Do any vendors actually have inventory?
 

It seems any time any product is ordered from a car parts vendor, there is always a delay in shipping while they 'wait for the part to come in'. Most recently, after placing an order, I was told the wait would be longer than I would like. I requested the order cancelled as it just wasn't going to fit my schedule and was informed there is a 6% processing fee to do so. As someone that has worked on a multimillion dollar eCommerce platform, the only way this makes sense is if they are placing an order themselves once an order is received from their website. Otherwise, in the industry, it is ubiquitous to not charge a card until the product has shipped. The reason being, when you type in your credit card info on a form, only an authorization is placed on the account, which should cost the vendor nothing.

So my question is, do any vendors actually keep inventory of their own or do they try and bring the cost of doing business so low that they're just a website and a telephone number? If they just function as a middle man for ordering, what is the point of going through them? Seems rather antiquated.

Some do, some don't.
I understand the expectations but keep in mind that carrying a full inventory can be a high risk situation for a vendor. Especially for someone trying to get a business started.
Despite a perceived demand for aftermarket parts from the buyers perspective, it's often a different story from a vendor's. The latter being less visible to us.

I wouldn't view it as antiquated but a byproduct of our economy.
Just another squirrel trying to get a nut.

If you have a schedule then try to find a vendor that is more established and confirm the parts are available?

Lots of vendors get parts drop shipped from the parts manufacturer. It happens.

I think they should refund your money 100% back.

Rally sport direct does. Remember if you are using vendors that are barely making margins by price matching everything under map, chances are you are going to wait for the item. If you want it the next day use a larger vendor and pay map.

That's fair, and I've actually had really good experiences with Rally Sport Direct. They were very upfront about it. It's typically not clear with most vendors whether the item is or isn't in stock.

A drop ship model is a little illogical, however. What's the point of middle men in such a scenario unless the manufacturer just doesn't want to deal with it--I don't see the value add. Realtors and travel agents are a dying breed for this reason.

You usually get it cheaper through the middle man.

Many do not. That is why to company I work for is growing so fast. We actually do stock the products we sell and people love how fast they get their order.

We're actually REALLY low in inventory; some shipments were delayed this week due to weather.

Lets not even get started on the rest of the warehouse...

Another question you may want to ask, is how many vendors have shop cars? An actual shop car, not a personal car used at the shop.

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I have some inventory, not a lot but there is some. If i had the money to keep everything certainly would but we all have to start somewhere. Hopefully i will have my own full shop with employees and website soon but i'm here to help out the community. With my location sometimes drop shipping is faster too. I have had a few people cancel orders and they always got 100% refunds.

Edit: 2 cancellations, one was somebody that was tired of waiting on the borla header and the other was a wheel order i refunded immediately when they were out of stock.

Drop shipping is a normal part of this business. It does not make sense from a business perspective to keep every single part you can get in stock, especially if you move a low amount of volume for that item.

It's not a bad thing really. I do agree that it does suck when vendors do not keep their site up to date. That is why I make sure to mention if there is going to be a delay on an item up front.

Otherwise, it doesn't hurt to ask if an item is in stock before you purchase.

especially for this car, a car thats so new that there arent hundreds of thousands of on the road.

if a vendor tells you something is in stock and turns around and says yea we dont have it then thats on them. when i (j2motorsports.net) was a vendor here i would never promise anyone something and never be able to come through. we either had it or we didnt, not "let me take your money and ship it when it gets here".

We have a warehouse full of parts, however you cannot inventory everything all the time. Drop ships for the most part usually go OK, however I prefer to ship stuff myself.

Nothing worse than when your dropshipper pulls the wrong part and ships it to the customer. We all make mistakes but it happens unfortunately.

We stock some stuff, but there isn't much incentive to stock most of the parts available. Some manufacturers charge a bit less for shipping direct to the shop vs drop shipping. Usually around $20 or so. That's not worth having capital tied up while the parts collect dust. The consumer usually pays less as well (1 shipping charge vs 2).

This. I have paid a little more a couple times to order from Rally Sport Direct including my GFB boost controller. Ordered this Sunday, shipped from their warehouse on Monday, should arrive on Wednesday. Hard to beat that.

I'll let the pictures do the talking. We have two warehouses, one main one with the sales office, the lift, mounting/balancing machines, and the other warehouse is purely for wheels for now, and some additional things here and there like body work.

At Vicious LED, everything we sell is in stock 95% of the time! And if it happens to be out of stock when you're ready to order, we let you know it's availability and let you decide if you'd still like to order or not! We don't believe in lying to our customers to make a sale, it's unethical and just plain bad business!

Hey Gen

We do stock a lot of parts for FR-S and BRZ! Right now stuff is really flying out the doors right now so its hard to keep things in stock. Some items we have listed are special order from Japan also and on wheels most wheel are made to order in Japan. Best is to call in before if you want to check stock.

-Randy

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We keep some smaller items in stock at our shop, but for other items we have live inventory updates from our manufacturers that we deal so while it might not be in stock at our shop, we know that it is in stock and can be shipped within the same day directly to our customer's house. We are starting to stock more wheels that are limited editions or hard to find.

same with us. We have items in stock, but it's select right now. Most of the time, it's faster to order straight from the distributor, who has it in stock. Luckily, our one distributor is about an hour from my location, so it's pretty easy for customers around the area.

I like to buy from vendors who stock themselves. I'm generally shopping for multiple parts for the same car - from different manufacturers. That's where the drop-ship model blows donkeys because I'm not paying multiple shipping charges subject to the whims and policies of multiple shippers.

I like to deal with vendors who can stock because they know the car and know what to stock / what they will be able to sell. These are the guys who will have the hardcore parts or multiple versions of something to suit your tastes. I like to support these vendors because the alternative is someplace that considers universal shift knobs a performance modification.

-Justin