IF you are planning to buy a kartboy Short Shifter.
 

EDIT: Since tom is such a nice guy I decided to edit this message. Just remember that if you want the warranty you are going to have to pay a bit more.
http://i60.tinypic.com/168a3ia.jpg

That's kind of a douche bag move, since we as the consumer only know the selling price. We have no way of knowing if the re-seller got a bulk deal for a special or something like that. It means that every time you see a deal on kartboy, you need to FB message the owner to approve your purchase. Prices fluctuate, and places do deals. I will buy a shifter elsewhere unless his post is because of fake knock off. I will note that as of now, the price on that site is 223, which is only 2 under the other lowest site I found and 32 under some other sites that post here.

Actually it seems this type of issue is rampant on the interwebs. It is almost like we need all companies to list their authorized re-sellers, or post the absolute lowest price they allow their product to be sold at. Of course they are probably able to change that at a whim and screw people anyway. I mean the manufacturer already got what they deem sufficient for them when they sold it to the re-seller. So why screw the end user who may have no idea. Unless this is a knock off. Then I can understand.

Apparently he uses a serial number on his parts...

But it is still the equivalent of "I wholesaled my shit at a price I was good with, they sold cheaper than a number you have no way of knowing, now you're fucked, thank you for your business". Because I assure you, Kartboys MSRP is not that lowest price.

Also you will receipt of purchase to provide proof of time frame. That would show where you bought it from. Although, you might be able to block out some info, just show proof of product purchase. Who knows. It seems like a lot of punishing the wrong people.

I think him being a douche about it upsets my more than anything else.

I have to deal with this kind of thing at my work... People trying to pricematch to Ebay or some third party reseller from god knows where.

If you buy from a reseller who buys their stuff from god knows where, tuff shit as he says. If you want to price match to said reseller, tuff shit. If that seller is some guy selling a used part out of the back of his truck, tuff shit.

Buy from an authorized retailer if you actually care about a warranty and want a legit part and not a knockoff.

This,

if you buy a KB shifter from a retailer and have an issue, you need to take that up with the retailer and not KB himself. and if you found the cheapest place that does drop shipment and you get no service from them from a defective part, i fail to see how that's KB fault.

Sometimes you not only pay for a part, but for the quality of service received.

sorry, I fail to see the Kartboy issue...In fact, its not because I "fail to see" it, its because its NOT the responsibility of kartboy to take care of you if you buy from an unauthorized seller. If anything, its cool that he's letting you know you're buying something that he doesn't know the origin of...he didn't even say "don't buy it" he said if anything goes wrong your SOL.

and NOT having a warranty buying from some off the wall/fly by night "reseller" is nothing new. Many retailers have "authorized seller pages" for this exact reason.

Buy from a legit place/forum vendor, and hey, you'll have support!

could have been handled with a little bit more professionalism and respect. I don't care whether you work for a fortune 500 company or a mom&pop shop, your representing your brand/ company. I get what he was trying to get across about the reseller and warranty, but the way he worded it was pretty distasteful. Tuff shit? If thats the way they want to communicate with potential customers, count me out.

In terms of the product, the reseller obviously got it from somewhere. if it came from kartboy, bought in bulk; there should have been a note made about warranty when purchasing the order. Therefore the reseller is responsible for any potential returns/ repairs needed and not on kartboy. If the warranty is in effect, the reseller should handle the responsibility or accepting the part back for return/ replacement and submit warranty claim/etc on behalf of the original customer (if contract(?) allows). just my opinion.

I believe you are taking this out of proportion. Manufacturers have a set list of authorized resellers for this very reason. And of course his cost is below MSRP, he wouldn't exactly have a running company if it wasn't. All authorized resellers for any properly set up company will receive pricing information that clearly states MSRP, MAP, and COST, as well as special scenarios where parts are allowed to be sold below MAP, IF there are any. If this is an unauthorized distributor, which it is being Tom obviously has no idea who it is, there is no guarantee where this part came from, whether it's even a real Kartboy part, or if it's even a new part at that. Frankly, if I saw someone posting something like that about any of our products from an unauthorized reseller and asking legitimate resellers of ours to price match or beat a price that is already severely discounted well below the norm, I'd be a bit insulted.

Just my .02c.

Sincerely,

Zach
Delicious Tuning

Kartboy products have serial numbers now.

With all due respect, even being serialized the issue is more with unauthorized distributors. These are guys that were never cleared by the manufacturer to sell their products in the first place for whatever reason. However they got their hands on the products, it was not intended to happen by the manufacturer. Like buying a gray market product, yes it could be real but of course there is no warranty. Anyways I don't think Tom intended it to be insulting, rather very matter of fact. It is companies like the one listing that shifter and others like them that hurt the aftermarket industry as a whole, and it is a bit upsetting. That's all I have to say. :)

Sincerely,

Zach
Delicious Tuning