They also include free shipping, so, maybe it's not that much more in the end?
they had a 15% off your first three purchases sale, saved me some money again when I had to get a new HDD around the same time.
it got me to pull the trigger on their site over newegg, and I liked the little discounts you can get by paying with debit or forfieting free returns. it's a novel approach, and at least tries to appear consumer-friendly. I hope it does well.
In fact, if they add x% to most products, requiring it to be over $25 is just a way of guaranteeing that you are actually paying for shipping in full, just not as an itemized option.
For example, let's say a widget costs $10 in Walmart stores and will cost $1 for walmart ship with their negotiated contracts. If I go to the store, I can pay $10 and buy the widget. However, if I go online, Walmart.com will say the item costs $11 with "free shipping", or I can pick it up in store for a $1 "discount" (so now I pay $10 for a "$11" item). So even though they get all the positive PR and subconscious biases associated with free shipping, they are not paying for it at all. They even pretend like you're getting a great deal by going and picking it up yourself, even though you're just paying what you otherwise would have if you skipped walmart.com entirely.
What's the difference between the profit they make from the products, and money they make from extra cost added to the products? Isn't that just another way to define profit?