What is up with the rockauto multiple warehouse crap.

[pauleyman]

I know for a fact this is manipulated to get more shipping out of you . The warehouses are likely right next to each other. I've tested this by adding and removing parts and the location changes. This is bad business.

 

[CrackedDSM]

I warned you guys about this about a year ago when I said this. Everyone's reply was "oh just try harder to get it shipped from the same warehouse".

It's a push to get more money out of you by using the same lame excuse all businesses do. "Shipping prices".


It's like our DSM vendors here. They're nice to have, but some of them are scumbags. One of them wanted me to pay like $15 to ship something that I personally could ship in a padded envelope for $4. We live in a world now where bad business is how all businesses are conducting themselves because NO ONE stops shopping at/buying from these places.

Glad it's finally being noticed though.


Edit: Found the post. Actually called this 2 years ago.

RockAuto.com Discount Code Rock Auto Rockauto

5% Discount Code: A3C6AE96F779DF Expires: August 11, 2022Please enter this code in the ‘How Did You Hear About Us’ box to receive the discount. Please enter ONLY the discount code, no other words or numbers. All orders are placed online and the discount code must be entered before an...

www.dsmtuners.com

 

[pauleyman]

I warned you guys about this about a year ago when I said this. Everyone's reply was "oh just try harder to get it shipped from the same warehouse".

It's a push to get more money out of you by using the same lame excuse all businesses do. "Shipping prices".


It's like our DSM vendors here. They're nice to have, but some of them are scumbags. One of them wanted me to pay like $15 to ship something that I personally could ship in a padded envelope for $4. We live in a world now where bad business is how all businesses are conducting themselves because NO ONE stops shopping at/buying from these places.

Glad it's finally being noticed though.


Edit: Found the post. Actually called this 2 years ago.

RockAuto.com Discount Code Rock Auto Rockauto

5% Discount Code: A3C6AE96F779DF Expires: August 11, 2022Please enter this code in the ‘How Did You Hear About Us’ box to receive the discount. Please enter ONLY the discount code, no other words or numbers. All orders are placed online and the discount code must be entered before an...

www.dsmtuners.com

I've noticed for quite some time. I just bitched about it because I just placed an order with 5 different warehouses. Obviously that's crap.

 

[CrackedDSM]

I've noticed for quite some time. I just bitched about it because I just placed an order with 5 different warehouses. Obviously that's crap.

Yep. It's been bad for awhile, but it's getting worse for sure. I bought two wiper blades, and they both came from different "warehouses" so shipping was conveniently just enough to put it in the same price range as the closest competitor has the same wiper blade priced.


It's the same shit people do on eBay. If Product A is listed on eBay from all your competitors at $40, you list your product A for $20, then hide the extra $20 in "shipping fees".

 

[Michael Helsel]

It's pretty upsetting to try to coordinate warehouses and having them change until you edit the cart by removing certain items.

 

[jdxnc]

So take the part number and put it into google or Amazon and buy it elsewhere for about 10-15% more typically. With the amount of stock they have, it's simply not possible to stock it all on one location.

 

[CrackedDSM]

So take the part number and put it into google or Amazon and buy it elsewhere for about 10-15% more typically. With the amount of stock they have, it's simply not possible to stock it all on one location.

Or in my case, actually get it cheaper from Amazon by $10 and get 2 day shipping.

Fan motor for the cooling fan was like $36 after shipping on RockAuto, Amazon had the same model and everything for $25 after taxes.

A few other times I've actually ended up paying near same price as RockAuto including shipping and got the part from a parts store. No wait times. Honestly, RockAuto is nothing special anymore. Not like it was. I use it like I would Advanced Auto, AutoZone, etc. Just another big box store to see where I can get the best deal. Kinda sad, because it used to be SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than any other competitor.

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

I haven't conducted an investigation on this nor am I interested in doing so, but I can say this much. My last order shipped from two warehouses. Two items shipped from "A" and two items shipped from "B". Both items from "A" arrived on a Thursday and both items from "B" were delivered on the Saturday two days later. I checked the tracking numbers for all items/shipments, 4 in total. All of the items shipped within hours of each other. The items from "B" did indeed ship from another state entirely.

That isn't to say that they're entirely accurate/honest with every order, but I'm sure they are in many cases.

