Technical Thread for really good AND really bad Amazon parts lol

When I buy parts online i find the manufacturers part number and search for that on line. More often than not it’s Amazon with the best price including shipping. I’ve bought a lot of brand name parts there. Hell i bought a Tremec tko600 from Amazon

 

I try to support small business when I can, even if it cost a little more, when the small guy goes under we all lose! HRP

 

Not supporting a Great Satan; just a pragmatist that understands how things are, not based on outdated emotions and fears.

 

I buy from Amazon as a last resort for two reasons. First, it is hard for me to find stuff there for some reason/Searches typically return what they want to sell me rather than what I want to buy. Ebay does the same but at least categories are easier to isolate. Rock for PNs and starting price. Then Ebay, then locals, then Rock then Amazon is my normal order of purchase, price being close. Of course, like everyone else I'm price conscious.

That said, the few things I've bought there were satisfactory, last being some air conditioning system tools, usable on cars and houses.

 

I have always bough American! Back in about 1962 a friend of my Dad’s came by and showed him his new VW. After he left I asked my Dad what he really thought about that car. He said” son, if people keep buying that forgien stuff, some day you will not be able to buy any thing made in the USA!
Well, it took fifty+ years but here we are!
I got laughed at, ridiculed , even yelled at, for buying American, over the years! And I tried to buy from the small business! But here in my home town the small businessmen , for years, said “ Take it or leave it, we are the only one in town! “ Well , the online stuff came around and now the small businessmen are begging for my help, now! Too, little , too late!
Around here, I go into a small business and they have to order EVERYTHING! If I have to w@it for an order, I’ll go to the internet, get it cheaper and faster!
These are just my experiences! At my age….I now do what’s best for me!




Bones

 

I use it mainly for consumables. Sanding, drilling, grinding, polishing, rattle cans, sometimes oddball fixings. Super cheap and mostly next day delivery.

Vehicle parts i prefer specialist vendors.

 

You have to wait for Amazon to refund (credit back your card) your money for about a month.

Wrong! I routinely get refunds the same day I return orders and I return plenty of them!

 

Why?

 

Bam! Next day ! Hard to beat it as harbor is an hr away

 

Thank you for getting the point of the thread.

 

I have a love hate relationship with uncle Jeff B.

 

There was a time when I strove to buy local on the “support the little guy” principle. But more and more, I found myself driving all over hell and gone only to get “out of stock / don’t stock it anymore / what the hell is that?” Meanwhile, the only NAPA in North Seattle closed; nearest is now a 1.5 hour round trip, if traffic is good.

Last straw was at the local plumbing supply store. Had to replace the aerator from one of our sinks. Both my bathrooms were remodeled using fixtures from these guys. Well, turns out the sink was discontinued and no parts available. Generic aerators? They had a handful, none with the right thread. The manager took my number, said he’d look into it. Never called.

So, I went hunting on Amazon, and there it was: $4, free shipping, arrived in two days.

There’s plenty of quality stuff on Amazon if you look for it. Things like Kroil penetrant and 3M Scotchbrite discs, which are damn hard to find locally.

Anybody remember the screaming deal on Flowtech block hugger exhaust headers for flatheads last year? It was all the rage on the Hamb for a while. $50 bucks on Amazon, shipped!

 

I’ve purchased a bunch of tools off of Amazon over the last few years like bearing puller kit, ball joint removal clamp, bearing seal installation kit, timing light, vacuum hand pump. The first two were barely fit for purpose, and are really sub-standard for their intended purpose. The other stuff is decent. Last year I purchased a Flow Master 10 series muffler for my OT truck, as well as some 4” exh tips. The muffler was made in China and not particularly well made (already rusting - 6 months later although it was powder coated), but the tips were of decent quality and I’m guessing they were made there as well. Overall, I would say it is a bit of hit and miss. I still buy locally when it makes sense, like I purchased the mandrel bent SS tubing for the exh system from a company in Toronto that has a great on-line store with most items in stk and had it shipped to my place near Ottawa.

 

I bought a
Rubber-Cal Tuff-N-Lastic Rubber Flooring Runner
I used for floor covering in my roadster it still looked good after 8 years

 

Just saw nochop's carbide burr reply. Yesterday I bought two locally. Should have gone to Amazon.

 

I buy on amazon a few times a week. Mostly for work related stuff, but also personal/home/auto.

Lots of tool purchases, trailer parts, truck parts for our fleet of work trucks. I'd say about 75% of these items are shipped from the manufacturer or a big name retailer through Amazon.

I needed a single ohm resistor for a project, nothing available locally, and online retailers had a minimum purchase amount, plus shipping cost, which put that single resistor over $20, and a 2 week wait... I found kit consisting of 1000 resistors on Amazon for $9.95 shipped to my door the next day. No, I don't need 999 spares, but it was the best deal available.

 

I bought a Tonneau cover for my OT pickup DIRT CHEAP on Amazon and it's pretty good quality!

