Newegg reverses 'open box' return policy following Gamers Nexus scandal

MSI Z490
(Image credit: MSI)

PC retail giant Newegg has suddenly reversed a long-standing return policy after an incident with a popular YouTube channel, and will now accept all returns on "open box" products on a "no questions asked" basis.

Gamers Nexus posted a video earlier this month called “Newegg Scammed Us,” detailing a purchase with Newegg gone terribly wrong.

According to the video, Gamers Nexus site owner Steve Burke purchased a $500 open box Z490 motherboard from Newegg that he decided to return upon its delivery. He initiated an RMA with the site, which was eventually rejected due to an “apparent end-user caused physical damage to the CPU socket contact pins.”

Burke pointed out that the box was never opened, making this claim impossible, which sparked another statement from the support team claiming that thermal paste was found on the board. Gamers Nexus went public with the incident and Newegg decided to refund him as well as send him back the motherboard he originally bought.

However, Burke discovered a hand-written RMA ticket from Gigabyte from a technician taped to the motherboard. It revealed that the motherboard had been previously sent by Newegg to Gigabyte to be RMA’d, then was sent back to Newegg unfixed. This meant that it now had the open box label and, aware of this, Newegg still shipped it to Burke.

Gamers Nexus took to Twitter with this new development and asked its followers for any similar tales concerning the online retail giant. Once the stories started pouring in, Newegg finally relented and announced its policy change with Windows Central and on Twitter.

Via ExtremeTech

Allisa James
Computing Staff Writer

Named by the CTA as a CES 2023 Media Trailblazer, Allisa is a Computing Staff Writer who covers breaking news and rumors in the computing industry, as well as reviews, hands-on previews, featured articles, and the latest deals and trends. In her spare time you can find her chatting it up on her two podcasts, Megaten Marathon and Combo Chain, as well as playing any JRPGs she can get her hands on.