Practice among folks who regularly use online OEM Honda
dealers (who are not local) is to wait until they have a
large order. Then s/h charges are a much smaller fraction of
the total.
From a check in the last month or so, my general impression
is that shipping is way up for all online OEM Honda dealers
(and no doubt anyone who ships). Gas prices and all. I think
"Handling" fees are often gravy for the online store, and
they can vary.
In just the last year or so, my googling suggests there has
been a huge increase in Honda dealers offering prices online
at the same or very similar discount rates as the older
online parts stores like Majestic. I stumbled onto a dealer
near me recently while googling. Parts were all listed
online for Ol' Faithful (my beloved 91 Civic). I called them
up and said, "Must I buy online to get the online price? Or
can I order over the phone then come down and pay and pack
up my parts, so I save myself the shipping and handling?
They were happy to let me order over the phone and save the
s/h charges. I pay sales tax, but that's well less than the
s/h charges. And, for the hopelessly ethical among us, one
is supposed to pay sales tax on internet sales anyway.
Once, the parts department did hiccup at me. I had stopped
by on the spur of the moment to buy a part, asking for the
online price. They rudely refused, which I thought annoying.
Just tell me the damn policy and I will conform. I went home
and the next day called on the phone leaving a message
asking what the official policy is for online prices but
local payment and pickup. No one called back. I placed the
order online (they have an option where you do not have to
pay) and went back, saying I'd ordered the part, may I have
the online price? They were much more cooperative. I reckon
they just haven't got their ducks in order on all this.
Maybe they count on the handling charge to make this
profitable and hesitate to deal with folks like me?
> On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:32:33 -0700, "Elle"
>>In the alternative, try either www.slhondaparts.com or
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> above the
> cost from a local dealer.
ident - 05 Mar 2008 03:07 GMT
>Practice among folks who regularly use online OEM Honda
>dealers (who are not local) is to wait until they have a
[quoted text clipped - 34 lines]
>Maybe they count on the handling charge to make this
>profitable and hesitate to deal with folks like me?
Online dealers would get more repeat business if they reduce S&H.
After my experience with Majestic, I've reverted back to buying
locally.
All 6 local dealers here have an online parts order form. However, I
think the order form is for pick up only. I filled one out yesterday
inquiring about prices but have not yet recieved a reply. Actual
online orders are done through estore.honda.com. Prices are also
sharply higher via eStore.
Elle - 05 Mar 2008 13:58 GMT
> All 6 local dealers here have an online parts order form.
> However, I
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> are also
> sharply higher via eStore.
I too saw that estore.honda.com connection the dealers have,
and that estore itself has higher prices. My local dealer's
prices are very close to Majestic's pre-s/h charges prices
though. (Not sure you meant that.)
> On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:32:33 -0700, "Elle"
>
[quoted text clipped - 23 lines]
> S&H accounted for 39% of the total and it pushed the total above the
> cost from a local dealer.
heh.
was about to order a bumper cover from an online dealer for an
unbeatable price, like $30 or something, when I noticed the shipping
was $120.