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Parts Suppliers & Shipping

amiles

New member
When I order parts for my Airhead due to no reasonably close dealer, I pretty much rotate my business from Bobs, Max and Repsycle. Last week I was ordering the pushrod seals and "O" rings so that I would be prepared to start the re-sealing job.

I went on line to Max where it turns out that the parts come to about $12.00. As I processed the order the lowest shipping price that I could find was about $13.00. This bothered me to pay as much for shipping as the parts themselves cost, the small size & weight of the parts added to my concern.

I decided to check elsewhere, Repsycle had the parts for within a dollar or so. The shipping came to $3.50. I placed my order with Repsycle, Shortly I received a padded "scotch" brand envelope about 7"X9" with .30?ó postage (first class no less) containing my parts.

I have no idea why either one charges as they do. I just know that I saved $10.00 on the deal.
 
i usually order from bob's or tom cutter, for proximity and quickness of shipping. i'm about half-way between them. i have not compared shipping costs though. prices are similar but sometimes one has stuff that the other doesn't.
 
I buy small parts all the time on ebay & some seem to charge for their time,the trip to the PO( this is a biggie for some private & commercial shippers due to distance or lines) & pkg materials. We had to be careful & not mail anything that wouldn't go through a mail drop to one son or he had to take off work & stand in line to get it. Not always user friendly! I see many commercial shippers that do UPS only , no matter the size & it will be $13-14 every time for little stuff. On ebay there are evidently lots of jerks that claim no delivery so many shippers want to prove it happened. I just bought some dates from a CA grower & they used the economical flat rate USPS boxes @ actual costs+ 143's of dates for $12.50. I bought a bunch of pecans lately from GA mostly & thats by far the cheapest way to ship nuts(golf balls too). In the realm of further shipping thoughts the USPS started charging for the flat rate pkg(was free-you could get a bunch if you wanted) & I had noticed that many were using them for UPS & FedEx and some would turn them inside out for Parcel Post so they started printing priority mail on the inside. Takes all kinds!
 
Getting some vendors to use parcel post is almost impossible. And even worse is trying to get tires shipped. I was even told by one moto-vendor that it was illegal to ship tires to Alaska....
 
You don`t know how lucky you are. I`m in Kanada, fortunately near the Michigan border. Parts or tires for my old airhead are not available here most of the time. If they are , it will be a 4-5 hour drive.
I usually order from one of the many suppliers in the USA that ship for free in country. I have my order sent to a Michigan UPS store , drive over and get it in a few days time. Insurance rates here are also WAY higher than yours so I must try to keep the costs of my "hobby" to reasonable limit.
 
Since I own a catalog company, let me comment on a few facts of shipping. Rates from FedEx and UPS are bizarre. If we ship an item across the street in NY, it cost $15. But, if I ship something from NY to CA it might cost $6. Distance has no bearing on the cost from these two shippers. If we ship something to TX, it might cost $6. If we ship something to the next town over in TX it might cost $35.

Both FedEx and UPS charge approximately $3 extra for residential deliveries. So, if you can have something shipped to you at work, you might save money. We call it an extortion fee charged by both FedEx and UPS. It isn't fair, but they get away with it.

Shipping by USPS is problematic. Our package lost rate is 1 out of 50 packages. UPS and FedEx lost rate is 1 out of 10,000. Then you have some dirtbags who like to claim they never got the package, and hope to get the product twice. This is one of the reasons why most companies don't like USPS. You also have to remember that credit card companies require shippers to prove that they delivered the package. The burden is on the shipper to prove deliver.

Both UPS and FedEx offer shippers a cheaper rate the more they ship. So, many shippers pick one shipping company, and pass along the savings to their customers. Yes, there are some shippers who like to profit on shipping, but right now, most don't. If the shipper has "handling" chargers, then they like to profit off shipping.

Shipping from the USA to Canada is a nightmare with FedEx and UPS. If we ship a $25 order to Canada, they will bang our customer $175 for customs processing and other extortion fees. Then they come back and bang us another $175, saying that the customer didn't pay the bill. It cost them very little to process the customs paperwork. The shipper enters all the information, so it is easy for FedEx and UPS to automatically process customs. But, they extort the money from the customer and the shipper. So, we only ship with USPS to Canada, and take our chances that it doesn't get lost.

Most shippers make their money on being able to ship an order quickly. Our average order processing time is 7 minutes, if we use FedEx or UPS. If we use USPS, then it takes 15 minutes. By using USPS instead of FedEx or UPS would require hiring twice as many employees. This would mean raising your prices so that you don't go bankrupt. It may seem trivial issue to customers, but it is a big issue for shippers. Our company has a $10 minimum. We break even once the order total goes above $10. So, if you order $10 of goods, don't be surprised if they charge you $12 for shipping cost that FedEx or UPS will charge them.