There can be a multitude of reasons for one to shop with RockAuto, and if shipping cost or location was your only reason - I'm sure you would have already stopped using them. Something else draws you back in. For me it's the fact that no place locally keeps the parts we need, and no place else explodes my email with discounts, even if they're a measly 5%. Often times I can snag 30% off at Autozone, but their parts are usually junk, and still more expensive than RockAuto's better part shipped.

I do miss the days of 98 cent Wix filters and $2 Trico wiper blades though. With minimal shipping strings attached.

 

[curt-s]

I can buy a full set of rotors and pads from rockauto for any vehicle I own and have them ship it up across the border and it's still cheaper than getting them locally here in Canada. Now that's a thinker.

 

[Tiki2777]

Yea it's super irritating especially the RockAuto example.
For another hobby, try buying trading cards on TCGplayer, you play a similar game of spending a couple hours configuring how to best assemble cards in a cart from different sellers (I.E. warehouses in the RockAuto example) to get hurt the least from shipping costs.
I agree, there are actual DSM vendors or sponsored vendors who charge an arm and a leg for like a less than 1 pound item to be shipped with essentially a padded envelope. I get that small items may seem like a nuisance for mid size businesses to spend time shipping out.....but often that can be the difference from the consumer spending their money with you vs choosing someone else OR NO ONE else.

 

[danl]

So take the part number and put it into google or Amazon and buy it elsewhere for about 10-15% more typically. With the amount of stock they have, it's simply not possible to stock it all on one location.

I order via Napa and pick up in store for a lot of things these days. Rockauto has lost their value for me.

 

[Mahreeoh17]

Remember when Rock Auto first came out with tv commercials and they would rip on auto parts stores for having to "check the warehouse"?

Oh how the turns have indeed tabled.

 

[Bigmike4g63t]

Just depends on the part. I ordered a altenator for my wife's jeep from them. It was the exact same part and brand as my local autozone. Autozone was $489. Rockauto was $149.

This was not even 2 months ago.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Remember when Rock Auto first came out with tv commercials and they would rip on auto parts stores for having to "check the warehouse"?

Oh how the turns have indeed tabled.

Legitimately I predicted to my wife as soon as I saw the first RockAuto commercial that this was the beginning of the end for the beloved cheap service. I 100% said "Great, now it's gonna get popular and turn out just like the parts stores."


You can call me Crackedstradamus.

 

[Bigmike4g63t]

However, i ordered a bunch of stuff last week and it said shipping from 4 warehouses. It was some stuff where I did t really care about the brand so I played around with the parts and ended up payi.g shipping from 2 warehouses. Still saved around $60.

 

[Screemin eagle]

I miss when rock auto was good.

 

[jed344]

I myself still try to buy stuff from my local parts stores as the napa's and carquests are locally owned. Support them. But i did notice the rock auto thing as we buy quite a lot from them too.

 

[DES3291988]

Hey everyone, I thought I would be able to help with all of your questions regarding RockAuto and the "multiple warehouses" discussion.

My company sells to RockAuto. We are a small outfit (less than 15 employees), and we have worked with them for going on 12 years. RockAuto does not have their own inventory, they rely on suppliers (like us) to stock parts for them. I am unsure the amount of warehouses they use, but it's not a small number.

Their website algorithm in based heavily on price, and slightly based on location. So if we sell a rotor to them for $20, and another warehouse is offering it for $25, they will use us 99% of the time regardless of location because we are offering a better price. If we are the same price, their next step is to determine what else we might have on the order. They really do their best to have as many parts ship from 1 warehouse as possible, but that's hard to do.

RockAuto is purely a logistics company. They negotiate extremely low rates with FedEx, UPS, LTL carriers, etc and markup the freight (to you). That is a very large portion of their business and profit. So the reality is that warehouses like us NEED to offer them the lowest price we can otherwise our parts will sit on the shelf. No skin off their teeth as they aren't paying for the inventory. We are in great standing with RockAuto and I have nothing bad to say about them as a company. The only downside is the competitive nature of doing e-commerce.

Our inventory is listed "live" on their website. The price you see for certain items is exactly what we are selling it to them at, plus their normal 5-7% markup. That is all they take on the parts. The rest is purely logistics and freight rates.

If there are any additional questions I would be glad to answer them