Wilwood brake Kit.. (the one from ebay)

[Marc_G]

Hey everyone I just recieved my wilwood front disc conversion kit. Its the one from ebay where you get free shipping, proportioning valve and brake lines in turn for a 2-3 week wait to recieve the product. I recieved all that free stuff within a week, but it took a month to recieve the entire kit. I must say other than the wait the brake kit is awesome. It was shipped from wilwood and everything is brand new and shinney! I cant wait to put it on, you use the stock spindle but comes with hub, calliper, lugs, everything you would need. Its very complete and I just wanted to let everyone who was unsure about buying this kit off ebay that it is worth the wait if you have patience!!! The store is hotrodheaven or hotrudusa, one of the 2 i dont remember! I will for sure post pics when I get it on, and any questions feel free to ask!

Marc G

 

[reenmachine]

Hey everyone I just recieved my wilwood front disc conversion kit. Its the one from ebay where you get free shipping, proportioning valve and brake lines in turn for a 2-3 week wait to recieve the product. I recieved all that free stuff within a week, but it took a month to recieve the entire kit. I must say other than the wait the brake kit is awesome. It was shipped from wilwood and everything is brand new and shinney! I cant wait to put it on, you use the stock spindle but comes with hub, calliper, lugs, everything you would need. Its very complete and I just wanted to let everyone who was unsure about buying this kit off ebay that it is worth the wait if you have patience!!! The store is hotrodheaven or hotrudusa, one of the 2 i dont remember! I will for sure post pics when I get it on, and any questions feel free to ask!

Marc G

Wow -- I should do that: sell stuff I don't have, order it once I receive your payment, and have it drop shipped from the manufacturer. Free money, plus I could sit around in my underwear in front of the computer all day! This is why the traditional speed shop is facing extinction.

BTW, I am in no way criticizing you for your purchase.

 

[MustangMatt1966]

yea, i have a few buddies that are doing the wholesale ebay business...they post a pic of the product, people bid on it and bid the price up well above wholesale and then my buddies order it from the wholesaler and have it shipped right to the customer and pocket the extra cash..its a great idea and its nearly no work at all....makes me think....hmmm

 

[Edbert]

Don't blame the consumer for getting a shrink-wrapped SKU for the best price he can. When the consumer pays more than a reasonable price don't blame him or the vendor either.

Capitalism is a good thing, easy too when you can find folks who'll pay MORE than retail.

The ones I feel sorry for are vendors who get undersold by this method. That is usually not the case but it does happen. Dell makes a lot of customers by selling devices to consumer for prices that are lower than the ones offered by the actual manufacturer, they do it every day.

 

[reenmachine]

Don't blame the consumer for getting a shrink-wrapped SKU for the best price he can. When the consumer pays more than a reasonable price don't blame him or the vendor either.

Capitalism is a good thing, easy too when you can find folks who'll pay MORE than retail.

The ones I feel sorry for are vendors who get undersold by this method. That is usually not the case but it does happen. Dell makes a lot of customers by selling devices to consumer for prices that are lower than the ones offered by the actual manufacturer, they do it every day.

I didn't blame the consumer, and I stated this in my post. I don't really blame anyone, and of course I believe in capitalism as I practice it every day!

This is what gets my goat:
Most of these "retailers" don't know jack about the product they're selling. I get phone calls daily from people picking my brain about which products work, what they need, etc. They then very often go buy it somewhere else where they can get it 10 bucks cheaper. It's even happened here on the forum a few times where someone posts pics of their new purchase, and I recognize it as someone who I spent half an hour on the phone with helping them figure out what they need.

I'm not bitter about it, and I recognize that that's the way of things these days, but it still kinda sucks. Regardless, I'll keep helping because I'd rather be known for that than for being someone who tells you to figure it out yourself if you're not breaking out the credit card. There are enough of those out there already.

 

[gzminiz]

I'd rather support the local speed shops and the people that help me rather then saving a few bucks. Otherwise those local speed shops won't be around to help much longer.

Not knocking yah, just my opinion. We all know the saying opinions are like ***holes, everyones stinks but yours.

 

[1320stang]

You have speed shops?

 

[Marc_G]

I have actually never heard that saying, but it is an awesome saying. I dont really mind what anyone says because it is all opinions. But when it does come down to supporting your local speed shop I am all for it, but when your local speed shop tries to sell you a brake kit for $1200 and you can get it for around 650 on the net, which would you choose? This is America, everyone is cheap. Its nice to spend a few extra bucks to support locals, but double the price just aint worth it!

Marc G

 

[atomicpunk]

It used to be against Ebay rules to list things that weren't actually in your posession, but I no longer see that on the rules page.

 

[degins]

yea, i have a few buddies that are doing the wholesale ebay business...they post a pic of the product, people bid on it and bid the price up well above wholesale and then my buddies order it from the wholesaler and have it shipped right to the customer and pocket the extra cash..its a great idea and its nearly no work at all....makes me think....hmmm

It's not that easy to make money on Ebay. You pay fees regardless if the item sells, or not. When it does sell and is paid using Paypal or a merchant credit card account, the fees amount to 10%. When you figure in the cost of the no sales and the deadbeat sales, the cost of a successful transaction is about 15%. The nature of the market and competition dictate that things that sell easily don't net much profit. All but the largest of the repro Mustang parts vendors pay a wholesale price that is only 15-20% less than the prices that you see on Ebay. Not enough to make a living on. That said, there are plenty of people doing it. Unfortunately, these amatuer vendors set a ceiling on prices that the full service vendors can't match. People like Reen, who have innovative products, can my make a decent profit and a living, but these innovative products don't come easily.

 

[Edbert]

People like Reen, who have innovative products, can my make a decent profit and a living, but these innovative products don't come easily.

That entire post is accurate, I'd bet that even among those who sell for profit on ebay their margins are tiny.

Reen, MustangSteve, and yourself actually MAKE the things you sell, and you make them for a niche market most of whome know you and the products you offer (or are soon to be offering ). The only way to make money selling parts off-the-shelf on ebay is to have essentially ZERO overhead, like drop shippming and working from your couch in your bathrobe. That and the uneducated bidders who are willing to bid above full retail of course.

There is another genre of profitmakers on ebay though. Those guys who sell items that are replicas, replicas that dance all over the lines of copyright and trademark infringement. They usually sell their products from Taiwan and Hong Kong. I see auctions for things reputed to be "just like" another name brand product. A prime example is this one I saw the other day ( http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=66827&item=7212298986 ). The "real " product costs about $400, he sold this one for $16.99 and called it "Aimpoint Style". The seller says he and his product are in the US but I'll bet $100 right now that at least the product is in Hong Kong right now, and probably the seller too. There are probaly import/export laws being broken as well.