There are companies who do free shipping. They have very large profit margins and can factor that into the shipping. Some of them have markup of 1,000% to 10,000%. They can easily eat the cost of shipping. But, a BMW dealer probably has a 30-40% markup. They can't afford to eat the cost of shipping. If you are looking for a cheaper way of getting goods, then place a large order. Or, call the dealer and find out how to get cheaper shipping.
 
When I order parts for my Airhead due to no reasonably close dealer, I pretty much rotate my business from Bobs, Max and Repsycle. Last week I was ordering the pushrod seals and "O" rings so that I would be prepared to start the re-sealing job.

I went on line to Max where it turns out that the parts come to about $12.00. As I processed the order the lowest shipping price that I could find was about $13.00. This bothered me to pay as much for shipping as the parts themselves cost, the small size & weight of the parts added to my concern.

I decided to check elsewhere, Repsycle had the parts for within a dollar or so. The shipping came to $3.50. I placed my order with Repsycle, Shortly I received a padded "scotch" brand envelope about 7"X9" with .30?ó postage (first class no less) containing my parts.

I have no idea why either one charges as they do. I just know that I saved $10.00 on the deal.

This is a topic that is really a burr up where the sun don't shine. I have been working on three Airheads and when I started I thought the best course of direction was to order from MAX, Capitol Cycle and a third dealer whose name skips my brain. The service from all three of the US suppliers were excellent except for one little detail, shipping cost. Just for the heck of it I went to my local BMW dealer here in Calgary to see what the price difference was. On average I would have to pay about 6 - 8% more than if I were to get the same item from the US, but the huge savings were in shipping. The dealer has a policy that they charge $ 5.00 for shipping on everything. This is a no brainer for me in that I save on parts cost thanks to the added cost savings in shipping and I support the dealer.
 
I ordered a set of brake pads from my favorite source, Engle Motors, the BMW dealership in Kansas City. I got a call back from them a little later. They asked how much of a hurry I was in to get the pads. UPS ground was going to be about $8 and it would be $3 or so at the Post Office. I said there was no hurry so they saved me about $5 by caring to call.

Certainly not a big budget buster, but excellent customer service from a good dealer.

As for why the shipping and handling may be higher than the shipping cost you see on the label. It is that "handling" part. It takes more time and stuff to package your part to ship to you than it does to hand it to you over the counter. Some vendors greatly abuse the ability to inflate a handling charge in "shipping and handling". Others don't so it pays to pay attention. But a reasonable uptick above the pure cost of the payment to the carrier ought to be expected. I don't mind a reasonable charge because I like my favorite parts sources to stay in business.
 
I had no complaint over the $5.00 shipping, handling or whatever over the postage cost of my order. It seemed reasonable. As I said before I have no idea of the reality of doing business that these folks have.

Some years ago we had a local dealer. It got so I would drive about 7 miles with my list (complete with part numbers) wait while the lady did the computer entry (also verifying the accuracy of my selection)
two days or so later they would call & I was set. I did have to pay sales tax, but I thought this was a great situation. Unfortunately my business was not enough and the dealer closed. Gee I wish that dealer was back in business!!

I wonder how often (if ever) a customer congratulates himself on the item cost of an internet purchase, when in reality buying it locally would have ultimately cost less? The offset between local taxes & shipping costs and item cost that play into this.
 
.....I wonder how often (if ever) a customer congratulates himself on the item cost of an internet purchase, when in reality buying it locally would have ultimately cost less? The offset between local taxes & shipping costs and item cost that play into this.

Seems like we are spoiled here in Atlanta. Both local dealers BMW Motorcycles of Atlanta (NW), and Blue Moon (NE), have great parts customer service. They even offer special deals for BMW Motorcycle Club of Georgia members. It might be worth asking your local dealers if they give "club" specials.
 
Hey, my motorcycle is 40 years old this year. Regardless of shipping charges, I'm just glad I can still get parts (and occasionally some M&Ms ta boot).
 
Shipping from the USA to Canada is a nightmare with FedEx and UPS. If we ship a $25 order to Canada, they will bang our customer $175 for customs processing and other extortion fees. Then they come back and bang us another $175, saying that the customer didn't pay the bill. It cost them very little to process the customs paperwork. The shipper enters all the information, so it is easy for FedEx and UPS to automatically process customs. But, they extort the money from the customer and the shipper. So, we only ship with USPS to Canada, and take our chances that it doesn't get lost.