 

Nothing on Amazon is shipped free unless you spend at least $35. Maybe shipping is free if you’re a Prime member.
Then it’s $14.99/mo or $139/yr. If you have a kid in college you can sign them up and get half off the membership.

 

I’m so clueless with this stuff, that one of my daughters had to remind that Prime membership includes the Prime channel. Lol!

 

I've been given the option of "trying prime free" nearly every time without ever having to pay for it

 

I’ve done it a few times and cancelled before the 30 days was up.

 

I guess if you have plenty of money you can spend it wherever you want, but I buy a lot from Amazon. Like @swade41 said, lots of companies use Amazon, and it's generally a better deal through Amazon. The fuel tank i just got that's pictured on my build thread was $99. That's delivered. Beautiful welds, nice fill cap. I ordered a few things there today and while I was at it, I ordered 100' of split loom. $20 delivered. Yeah I'll keep buying from Amazon. It's a free country, I get the best I can for the money I have. Helluva lot cheaper that the damn prices here in the classifieds

 

They were $38 a pair including shipping for the chromed steel ones. I bought two pair, this is the first pair. Quality is excellent. It was a Holley closeout deal, but buying them through Amazon was cheaper than direct from Holley's website. My girlfriend has Prime so the shipping was no extra charge.



That said, I prefer to buy stuff off of eBay rather than Amazon. I think their search is better (although both eBay's and Amazon's searches are pretty polluted and un-policed) and I find that even factoring in the shipping, the prices end up being the same.

Other than the header deal, (which was a great find and all glory to the guy who posted about it here so I could get some before they sold out), the only other thing I bought off of Amazon instead of eBay was a part for my shop's furnace, which no one on eBay was selling and the local place refused to sell me directly unless they could charge me to install it.

 

This used to be known as "penny wise and pound foolish" save a nickel end but up spending a dime...except the dime we are spending is our own small business infrastructure! when its gone it's gone for ever....Charley Varrick "The Last of the Independents"

China and Bezos thank you for your business... and while you're at it do it all with your bank/credit card... the big banks will love you too

 

I buy a lot of "used" car book from vendors who sell on Amazon, = small used book stores around the country that list the books that they have on the shelf and might not otherwise sell. Parts that I have bought for my OT ride are often shipped from an independent parts house who lists them through Amazon, Amazon dings them a bit of fees but they make a sale. A buddy of mine sells his books and his trop Rock Jimmy Buffet style music on Amazon along with his own site and that gets him a world wide audience and does move product.

Our choices for local parts houses are Autozone and O'Reilly's or drive a ways to a Napa. None have much in stock that fits my OT ride incuding the alternator that they want 250 for that Rock Auto and amazon have for 85 to 110 and Amazon can have here tomorrow afternoon. My friend closed his auto electric shop in Yakima several years ago or I'd just haul it to him but pay the Napa price for one of his top level rebuilds on it.

As for the intentions of the owner of Amazon, He has 400K + US employees who make a resonable to great wage even though they are expected to work their asses off. Those college kids who graduate with a degree in applied philosophy have to get a job somewhere.

 

Foolish is spending $10k on a car worth $8k because "you want to support local businesses". And $10k is roughly where I'd be had i followed your "sage" advice and made sure every last scrap was USA made sourced from small businesses. And car likely wouldn't be drivable at this point. As it is I have a fully drivable and road legal 53 Bel Air with some mild custom stuff and a V8 swap for right around $3k..... counting the cost of the car. An example is the $140 radiator that falls into your classification of "sub par Chinese junk" that not only has performed flawlessly for a year but actually fit better than the USA made radiator that was originally $700 that I used for mockup. Between that and my Chinese $145 shifter(that again functions flawlessly) together alone saved me over $800. Basically even without having sold a few unused original parts off my car those two parts. And essentially came with a free 53 Bel Air plus $100.


In any event you wanna talk business ethics or whatever do it somewhere else. This thread is to talk about actually good products and particularly bad ones not people butthurt over Chinese parts. And as my dad who owns a successful small business a good small business does not need supported.

 

When I look back on previous purchases from Amazon I’m always surprised at what I purchased. Mainly it’s household supplies that I can’t find at any local businesses but occasionally car parts or accessories. I will frequent parts stores for filters and oil if doing an oil change myself.

 

Honestly warehouse workers at the Amazon warehouse near me start out higher pay than the average mechanic around me

 

I saved 50% on shocks for my truck. Had em next day, but the suck was they sent me 1 wrong shock, probably boxed wrong,and I suspect the sellers specialize in returned items due to the box conditions. I returned the 1 and got the next...2 (!) in a day and they refunded my price for the pair. So my front shocks were free plus 1 extra. The 50% was off my commercial discount price, and my local Orielly takes good care of me. A friend of mine built a cpl hot Mopar motors with all name brand parts scored from Amazon. Said he saved a pile of $$$$. They're pretty short on 30s Packard parts tho. Go figure...

 

Used books can be bought at bookfinder.com, where you can compare new vs used books (sometimes the new one is cheaper than the used copy which is priced as unobtanium). I have bought used books from England, Europe and Canada.