>>Sounds like a good deal! If it's open box, I'd be very sure to check for dead pixels or other problems/defects ASAP, especially if open box means a shorter warranty.
>>
>>After being burned several times by open-box/restock/repack or whatever-you-want-to-call-it purchases, my personal policy is I refuse to accept any of these any more. YMMV.
>
>Yeah, I read their open-box policy with some trepidation.
>http://www.newegg.com/HelpInfo/ReturnPolicy.aspx#8
>
>Basically I have 15 days to return it for a refund. I figured I would know up-or-down within a week.
>
>NewEgg is the top rated Internet seller.
>
> Newegg.com (USA) 25577 9.85
>http://www.resellerratings.com/reseller_list.pl?keyword_search=newegg
>
>That's nearly 26000 raters and almost every one of those raters has given NewEgg a 10.
>
>I figure despite their draconian open-box policy and ungenerous dead-pixel policy (8 or more to return) they must be doing many things right on the average.

That is pretty draconian. "OEM BAREBONE" sounds like you may not get power, VGA, DVI, composite video and/or HDMI cables that you might otherwise expect to get with a new LCD monitor. If you end up having to buy any of those items, and going to the bother, it can wipe out a lot of up-front savings. OTOH, that's probably a CYA clause. In all likelihood the package is complete, or nearly so.

My biggest concern with these types of items is you don't know their back history. You do know:

- they have been used, quite possibly for a longer period than 15 days (and perhaps as long as NewEgg's regular return/warranty period), and medium-term intermittent problems the first owner may have encountered may not show up in your warranty period

- the unit has already undergone handling during shipping at least twice (once out to original purchaser, then back from purchaser to NewEgg). Maybe more if you're not the second purchaser. So, when you receive it, it will have been bounced around at least three times as much as a fresh purchase. While this is unlikely to be a problem with a lot of electronic hardware, it could have a significant effect on monitors.

- there are some reasons why an original purchaser may carefully repack a perfectly-functioning purchase and return it to NewEgg. But, these reasons are not a large percentage of why returns are made. Most of the time, something was wrong with it.

When a retailer like NewEgg gets a return because of a reported problem, they have to decide what to do with it. If it's obviously non-functional, they can return it to the manufacturer for credit. However, their testing may not turn up any flaws, in which case the manufacturer won't take it back. Trouble is, NewEgg's tests can't be thorough, because that would take too long and be too expensive. So, they sell these items as open box, hoping the new owner won't encounter any problem(s) during the much shorter warranty period.

Sometimes, you're actually better off getting a "refurbished" unit, because you know in that case the unit has (supposedly) gone back to the manufacturer, been rebuilt to as-new specs and has passed the same QC as new product.

I have to admit, though, the worst experience in my career was with refurbished product. A client bought a Seagate 24GB DAT tape drive new, and it worked fine for about 6 months before failing. When returned under warranty, they got back a different unit with a "Refurbished by Seagate Mexico" sticker next to the serial number. I connected that unit, tried a test backup - hardware failure. Ran Seagate diagnostics - immediate device failure. Obviously those turkeys just slapped a sticker on a failed drive and shipped it back out again.

This happened twice more with this client (total of 3 DOA "Refurbished in Mexico" units), before a 4th replacement drive (also refurbished in Mexico) happened to work OK. I don't scream at suppliers because it's generally counter-productive, but that's the closest I've ever come.