Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

I have recently run into some serious frustrations with multiple vendors regarding shipping prices. Certain popular vendors (no names) charge shipping per order total.. certain others seem to base it on weight, and maybe also a combination of weight and total. I can see the total value having an impact as it may raise their prices for insurance reasons, but i cant quite understand how I should pay $20 for shipping something that weighs a few ounces and can fit in an envelope or can flat rate box as an average consumer for $6.

I recently tried to order (3) instrument bulb clips from a popular and well respected vendor here on the boards, $2 each, for an order total of $6. Shipping was $19, and we all know these can fit in an envelope.

Whats the deal here? That is absurd.

With that being said, does anyone know a good place to order instrument panel bulb clips? I thought I checked all of the vendors. Brothers charges 8 each and is the only place I saw aside from the aforementioned well respected vendor...

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

I assume you are looking for the socket that holds the bulb and turns into the back of the cluster? If so they can be had at almost any DIY auto house for about $2 under part number PC194.

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

...I can see your point...somewhat...and agree...somewhat.
This supposed 'surcharge' shows up the most on lower value items as being really apparent..and light bulb parts are a very good example.
You have to remember whoever that vendor is, they are working out of their home and have to go get that item, package it up, drive it over to the post office, stand in line, mail it and drive home.
Now even if all of that takes 1/2 hr...its worth at least a few bucks in effort and gas...to get that to you.
The big fixed location dealers can absorb it a little easier in their 'overhead' I think.
The good news is that when you buy something that is higher value...say $50-$100 or more...that whole 'cost of effort' surcharge (if its there at all) doesn't change much or go up too much and kind of disappears in the whole value of the order or purchase.
Most guys here, myself included, do it mostly to simply move stuff around to guys who need it...God knows no one to my knowledge is retiring off of these transactions. I like seeing someone get connected to parts they can't find elsewhere...because I'm just the same when I'm looking for parts.
My two bits.
Coley

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

X2. If you are near a junkyard they are plentiful there as well.

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

With all do respect, I highly doubt any vendor goes through that kind of trouble to individually ship each order. It would seem common sense even if they are hand delivering their items to their deliverer of choice, that they go once a day.

I don't understand why there isn't more of an effort to calculate a rough actual shipping cost. One of our preferred vendors charges SOLELY off price of parts. A handful f screws and grommets may cost you 25 to ship. Ridiculous

In short, what Im getting at is even if they should charge a 'surcharge' over actual shipping costs, it should be a small $ value per order or they are not shipping enough to stay in business anyway.


LeeH and LeddZepp

Thanks a lot for the tips on finding those locally, im a dummy and didnt even think to check there. Thanks!!

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

I just find when I order from "this" vendor that I have compiled a little shopping list to get the most bang for my shipping buck just for that reason!!! ;)

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

...well a lot of guys here...'vendors' I guess, do go to a certain amount of trouble to handle, package and label these things individually and ship them out.....I know I do.
There is a limit to what that effort is worth I suppose. I wish I had a 'free shipping department'...that way I could just type the order through to them to handle....but I'm fresh out of shipping elves this season!!:lol::lol:

Coley

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

OR

The next time you need some small item like this, ask a board member such as myself or anyone for that matter and I could ship you a handle full of the instrument bulb clips/holders for under $10.00 with shipping. If I bothered to count them, there is probably 400 that I have washed and cleaned and have ready for cluster builds.

No rhyme or reason to shipping cost. I just had a similar situation with a vendor and was charged a different price for shipping the same part more than once.

This is a great resource and there are plenty of us here that are willing to help with the small stuff :)

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

Im not referring to 'guys on here', hobbyists, or anyone else other than a legitimate business. The 'vendors' I am referring to are, well, vendors. If that is not the right word, maybe it is 'store'. Examples are as follows: Brothers, LMC, GMCPauls, Classic Heartbeat, Classic Parts, etc...

I know there are active folks on this board that run and speak for some of the previously named stores, feel free to shed light on this if you'd like.

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

Thank you! I am fortunate enough to live 1/4 mile from the big three auto parts suppliers, I will be checking them tomorrow and if they don't have them, you will be hearing from me!

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

There are expenses that private sellers don't usually take into consideration.
The bulbs ideally could be shipped for $3 and cost $3 for a total of $6.
Private sellers normally use what ever packaging they have on hand and drop it off for shipping on their way to work. A business has a person that needs to be looked at as a profit center to stay in business. That person needs to make back his pay check plus.
The packaging needs to be paid for. Scales, tape, boxes, dock equipment, all come into play. knowing the weight of all the items you sell take a lot of time to do. None of its free to the business. A private seller doesn't have these expenses. A business makes maybe 20 cents on a $3 bulb order so they do have to make the shipping profitable. Some add a handling charge. So the $3 bulbs with $5 handling and $12 UPS that cost them $6 comes up to $20. They now turn a $0.20 profit into a $10.20 profit that covers the workers paycheck and shipping supplies.

