Go ahead and wave goodbye to Newegg's Premier membership and the free 3-day (or sooner) shipping perk that highlighted the program. In a statement posted to its Premier page, Newegg says it is cancelling Premier, though there is some potentially good news.
While the Premier program is about to go into forced retirement, some kind of "completely new loyalty program" will take its place.
"Newegg is canceling the Premier membership and neither accepting new members nor renewals. However, we will be launching a completely new loyalty program we think will benefit more of our shoppers in the coming months, so stay tuned!," Newegg says.
It's not clear what benefits will comprise the upcoming loyalty program, or how much it will cost. I've reached out to Newegg to see if it would be willing to share any details, and specifically if expedited shipping would be included, and will update this article when/if I hear back.
Premier was basically Newegg's answer to Amazon's Prime membership, only smaller in scope. In addition to expedited shipping on qualifying orders, Premier members benefited from a host of other shopping-related perks, including free returns without any restocking fees, rush processing, exclusive deals, access to a dedicated customer service phone number, and early notifications to major sales and events.
Members were also able add up to four friends or family members to their Premier account, either out of kindness or to split the cost—a full-year membership normally ran $49.99, barring any discounted promotions (it gave away a free year to some people back in July).
It will be interesting to see what the new loyalty program brings to the table. Newegg's allure is not the same as it once was, as competition is much more fierce these days. However, the online retailer does maintain a vast collection of computer hardware and software, with frequent sales (some better than others, of course).
We're also curious to see how Newegg handles customers who just recently signed up for a yearlong membership. It's not clear if Newegg will honor the paid perks for the duration of the membership, offer refunds, or roll users into the new loyalty program.
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