Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 11:14:02 -0400
Reply-To: "kenneth wilford (Van-Again)" <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "kenneth wilford (Van-Again)" <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Re: Ordering Parts Online
In-Reply-To: <04ef01ce6dc0$94c3ee60$be4bcb20$@com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
I second what Ron is saying here in regards to the trust issue. As vendors
committed to keeping Vanagons on the road and alive, we are all doing our
best to supply the best possible products to our customers. That is
because we care and to us you are not just some random person who we want
to sell a product to and then move on. You are part of the community and
you are doing something that we are passionate about ourselves.
Occasionally there is going to be a defective part. That is really the
manufacturers fault, however we are left to deal with it as vendors. What
we try to do is to get feed back from our customers. If we get enough
negative feedback or response from a product (or if I find that a product
is crappy through my own repairs) I am going to start seeking an
alternative source for that product. I don't want to sell cheap crap,
instead we are your first line of defense against garbage parts.
People used to say "parts is parts" and then go online to try to find the
cheapest part they could find. That really isn't true for Vanagon parts
since the aftermarket has a wide spectrum of parts from Chinese made junk
that only resembles the original part from about 10 feet away, to good
quality parts no matter where they are made. It is our job as vendors to
take the time and effort to sort through these sources and cherry pick the
best ones we can, then offer them at a price you can afford, while at the
same time making money for ourselves so we can here for the next customer.
If you understand this, I think it will make you think twice before buying
from Ebay or a dirt cheap parts supplier that won't even take your part
back if it is ordered in error. We are very competitive on our pricing.
If we are a little more from time to time there is usually a good reason.
Ultimately you are paying that little extra for a person who is on the
other side of the screen that actually cares about you and your van.
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
www.vanagain.com
On Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 10:15 AM, The Bus Depot <vanagon@busdepot.com>wrote:
> > Bosch fuel pump arrived in an unsealed plastic bag, no
> > Bosch box, no end caps on the pump. (Is it new?) When
> > I called about it, they said they do that sometimes.
>
>
> That is not uncommon. Sometimes manufacturers sell product in bulk. Often
> these are great values because they were intended for OEM customers but the
> supplier ended up with extra, so they are willing to cut the price in
> exchange for a quantity purchase. We have bought a lot of Bosch that way
> over the years, as well as other brands. They typically ship to us in
> large
> compartmentalized boxes kind of like egg cartons with a part in each cubby.
> The product is the same but you save money because it is not retail
> packaged. This is not unique to the automotive industry. Companies like
> Newegg.com do the same thing with computer parts, selling them at a lower
> price in "OEM packaging" (a/k/a a plastic bag) instead of retail packaging.
> There's no downside to this, unless you are a collector of used cardboard
> boxes and blister packs. In fact it actually saves you money two ways - in
> the price of the part, and in the cost of shipping versus paying to ship
> excess retail packaging. Of course the one caveat is that you do need to
> deal with a reputable vendor. If you buy from some random Ebay seller and
> the item arrives without any packaging, you have to trust that you received
> a bulk packaged part and not just a cleaned up used one.
>
> - Ron Salmon
> The Bus Depot, Inc.
> www.busdepot.com
> (215) 234-VWVW
>
> _____________________________________________
> Toll-Free for Orders by PART # : 1-866-BUS-DEPOT
>
--
Thanks,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
www.vanagain.com
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