Quote:
Originally Posted by ratman67
i am running a full dse set up in my camaro, sub frame, quad link, subframe connectors wiper motor, mini tubs and other dse products as well as a bunch of other parts i needed for my build. i called dse and they will not budge on their list prices and i understand that they can't compete with their distributors, i ended up calling matts told them what i intended to buy for my car and asked what he could do for me if i ordered all my parts from him, he told me he would knock off 15% accross the board. my first order was 15k in parts, they were very knowledgeable, i felt it was win win for us both, i did get great service, great pricing, and fast delivery. so don't tell me you can't have all three. i will be making another order with them soon for 6 or 7 k to finish up my car and will do so with confidence...rm
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As someone that has a number of close relationships with companies on this forum, I'm slightly removed from this, since parts aren't paying my bills. However, I do know what is going on, and I hope that if I say it, maybe a few business owners won't have to, because this isn't exactly pretty, or nice, and I'm sure they would rather not have to say it themselves.
First, I'm glad you got a good deal. I remember the first time I purchased expensive 3 piece wheels. It was from Jon at Driverz about four years ago. I bought them because he was running a sale, and he was semi-local to me so that I could pick them up. That was important to me. Had Jon not been around, I probably would have purchased from Frank, which would have been $200ish cheaper. Glad I didn't and not because I would be worried about Frank's business practices. I'm glad I bought from Jon because he has been willing to stay late at the shop waiting for me, mount and balance countless tires, some of which I didn't even buy from him, oh yeah, and he put me up at his house for a night so that we could trailer my car up to SEMA, leaving at 3am, using his truck and trailer. I almost hate to think that is all because I spent $200 more on my first order. Hell, that almost seems like I've taken advantage of him in a criminal way. For that level of service I should have paid retail plus (a lot).
Ratman You probably don't realize it, so please don't construe this as me calling you out for doing something wrong, because you haven't really done anything wrong, but this exact scenario is what is killing dealers like Jon, or any of the others on this site. DSE doesn't offer a big profit margin to dealers who sell at retail. AT RETAIL. DSE supports their vendors, not by refusing to undercut them, but rather by attempting to keep prices even, no matter if you're buying directly from DSE or through their dealer network. That is something I hated about DSE at first, but have come to respect immensely. I can't believe Matt's took 15 percent off for you. You might have gotten a great deal, and the pricing cut probably won't affect you. However, that pricing cut directly affects the vendors mentioned in this thread. As Jon said earlier, it sets this precedent that everyone now needs to sell for 10-15 percent off with free shipping, etc. This is the real life example of the dealer making $350 on the $7000 subframe. Not only that, it affects all of the shops like Ironworks, or HPI or Best of Show, just to name a few - the shops who build cars, but who have also established dealer status with manufacturers. These shops are small outfits that are dealers primarily because they have built well made cars, and often manufactures make them dealers because they know the manufacturer's product inside and out, and represent it well in magazines, or at shows like Good Guys, or SEMA. These small shops never set out to make a living selling parts, they set out to make a living building cars. They can't compete on pricing because it isn't worth their while. In many cases, they don't even care if you buy parts from them anymore because the profit margin is too small. When they factor in the cost of their time, it just isn't worth it. That might not seem like it will affect the end customer, but it does. Hell it also affects the manufacturer. For example, if a customer is having a car built at a shop, and they are dealers for DSE, and have installed plenty of DSE subframes, but the customer decides to install a Morrison subframe because it was cheaper. Well, by the time that Morrison subframe goes into the car with the engine and headers, etc, it might end up costing more because of the time the shop spent figuring out how to install it. That is just an example of how cross shopping or finding the "best" deal, isn't always the cheapest in the end. In the same scenario, if the customer buys a DSE frame from someone other than the installer, then what is the point of the installer being a dealer for DSE. In the future they might not sell as much DSE product, and when it comes time for a customer to have the latest and greatest DSE product installed, it will take more hours for the shop to install it because they aren't familiar with it. You better bet that cost gets passed on to the customer. As for how that affects the manufacturer... Earlier I wrote that a lot of shops attained dealer status because a manufacturer wanted them to be. If the shops have no incentive to run the manufacturers products, then it hurts the manufacturer.
Matt