spoolage

iTrader: (2)

Hey all,

Currentley this is just a thought between my brother an I, and a small way for me to make a little profit while I am finishing up my last year in college.

My brother will be leaving for Tokyo at the end of this month for a job and will likely become a resident there for a minimum of 4 years. I figured, instead of going through a US based distributor for car parts, why not get the parts I need for my car from the manufacturer direct?

The point of this thread is to get an idea of the interest in doing something like this (group buys for JDM Imported parts) and to figure out what parts people are looking for / need so I can begin to put together a list.

If I were to do this, I would take a 5 - 10% commission fee on the items (depending on cost + total volume), on top of all costs; importing and shipping to you door, start to finish

Hypothetical Example: Coilovers = $1200.00 / Shipping (Importing + Delivery to you) = $200.00 / I tack on a 5% commission fee = $70.00 / Total = 1,470.00

Fire away with thoughts & ideas

Broken09

iTrader: (1)

Moving to 3rd gen section.

Rx72Heaven

iTrader: (2)

Its a good idea, but nothing against you or anything, people have tried this before, and forum members just feel more comfortable from buying from a reputable source like Japan2LA or FDNewbie. Its nothing personal, just there are scamers out there (not saying you are) and people like to have their asses covered.

So if it works you have over 1 thousand posts, so maybe people will consider this, but just to fair warn you.

_Mark

purerx7

iTrader: (61)

I would be very interested, i am tired of waiting for months for my parts from Japan or having implications with the business partner that resides in Japan, looks like you may have resolved this issue. I would love to have someone bid on stuff from yahoo japan auctions and then ship it to me.

M104-AMG

iTrader: (8)

Only for specific parts like a 4.33 rear diff or JDM tranny, and only if the final price is significantly less expensive than going through an established vendor like J2LA.

With at least J2LA, if something is wrong, he usually has enough stock to make it right.

:-) neil

spoolage

iTrader: (2)

Mark,

Thanks for your input and I could not agree more. Having owned various cars and purchased countless parts for all of them, ranging from $10.00 to thousands of dollars, the biggest issue I have dealt with is the credibility and reliability of businesses. My father has been in investment banking all his life and the one thing he has taught me is that reputation is all an individual has in the business world, and once your reputation is tarnished, you are toast.

I hope to start small with this process, and hopefully develop it further, but my primary interest, and my whole reason for even considering this route is that; when looking for used parts, be it a steering wheel, turbo or engine, the quality and condition of the items I have received and seen friends receive, are often sub par to my personal expectations.

Hopefully, once my brother is living there and once he has settled in with his job, I will have a better idea of the logistics behind my idea. But the real issue for me has always been the language barrier and the inability to actually contact a manufacturer / distributer / private seller, half a world away in Japan. Not only will I now have a contact in that area; my brother speaks Japanese fluently.

With this new opportunity for me, I just wanted to shout out to the forum members for anyone that may be interested in taking advantage of this opportunity for them selves.

Greg