Some very light items that maybe large in size fall into the DIM weight, Dimensional weight, and UPS charges what a package that size "could" hold and UPS charges that rate so a dash pad that is a 3 lbs goes in a box that can hold 25 lbs you get charged that rate for 25 lbs. Gas tanks fall into this category all the time actual weight is 27 lbs but UPS uses DIM weight and charges for 75 lbs.

Percentage of the sale is a very accurate way of estimating ship cost but its a cost over time way to do it. You take sales for a period of time say 90 days and calculate the sales versus shipping cost for those sales and that's your ship rate per dollar sold. It makes shipping on $3 more reasonable than weight plus handling. The problem for the business is that you may not know you lost big money on shipping until 90 days later.

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

If a vendor is going to turn shipping into a profit center, then maybe on low cost items, they could bump up the shipping charges a little and advertise the low cost items as "Free + Shipping and handling". Everyone likes "Free" stuff. They could advertise the low cost items as "Shipping included" or "Free shipping" and just bump up the price of the item. Bottom line is people feel like they are getting ripped off when shipping costs more than the price of the item they are buying or when they pay a premium for an oversize package and when the item arrives they find their part (brake lines) have been folded to fit in a standard size box. I will never do business with anyone who has played the shipping game on me.

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

I agree with your reasoning but the fact is most all do that in one form or another and somehow shipping needs to be paid.

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

Well worded, I agree.


I don't think anyone has a problem with paying shipping. Like mentioned above, trying to make substantial profit on some orders under the name 'shipping' is not right. If someone has to do this to stay in business, sounds to me like prices are too low.

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

I think most everyone expects to pay for shipping costs when they order things online and if they don't they need to become more realistic. The vendors can't be expected to eat the cost of shipping but shipping costs should be exactly that, the actual cost of the cardboard box (or envelope) + the actual cost to have an employee pack and process the box + the actual amount paid to the shipping company to send the package. Anything else will lead to unhappy customers and sacrifice return business. It doesn't take long for a dissatisfied customer to tell their friends, take this forum for example.

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

Here is my example:

I send my clusters for the 67-72 pick ups in a box that is 24 x 10 x 8. It takes me about 1/2 hour to assemble the box, wrap the cluster in bubble wrap, tape the box and print and place the shipping label from Fed-Ex on the box.

The cost for Fed-Ex is about $18.00 on average plus a $2.00 box plus $2.00 in bubble wrap plus .50 cents in shipping tape. If you consider 1/2 hour of you time is worth $7.50 this will all add up to $30.00 to ship a gauge cluster.

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

Do you charge your customers the $30 for shipping? If you do then you are charging the actual cost of shipping and no one should have a problem with that. There was an example in an earlier post where the actual amount paid to the shipping company (I think it was UPS) was $6 and $12 was being charged to the customer, not the actual costs for shipping.

The reason I am so spun up about this is I once ordered some rubber parts from a company on the East coast. The parts cost about $15. After everything was added up the total was around $45. When I received the parts they came in an envelope and the postage on the envelope was about $2.50. $30 for an envelope and a little postage? On another occasion, I ordered some brake lines from a vendor on this board (I won't say who, they know who they are), I had to pay extra because the brake lines had to ship "oversize". When I received the brake lines, the long ones were folded in several places and arrived in a standard size box. I will never order anything from either company again. Treat your customers right and they will order from you over and over again...treat them like you don't care if they come back and they won't. Just saying.

Sorry for the rant.

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

I have never charged $30.00. I charge only the $18.00 that Fed-Ex charges me. Keep in mind this is only an example. I may charge a few dollars more here and there. I consider shipping supplies and my time to prepare a shipment as the cost of doing business and that is something I do not charge for.

I am not a huge fan of the "flat rate box". I think it creates a situation where an item is getting stuffed into a box that is not big enough to save a few dollars and the item usually comes with some type of damage.

If you treat people right and they know where there hard earned money was spent, they will come back.

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

That usually happens on ebay when you see a master cylinder for $6 and shipping of $45. I'm talking about 8-10% markup on the total ship cost of the order. I don't markup and what they charge I charge but it is a industry practice to markup.

Re: Instrument Panel Bulb Clips / Shipping
 

You have a legitimate complaint if that's what happened. Charging $30 to ship and sending it parcel post for $2.50 is a ripoff plain and simple. Sounds like an eBay deal.