Hi All,
I like to buy components and build my own computer. It's been a long time since I went to to MSY for computer parts/components. I read on here they were bought out by Umart some years ago.
Agree with other comments that the service was questionable however, they had great prices.
Where have folks been going these days for great prices on computer parts?
Appreciate the help
Best place to comment is by replying direclty to OP, not replying to top comment.
How many times do people tell you not to hang off the top comment, but yet here we are.
FYI Umart acquired MSY back in 2022. The original sweet bitter taste MSY is gone forever.
PC Casegear, Centrecom, MSY, Umart, Scorptec. Go with whoever has the cheapest parts you want.
What about mwave
Yep, they are good too.
They messed up my 5080 preorder so badly that I’d be hesitant to recommend them.
I get that every supplier got hit by NVIDIA’s lack of communication, but Mwave told me I’d need to pay an extra $700 to keep my preorder—despite giving me no ETA.
Meanwhile, people who ordered after me either got the original price or were allowed to switch variants. Just didn’t feel handled fairly.
True. Heaps more competition these days.
I prefer Amazon tbh
Scorptec for buying a list of components, in my experience they'll often get you the best possible deal with a bit of negotiation for a bulk purchase (especially with a PCPartPicker build list, they'll typically beat the overall price), and they've caught compatibility issues for me in the past. Their bundle deals are often pretty good as well, but everything else is overpriced if you don't negotiate.
Centrecom is my go-to for single components, found they have the easiest RMA process as you can just go in-store and leave it with them to handle rather than having to stuff about with shipping or chains of emails. YMMV if you don't have a store nearby, but they're all over Melbourne so easy here.
Amazon for peripherals, best for change of mind returns.
MSY are famous for attempting to deny warranty claims. They've been in trouble for it several times.
My only experience with a warranty claim was seeing a pretty girl returning a faulty laptop. The only surprise was their minimal customer service was now full service at least for her. Courteous, nice, and above and beyond. This was at their Ultimo store,
I've been going to MSY for years and have never seen a female of any description in there let alone a pretty one. Can't really blame the vitamin D deficient neckbeard for making the most of his opportunities.
Pretty girl? Maybe anime wifu on promo posters :)
MSY is part of Umart now. Cant say whether the warranty service is any better though as haven't used it.
In trouble….been fined millions. Again and again.
I had an issue with a motherboard which they took care of without any problems. It was at the Mitcham store
Only problem with warranty in general is your PC is left useful for the time it takes for the part to be checked / repaired and/or new one sent. I just ended up buying a new motherboard and then the warranty part arrived I have kept it as spare
The only reason MSY was popular back then was because they had competitive pricing, now no longer the case after COVID happened hence their decline in popularity. They weren't known for having exceptional customer service either, in fact there were many memes and jokes about their customer service (or rather, lack thereof) on Whirlpool.
e.g there was a thread comparing MSY staff service to the Seinfield Soup Nazi. And M.S.Y. being the acronym for "More Stock Yesterday" since they often ran out of stock of popular brands and there was no stock level monitoring on their outdated website.
Makes me miss the old days of dodgy sellers. Try claiming warranty at Fluidtek and you'll have a much, much better experience at MSY.
Ah Fast Eddie, he was a character.
Fluidtek
Oh wow, there's a name I haven't heard in over a decade!
the pdf spreadsheets and 'what u want?' attitude in store added to the charm. A memorable and often cheaper shopping experience. clearance lists were full of bargains.
I remember downloading parts.pdf every week and study it like there was an exam for it at the end of the month.
Great times.
Yeah me too lol, good times
I don't think my eyes, 20 years later, would even be able to read that size 6 font. FFS.
I feel like they would increase the size as they stock less and less parts.
Shhhh. Most of the rest of them don't know they can qualify to be an OzBargain Gold member by doing that exam each month.
Lol, I used to have a shortcut linking straight to parts.pdf in my firefox!
IIRC, they still had it up until they acquired the umart. Now it all looks like the umart site of yesteryear, but in 'party' red. The steady march of prosperity and fortune!
I still have https://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf in my favourites.
I must admit, it's a very efficient way to quickly scan prices.
I'm not sure when it exactly died but here's some memories https://web.archive.org/web/20190707234533/https://www.msy.c…
That died? End of an era. Lord.
The Parts PDF got me through high school, good times
I used to sometimes print it out to read. I wish I kept an old copy.
Thanks All for the assistance
If you need a retailer with some decent service for warranty. I'd avoid Umart/MSY, had a faulty cat6 cable took it back they "tested" it behind closed doors and said it work, refused the refund.
I know the cable doesn't work, have tried it with multiple configs, multiple computers over multiple networks (in case it really was my switches).
Have had stellar service from Scorptec in Silverwater and Centrecom in Auburn. Mwave were great during covid, probably still are but are generally more expensive.
how long was the cable?
10m cat6A
They haven't been worth a visit in well over a decade. If you want suppliers in the same area then Scorptec and Centrecom and to an extent MWave but I feel they've become a victim of their own success in a way so wouldn't be my first choice.
