When I bought newegg refurbs two years ago, most of them arrived in brand new retail boxes. I was thrilled because I had saved so much money. Recently, however, I have had nothing but problems from newegg refurbs. My recent ones have come in a retaped static bag and the products look clearly used. I thought I was saving money at the time of purchase but it actually cost me a lot more money and time in the long run.
In a recent case, I purchased a Soyo motherboard. I have an Antec case without a removable motherboard tray and after I ordered all my parts, I got this motherboard off of newegg refurb section. I trusted it because my past experience with them was great. But boy was I wrong. When I had error after error installing Windows XP I had to go through the process of diagnosing all of my computer parts, to see what was at fault. After swapping all of the components (CPU, ram, hard drive, power supply), I finally swapped the motherboard, and Voila, it worked like a beauty. Remember, the motherboard is hooked up, literally, to every component in your computer. So to take that part out requires a lot of time and is really not worth the risk, in my opinion.
I decided to push my luck again when I saw a refurbished Radeon 8500 from Newegg's refurb section. The 8500's were getting harder to find and I couldn't resist getting one for $45 shipped. I ordered one and when it arrived, all seemed well. When I hooked it up to my TV, however, I found out after much research that they had sent me a PAL version (UK version) of the card which could not display TV out in color on my television (U.S. televisions use the NTSC signal).
So I told myself, never again will I use refurbished products.
It's really up to you what you want to do. I have had great stories and I have had nightmares buying Newegg refurbs. If you ask me, I'd say "Stay away and give yourself some peace of mind." Whether you buy or not, will not bother Newegg or me at all, because many computer builders are out there who want to save a few dollars and take the risk, and I understand how they feel. Is it worth it? It all depends whether you are a risk averse person or not.