for what it had become. So 0.01% chance of winning? Maybe, but I am not that lucky and perceived scarcity makes great marketing.

    But it got worse. So ASUS is in Taiwan not...well nvmd. I wanted a DarkHero MB. They were hard to find when I was looking. I could find them on Newegg all day for $447-$499 from abroad but I didn't trust it. I wanted a USA seller so I at least I knew there was SOME sort of possibility of frauds being cutoff at customs. So I find one from a 'Ships from US seller' on Newegg with great reviews for $600. I get it there because I felt safer (cause that is what the badge is for right?) and also didn't want to wait weeks while it gets knocked around on a boat. I get tracking info and it says coming from Tawain! I was pissed because if I wanted to do that I would have gone for the cheaper foreign sellers. Whats with the seller logo on the Newegg website!?

    So I file a listing violation with screenshots, email them, and even quote a Federal Statute on Fair Trade which happens to prohibit EXACTLY: lying about sourcing. I tell them this was total BS and very deceptive blah blah...I want a refund so I can go somewhere else and find it or at least get the cheaper price if I am gambling. They brushed it off and told me too relax, no refund because I have tracking info. I got it (weeks later) and it was legit and works fine, but I was out $ for no reason and still rolling the dice on foreign delivery.

    So point being, Newegg has some serious integrity issues to work out. Now I have to be fair and say they DID allow a full return and credit of my old AUROUS? MB which was a total pile of junk, still....not cool. Running the shuffle under the guise of helping people only to turn it into a scarcity based scalping program would be completely unethical if that is what they were up too... Price delta on those two RTX3070's raises questions and they weren't getting more expensive at that time, they were starting to peak and even come down a notch.

    I think the worst is pasting 'Ships from US Seller' when they know very well it is the opposite and ARE TOLD it is not true, only to go and ignore any listing violations and tell me to not worry about it. I kept all the emails and screenshots too so Newegg lawyers can take a pass on this one.
    bigdragon said:
    I hope Toms Hardware got compensated for this article. You shouldn't be giving free advertising to Newegg.
    I think we both know they didn't and it is not their fault you got passed on by newegg shuffle (still questioning if you ever tried hard enough). If it wasn't for this thread by these guys nobody would ever hear my story about falsified 'Ships from US seller' and I think that is a whole nother article right there.... So thanks to "JarredWaltonGPU" and the team for doing good reporting.

    Buyers beware...
    Reply
  • Tanquen
    bigdragon said:
    Newegg did not limit who or how often people could win. Legit customers with transaction histories with Newegg got completely shafted by the shuffle system.
    I got 2 cards from it.

    Everyone should take a minute and use the NewEgg feedback and request that they let longstanding verified accounts place a a simple backorder and get in line and wait it out. At least with the shuffle you get a chance but I think they should do this but just longstanding verified accounts place a backorder or get on a list and be notified and you have a day to buy or not.
    Reply