Rockauto is not good for folks that one a “one click” purchase kind of experience nor is it good if you need your parts immediately. Rockauto is phenomenal for folks that can plan in advance, stack parts from a single warehouse, and have some time to wait for the parts to arrive. There is no one-stop way to shop for car parts, shop around.
RockAuto Sucks! or How Rockauto charges excessive shipping with pics.
- Thread starter Rand
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Yeah but you get a FREE MAGNET in every box. The more shipping locations the more magnets you get. Thats the benefit, dident you know that?
RA has been doing this for years, I actually talked to them about this exact thing about 5 years ago, at first they "didn't understand" what was happening and implied I was mistaken. Then they acknowledged that it might happen only in certain circumstances...BS. I now buy about 10% of what I used to buy from RA, because of their "warehouse shipping tricks". But then again, Amazon sells so many fake parts that is a gamble too.
I was excited to see an exhaust on sale there. Until I got to the shipping, it was over $300!!! I guess the length was an issue. But at that price I can get 3 pipes locally. I do still use them, you just need to play the game of switching stuff around till the shipping gets better. I often times add stuff like filters or small things and it does get better.
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but how is that work pronounced?Good post AND I learned a new word today!
AutoMechanic
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It’s always so disappointing when you don’t get a magnet or when you get one you already have. Lol. Heck half the time I don’t get a magnet lol.
You're on the right track. Essentially, Rockauto is a dropship management company (and I doubt they actually "own" any parts). They have access to many different warehouses that can have different inventory. If you research the different addresses that they ship from, they come back to third parties.
When you order from Rockauto, they're telling Joe's Parts in Pittsburgh that they need to ship out a muffler, and they're telling Sam's Parts in Toledo that they need to ship out a pair of axles. Sometimes, you get lucky and Ben's Parts in Nashville has a different brand's muffler and axles in stock. But, sometimes Ben's Parts may have the muffler and One axle, so the second axle needs to come from Sam's Parts, because they don't also have the muffler.
Sometimes you have to play the "cart shuffle" game to find the right combination, source the outliers from elsewhere, or eat the additional shipping charges.
Wiper blades in particular can be a PITA to purchase from Rockauto because that instantly means they need to ship in a long rectangular box. You go from needing a 12x12x12 box to needing a 12x12x24 box.
I wouldn't say it's intentionally malicious, but it's not the smartest process either. It would help if RA had a feature that said "Hey if you switch this X brand part to this Y brand part, you can avoid an extra shipping fee"
Yeah I've got maybe 25+ magnets....
I normally try to buy my parts all from the same warehouse if I can. Prices for me are usually better than local shops. It's a pain, bit until someone can do Rockauto like selections with Amazon Prime shipping model, what can we do? Amazon in Canada is usually much more expensive IMO.
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Kal UHM' knee us.
They likely use an algorithm to make more things available, and it is up to YOU to decide how you want it.
Do you want to buy from one single source that ship for less but a higher price? or do you want multiple sources with excessive inventories who sell for cheaper? RA only just combine them and list only the lower price. I think it would be even more confusing if adding item makes the prices go up instead of shipping split up, right?
Do you want to buy from one single source that ship for less but a higher price? or do you want multiple sources with excessive inventories who sell for cheaper? RA only just combine them and list only the lower price. I think it would be even more confusing if adding item makes the prices go up instead of shipping split up, right?
Good post AND I learned a new word today!
You can do a Bing search for the word and it should return a clickable, audible pronunciation for it. Tried to get it to transfer into this response but was unsuccessful.
Dropped them like a hot potato that scalded me.
Never looked back.
I see alot of people posting their rock auto experiences and calling others whiners..
In this case I have to believe you didnt actually look at the first post or perhaps you missed the point entirely.
To reiterate:
I HAD the 2 wipers coming from same warehouse. deleted a part from the cart and it moves the 2 wipers that were coming from warehouse to 2 separate warehouses.
that isnt optimization. That is thievery.
I checked 20 wipers if you pile them in 6-10 at a time.. it will show bunches coming from same place.(usually 2-3 warehouses total A B C)
as soon as you whittle it down to 2 wipers they are magically not coming from the same location even though they just showed they were coming from the same location.
That isnt someone playing their game wrong.. that is deliberate flagrant theft.
In this case I have to believe you didnt actually look at the first post or perhaps you missed the point entirely.
To reiterate:
I HAD the 2 wipers coming from same warehouse. deleted a part from the cart and it moves the 2 wipers that were coming from warehouse to 2 separate warehouses.
that isnt optimization. That is thievery.
I checked 20 wipers if you pile them in 6-10 at a time.. it will show bunches coming from same place.(usually 2-3 warehouses total A B C)
as soon as you whittle it down to 2 wipers they are magically not coming from the same location even though they just showed they were coming from the same location.
That isnt someone playing their game wrong.. that is deliberate flagrant theft.
I read your post. Suck it up, move on, utilize other vendors.
For some, it takes lots of connected neurons to come to that realization
It's very simple, they depend on your money...keep it in your wallet!
Especially if they screwed you once.
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