MSY felt like it was cheaper because they had that rough looking PDF price list and the workers looked like they were fresh of the boat geeks who couldn't speak English. And the store was piled up with inventory and people would line up like they were ordering from the Soup Nazi.
And if a product was out of stock, they would stare at you blankly, and at best tell you to (profanity) off and read the catalogue, instead of finding something comparable.
So you'd go down the list, and they'd come back and do it again. And again.
Msy IS umart now.
Did Umart buy MSY out or vice versa?
Umart bought MSY
I didn't realise this until I ordered something from MSY in Perth and picked up from 'robot' warehouse full of umart branding.
I only bought 1 thing from MSY for new build because of availibility - I think most of my items came from Centrecom over a few months of ebay plus sales.
@Baa: Yes similar, I recently got something delivered from Umart and it came with MSY packaging. Shame about the demise of MSY, in the 2000s they were to go too PC parts place.
Amazon for the win. Buy GPU for say $1000… the fans sound funny 3 years down the road… message Amazon and send it back….bam $1000 back in your pocket for the newest gen GPU again.
MSY prices are not the best anymore, been like this for about 8 to 10 years. There are cheaper places, but it varies depending on what you want.
Back in the day it was service without a smile
Recently went in there to buy something that I needed straight away wanted to pay with cash, they said no cash. Went to pay with card and they slap a surcharge, told them this is why I want to pay with cash and they just cancelled my order and walked off…
Still use staticice (and now pcpartpicker) to help source pricing for me - so I usually will go to as few places as possible while getting the cheapest price
PLE Computers
PLE they are normally good prices and never had an issue with returns
Shop around. If you're willing to buy your parts over a few months when you build you can get some great savings. Amazon/eBay tech stores have been good for most parts.
Nov-Jan = Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Boxing Day/New Year Sale etc so lots of deals floating around
May-July = Generally a lot of mid year sales/tech deals.
Use StaticIce/PC Part Picker/Camelx3 for Amazon to find the best prices. Have got some great deals in the past with eBay member stacking discount codes.
It feels like MSY has gone the way of computer swap meets, no longer relevant.
Aint that true. Was fun going to them in the 90's and 00's though. Do they even exist anymore or are they now completely gone? Last time i saw one was at Reservoir Gym a year or two ago. Was so small.
MSY are usually only good if you want something urgent and you want to pickup in person otherwise majority of their products are cheaper elsewhere or for smaller accessories cant be bought same price elsewhere such as amazon. they use to be good even in modern times but since 2018 they haven't been competitive with other stores. they use to have pdf catalgogues for each store and once got a 240hz 27 inch lg monitor 1080p but that was back in 2018 when they were like 450-500 new i got it from them for $250 and i sold it used 3 years later around covid times for 450 on marketplace but ever since around 2018-2019 they haven't been the same.
Came here to mention it too. I use it all the time!
Pcpartpicker is also useful for this.
Be aware some stores don't appear in these lists, shoppingexpress for example, which often have very good prices.
Shop around and shop by price. The parts in my current PC came from 3 different stores (some of that was down to availability).
MSY/Umart are often cheap, but their customer service sucks. PLE's service is usually pretty good. I believe PCCG are pretty good too, but shipping over to WA rules them out for me.
Our household has built 3 low to mid range gaming PC's in the 18 months used a variety of part suppliers. Dont think we purchased a single part from MSY.
We live rural Victoria so dont have much in local options as much as I try to shop, local pc shops in rural areas are just too expensive.
All parts purchased online through Scorptec, Centrecom, JW and MWave bits like graphics card stands from places like Ebay.
Certainly pays to compare prices and postage costs you could save hundreds.
Though ive never actually asked for a quote on a full pc list of parts from a store(Parts availability does vary from storebto store though)
Used MSY since forever but do shop elsewhere but only online. Joy of msy was convenience of going into the physical store when younger.
Best thing was parts.pdf
yes, they used to have lots of stores, now much fewer, scorptec is closer for me now msy closed so many stores.
they use to be good even in modern times but since 2018 they haven't been competitive with other stores. they use to have pdf parts catalogues for each store and once got a 240hz 27 inch lg monitor 1080p but that was back in 2018 when they were like 450-500 new i got it from them for $250 and i sold it used 3 years later around covid times (2021) for 450 on marketplace but ever since around 2018-2019 they haven't been the same. kinda miss their old site looked so dodgy but wasnt LMAO.
I remember when MSY was just a guy at the computer swap meets in the 90's. Used to buy from him and his wife all the time. They were my go to for years as they were located pretty much on all sides of Melb. Had seen they had been closing branches. Interesting to read they are now part of Umart.
Didnt realise they started like that, pretty impressive growth.
Back in the day, there pricing was very similar to Ingram wholesale, had no idea how MSY made money.
The more you hate your life the better computer store employee you will be.
I call them red umart!
