Best online PC hardware shops in South Africa

There are five popular online PC hardware retailers in South Africa with satisfaction ratings of 90% or higher, a MyBroadband analysis shows.

Buying PC hardware from an e-commerce store allows for shopping from a wide range of stores within a few minutes, ensuring you can get the best prices on processors, graphics cards, RAM, motherboards, and other components and peripherals.

Choosing a specialist store instead of a general retailer like Takealot could also provide the benefit of more in-depth expertise about the hardware you seek and what will work best with your setup.

However, even when using an experienced computing outlet, poor after-sales service could come at a great cost.

Computer components are sensitive and can get damaged while being transported.

Any capable computing retailer will ensure there is enough protective material in the parcel to avoid this, while also using courier companies with high package handling standards.

Even when handled with care, however, these parts can suffer from factory faults that require repair or replacement.

This is why a store’s returns and warranty policies are essential considerations when deciding on a retailer.

Reviews on Google, Facebook, and Hellopeter can serve as a helpful indication of previous customers’ experiences with an online shop’s after-sales service.

Numerous poor reviews or a lack of ratings could be red flags for when a particular website might be a scam, helping you avoid potential financial disaster.

Sorting the wheat from the chaff

We looked at the average user ratings on Google, Facebook, and Hellopeter for ten of the most popular computing hardware specialist stores in South Africa to see which were held in the highest regard by their customers.

To be considered in our comparison, the retailer had to be focused on tech specifically and must have received at least 100 reviews on one of the platforms.

We then calculated an average score out of 100% by using the average of the three ratings.

As was the case in early 2023, the best-rated online computing hardware store in South Africa was Dreamware Tech, with an astounding 100% rating due to five-star reviews across all three platforms.

While its pricing is rarely the best of the major players, the Durban-based online shop is often heaped with praise for its excellent delivery turnaround times and after-sales service.

The company is run by husband and wife Brent and Jess Raftopoulus and recently celebrated its five-year anniversary.

Second-placed Kempton Park-based Progenix was not far off, with a 99.8% average rating.

It was only on Hellopeter, a platform known primarily for criticism rather than compliments, where its rating was just 0.03 points shy of the maximum score.

Based on its reviews, Progenix has a loyal following of regular shoppers who often return to the store due to its excellent service levels.

The remaining top five best-rated stores were Wootware, Rebel Tech, and Tech.co.za, all of which scored in the mid-90%.

Of these three stores, Wootware had the highest number of reviews, suggesting it is particularly well known.

Even the worst are not too bad

Most of the other stores in our analysis had fairly respectable average scores, with even the poorest performer — Evetech — scoring 60.5%.

Evetech is generally popular for its low prices and wide selection of hardware. However, reviews on Facebook and Hellopeter indicate its after-sales service is lacklustre to poor.

It has also been heavily criticised on MyBroadband’s Forums in the past, particularly with regard to how it handles warranties.

Most Evetech complaints seem to relate to instances where a customer had asked for a hardware upgrade or component swap-out that Evetech personnel performed themselves.

Nevertheless, with a Google Review rating of 4.0 out of 5 from 5,295 users, numerous customers have clearly been satisfied with its service.

The table below ranks 10 of South Africa’s leading online PC hardware shops according to their online reviews.