I found this interesting, and managed to save $70 dollars on shipping costs recently, figured it would help others save some money. Example given: FD Racing beat resonated midpipe is $305 dollars. For some reason, Racing beat thinks it costs $101.83 USD to ship it from California to Florida. J-Auto only charges $30 to go the same distance and the part drop ships from Racing Beat, same as if I had bought it directly from them. I'm not sure if maybe the just get really good rates from UPS, but I suspect not... I found the same problem when I bought my RB dual tip catback as well. I ended up ordering it through petit and it drop shipped from Racing beat for far less shipping cost. FWIW I'm not a cheap skate FD Owner, but I'm also not an idiot and I won't flush money down the toilet. That's how I'm able to own an FD in the first place. Given UPS's propensity to lose Rx7 parts *cough* rob dahm *cough* I'm loathe to give them $70 dollars, or use their service at all whenever possible.

 

$30 to ship anything from CA to FL is SUPER cheap. Shipping to California is the main reason I stopped offering shipped prices on anything that wont fit in a flat rate box.

 

Nice! I think a lot of it is the back-end web software they use and how it computes shipping.

I also try and think a step or two ahead when ordering parts to get as much as I can in one box. When doing a big project like an engine rebuild you want to get a full list of EVERYTHING then order what you need at ones. Doing 3-4 shipments just eats up a lot of cash in shipping costs. But you have to be smart and not just order extras "just because" - that's also a way to slowly go broke .

I know Atkins Rotary has come under fire for inflated shipping costs recently too. Ray Crowe is always super good on shipping pricing and he can usually beat Atkins for price on OEM parts too.

Dale

 

This is exactly right. Shipping is one aspect of any ecommerce website that's still a bit of VooDoo.

We always review shipping cost vs what was charged when we ship. If there is an excessive overage, we refund it. The problem is, we get it the other way too - sometimes the site UNDER charges and leaves us holding the bag. In those cases, we never go back to the customer for additional shipping.

Often times - just reaching out to the vendor to ask the question is better (and less work) than trying to find an inroad around it or attributing some sort of nefarious motive.

 

^Yep, there is a lot of voodoo involved for sure. I think some vendors use it as an opportunity to make some extra profit, no faulting them for that, it's fine to do that. But as a smart shopper it pays to shop around and realize not all vendors charge the same when it comes to shipping.

Dale

 

Also has to do with bulk/commercial shipping rates. Very well could be the case where vendor A knows how to work the system, and vendor B is just using the over-the-counter shipping rate.

 

Absolutely. I also realized that OP was talking about Racing Beat charging a more. It *could* be the case that Racing Beat intentionally charges a higher rate in order to push customers to their dealer network. Perhaps the extra $ is to bank the cost of customer service they're going to provide vs having their dealers do it. You'll see this with other manufacturers as well, you can almost always find an Exedy clutch cheaper via one of their dealers then on their website. Mainly because even though they offer their products direct to consumers in order to establish a 'market price', they'd prefer to have customers buy through dealers and side step all the "where is my tracking number", install questions and down the line support. Most manufacturers just aren't setup for that and prefer staying B2B rather than B2C.

That's also very true. However, I'm sure Racing Beat isn't sitting in line at the Post Office. But it could very well apply to a number of smaller vendors.

 

That's fair. I don't really have any idea what their direct-to-consumer shipping volume would be. I doubt they are standing in line, but they may not have the volume to justify going after the lowest rates if most of their sales are through other vendors/dealers.

On this particular example (the exhaust catback) $100 vs $30 seems more likely to be due to bad rates than anything intentional. That's about the price I was quoted to ship a RX8 catback across the country before I checked shipping wholesalers that get the better rates. At that point it came out to ~$45.

 

You're right, $30 seems EXTREMELY cheap even with deep shipping discounts. Which means it's ALSO possible J-Auto or Pettit is taking a bath on the shipping because of the aforementioned VooDoo.

 

It's just a midpipe, not a full catback, but yeah I understand the shipping charges on those FC catbacks. The shipping quotes behind the scenes are indeed Voodoo. My guess has always been that there is an estimate based on package size and weight unique to that item + origin and destination zip code, plus whatever handling charge they want to pad it with. From a consumer standpoint I'm usually shopping after work hours and just need to get a couple parts ordered, don't always have time to call in and run shipping prices to ground. If I couldn't find it elsewhere I will call and try to negotiate shipping costs. I love RB, they've helped me out several times when my wifes Rx8 oil cooler lines rusted through. They make quality products for sure. Running their dual tip catback, front, rear sways and endlinks. But also lusting after that Garage Alpha titanium catback as well!

 

I had Turblown charge me $25 bucks to ship a fuel pressure sensor. I clicked submit order before I realized. I received the package and it had a $5.xx shipping charge on it.
Emailed them about it first praising them for their support to the community and checking if they realized etc , yada yada yada and never heard back. Before anyone chimes in yes I checked my spam. Last I ever gave them any money.

 

Well it's shipping AND handling. They had to take your sensor out for dinner before they could send it off USPS first class.

 

They could’ve taken a picture of them taking the sensor out to dinner and sent it my way. I would’ve liked to know my sensor was happy before she came my way haha

 

To bring this full circle I got the mid pipe today, plugged the dimensions into shippo 54x14x7 and 20lbs, $305 insured via UPS Ground it was $59 dollars.

 

I took your suggestions to heart when ordering some parts lately. Had some bulky and not bulky parts to order - radiator, AC condenser, plug wires, some odds and ends. Went to Sparkplugs.com and put the order together and was quoted $95 for shipping on their website. Same stuff from Rockauto.com was $14.95 to ship.

Rock Auto also will show what parts ship from the same warehouse as other parts in your order which can be handy. If you order from multiple warehouses you do spend more in shipping since it's separate boxes, this lets you easily figure out how to get it in one box to save on shipping.

I've said it before, just because you have an FD doesn't mean you should throw money away. It's an expensive car to own and maintain, but that doesn't mean you can't spend money smart.

Dale