Umart Stories
Many years ago, a colleague of mine bought a “dual-link HDMI cable” from green Umart. However, the cable wasn’t actually dual-link—several of the required pins weren’t connected. It worked fine at 1080p but couldn’t handle higher resolutions. He returned it, but only after proving with a multimeter that it wasn’t truly dual-link. Umart even checked other cables from the same batch and found the same issue. He left a review warning others, but instead of correcting the listing, Umart deleted his review and continued selling the cable under a misleading description.
Fast forward to last week: I bought a supposedly hot-swappable mechanical keyboard (search “G300”) from green umart. When it arrived, I found the switches were soldered in place—definitely not hot-swappable. I returned it, but the product listing still hasn’t been updated.
Any bets on when (or if) they’ll fix the listing?
After shock and tech fast ?
Sadly not. Went to their store. It was almost empty. Everything had to be ordered online regardless.
Big let down.
These days typically I mostly go to Centrecom.
Scorptec can also have good deals but they are alot further for me so to save $5 it's typically not worth it.
same for me scorptec have the best instore experience, super friendly not that centercom is bad but a little less professional than scorptec
IJK
Their website is old, their service is good and their prices competitive
I’ve been using them since 2006 (they had merged with umart at some point) can’t complain.
IJK.com.au
I would suggest using “static ice” to check product codes and comparing items between vendors. Cost gives you good info.
whichever has the best bang for the buck. be mindful when buying from overseas of potentially longer downtimes or difficulties when dealing with warranty claims. enjoy the build :)
Computer Swap Meet … those were the days!
I live in Western suburbs of Melbourne so stick with Centrecom or Amazon. Used to have an MSY but it closed down. I missed when I lived in Box Hill and I'd alternate between MSY & PC DIY for parts, but that feels like a lifetime ago now.
This is fun, you can go all the way back to 2003: https://web.archive.org/web/20031023034610/http://www.msy.co…
Vega 64 for $599. That the one I brought :)
I just ordered a PSU that unfortunately doesn’t fit my ITX case (still in transit/sealed/unopened). Despite being a loyal customer who has spent a significant amount with Centrecom, my return request was denied.
While I understand they have the right to enforce their policies, it’s frustrating when a business doesn’t accommodate reasonable requests—especially from repeat customers. There are plenty of other vendors, so I’ll take my business elsewhere moving forward.
A shame, because I hoped Centrecom valued long-term customers over rigid rules.
Centrecom have always been terrible. I've had enough bad experiences that I avoid them now, same as Computers & Parts Land.
Don't know if computer market still exist but back in the day there was this market that rotated btw different universities locations. You could sort of negotiate the prices amongst the many stalls.
To be honest, as a long time customer of MSY, back from when they were basically operating out of a dude's garage in Malvern East, I really do think the ACCC ruined them.
They were cheap and no frills in a way that was refreshing - you came there because you knew what you wanted, you wanted it as cheap as possible, and you liked the no nonsense customer service. You didn't come to MSY because you wanted to ask questions or have a flexible experience.
FWIW, I found their warranty and RMA service to be adequate. Back when I was in uni, I built PCs for people as a side hustle, and would have spent over six figures at MSY over the few years where I was building systems as that was where I usually got my parts. Everything that was a "name brand", I never had any issues with RMAs, this included an Intel CPU, ASUS motherboard, Gigabyte graphics card, a BenQ monitor, amongst several other big ticket things.
It was always the more questionable "own-brand" stuff (e.g. SHAW branded PSUs, random cables, stuff in the clearance bin) which they would be dodgy about. Sometimes you just have to eat the losses given how cheap they were. Lots of random USB cables, monitor cables, cheap mice and keyboard…etc. wouldn't work and I'd just have to bin it. You almost had to have a "if it works, it works" disclaimer for some of that cheap stuff. That being said, you could always go to Centrecom down the road and pay 4x as much for the same cable.
Exactly this. The ACCC ruling never bothered me as I was very tech savvy. But I think for 60% of the people that shopped there who should be honestly shopping at harvey norman and getting ripped, they expected the levels of service at msy.
IT product margins are slim, rents are high, staffing is costly and when you do price competition at those levels you can't really eat too many dodgy returns or customers that just don't know how to use the product.
They got in trouble because of a blanket no returns sign, would have escaped all that if they put your statutory rights still apply at the end.
Once again, just the 5% of customers ruining it for the rest of us.
Don't worry though, jeff has come to save the day and create more australian jobs to ensure 100% of all profits are siphoned overseas.
Those SHAW computer cases were rubbish!
I've always wondered if you purchased parts separately and your Shaw PSU died and fried your motherboard, could you claim warranty on the motherboard?
as someone who used to shop at msy, centrecom often has the best price and sometimes scorptec, all other place are quite hit and miss pc case gear often has alot of unique parts .
Only if I want a $30 case with 500w psu (Actually like 380w)
Funny, isn't it, how hard MSY and PCCG have fallen from grace. My formative years are ashes.
not one particular place, just wherever has it cheapest that also has a physical store for easier returns (with the exception of Amazon).
websites such as ozbargain, staticice, au.pcpartpicker and google shopping are really helpful
umart has a price match policy last i checked but found the process a bit of a pain