In my early days of moving parts across the border I got hit with this little surprise. The best part is that this bill arrives 30 to 60 days after you have the parcel, and then the phone calls begin - asking for payment. You are absolutely right, this is money for nothing and UPS and Fedex seem to look for any way they can to add this to the bill. I had one discussion where the Fedex employee admitted that the shipper had paid for a service that covered all brokerage but "they didn't check the right box on the form" so they felt justified in charging me for brokerage as well. If possible I use USPS/Canada Post who charge a maximum of $5 for brokerage. if not I use a parcel receiving service on the US side of the border and do my own brokerage.
Your other information was interesting as well as I have done some shipping and always wondered why the rates never seemed to be consistent.
 
Response to Max shipping cost

To the original poster of this thread. Late last year I bought a 1973 R75 and recently started tending to some of the issues that came with the bike and one of them was the push rod seals. I also noticed the $13 shipping charge for a couple of small orders I placed with Max. I believe I used the "Comment" and asked for a break on the shipping. I immediately (first thing in the morning of an order) got a response from Drew or Rusty that they had already reduced the shipping charges. Now these guys don't know me from anything but my point is it costs nothing to ask and in my case it worked fine so I think the original poster should show a little ambition. In the past Drew and Rusty were very helpful with questions I had as they should be if they want to stay in business.
 
I ordered a drive belt for my F800 last year from MAX. Shipping was going to be 43 dollars for a 500 dollar belt :scratch In the comments I asked if they could call me about the shipping.

I got a phone call that day and I was told that the way the belt was packaged was in a large box which is where my shipping costs were coming in. Size not weight. So I asked them to remove it from the original box and roll it up into a smaller box. They said that BMW didn't recommend folding it. I told them it didn't matter I was going to pack it in my luggage as a spare part anyway.

They rolled it up into a box for me and saved me 30 dollars in shipping.
 
Shipping Cross the USA and Canadian Border

Shipping from the USA to Canada is a nightmare with FedEx and UPS. If we ship a $25 order to Canada, they will bang our customer $175 for customs processing and other extortion fees. Then they come back and bang us another $175, saying that the customer didn't pay the bill. It cost them very little to process the customs paperwork. The shipper enters all the information, so it is easy for FedEx and UPS to automatically process customs. But, they extort the money from the customer and the shipper. So, we only ship with USPS to Canada, and take our chances that it doesn't get lost.

Read this and boy isn't that the truth! I had something years ago shipped by UPS when they first came into Canada as I was told they were the best thing since sliced bread. The $ 30.00 item with the exchange still cost me $ 90.00 for handling and brokerage fees. I now call them the little Brown Robber Trucks and absolutely refuse to ship anything with them Bought thousands of dollars of parts from the USA and the UK from fuel tanks to tires through the parcel post and have never lost anything. The UK and USPS are miles ahead of Canada Post for service. May be in trouble for saying that.....
 
I had to ship a seat to TX from CA that I was trading. I checked with UPS and it was going to be $46. USPS was going to be $44. FedEx was $18.
 
On large girth items(I shipped a car dash was when I learned this) FedEx usually rules. Commercial shipping contracts make some items like furniture feasible for shipping but illogical for the rest of us. If you ship much it pays to have an acct with USPS & other shippers to get online discounts but they wear you out with updating, so I've found.
My UPS story for the day: Last summer we shipped a son some of our heirloom tomatoes via UPS,KY to Birmingham,AL. We picked out six/eight really nice ones that were almost ripe but firm enough to ship & I wrapped each in foam then bubble wrap and took them to our local driver whom we meet down in our little town by calling his personal cell(nice feature for us is the same UPS driver everyday) and they go off to AL. After he doesn't get them soon I check the tracking and they show they are in Birmingham & were placed on the local truck there for his downtown loft apt delivery. They still don't come so I call UPS & they say they don't know what happened to them! I ask if the driver ate them for lunch & the girl gets testy with me.:laugh I finally gave up after a few days of trying to chase the tomatoes down & wait to file a claim. When the insurer for UPS calls me I am ask to describe the items lost. I told her they were heirloom tomatoes that had been meticulously grown, chosen & wrapped and were over $4# @ The Fresh Market in Lexington,KY produce section(the truth) and I collected almost $50 for my lost box of "maters". Time to start our seeds!!!:blah
The electricity teacher,Bill K. I used to work with, said one day, "Mike", "you know there's tomatoes and then there's maters and the difference is huge!":laugh

Oh, I forgot to ask-did I just read above that a drive belt for a BMW 800 cost $500!!!!!!!!!!! & $43 shipping!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:lurk:lurk:lurk:lurk:lurk
 
odering on ebay

the reason why shipping can be high on ebay is, ebay and paypal charges or gets a percentage on the sale but not on the shipping. The sellers might list the product below list but the shipping will well make up for the difference and they do not get taxed on that extra.
 
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