It Pays To Shop Around

[BAT]

First of all I am not trying to dis anyone here on how they do business, just sharing a recent experience. I recently placed a $1,900 order with GMC Pauls because I have read good things here about the quality of their products. Well imagine my surprise when a portion of my order showed up from Brothers and an invoice to GMCPauls with my ship to. OK, so I get that hey are in business to make a profit, but it turns out that some of the parts I purchased from Paul's are actually cheaper at Brothers on line.

Lesson learned... Shop around!!!

[SuperC10Tex]

Amen Brother......no pun intended!!!

[Shyguy]

Yep, you are right it sure helps to shop around. When we buy parts we do a lot of research on the internet before ordering parts.

I got a passenger side inner fender at Partsgeek for a lot less than most places with real reasonable shipping. It was good quality and fit well.

We use to have a local guy that bought in quantity so he could get free shipping and passed the savings on to his customers. He has since closed down his place and went on to other ventures. He also carried used parts and would often just give a part to us for free.

[Lee H]

Not many know but Brothers has a wholesale operation that supplies parts to most of the other retail outlets. That's where those parts came from, not the retail side. When I was in the parts buying mode for my restoration I got stuff from most of the name brand places that came with Brothers packaging. I was always relieved because I find Brothers has top quality parts. For big orders or high price parts it pays to shop around to get the best price for like quality parts.

[bollybib]

If I've got a project that I'm ready to commit a significant amount of money to, I make a list of all the parts and material I think I'll need and put them on a spreadsheet. Then I go through as many vendors as I think necessary and price everything out. It's tedious, but it keeps my cost down. It's also a good way to learn about different vendors' products, pricing, shipping, and terms.

[davepl]

I'm probably $5K into LMC and friends... when I started the restoration I compared prices on every part, and there were indeed differences. But as I went I found that (as an example) LMC ships free, including trucking freight, when your order is over $1000. So I wound up "batching" my orders up, putting heavy items in the big orders where the freight was free, and so on.

Which is my way of saying "I agree, but there's more to it than price". After all, even if some of the OP's parts shipped from a different vendor (which is indeed weird), he probably only paid shipping once.

[BB72CHEVKT]

I know some folks are almost LMC exclusive with good luck but that is the only place I have black balled after I think only one purchase.

[PanelDeland]

I think the best deal comes from dealing with a vendor enough to get a bit of a deal.Especially if you can pick up the parts and save shipping.I'm talking several orders over time.It's like almost anything else,if you buy in volume you usually can work a discount.

[bobs409]

Originally Posted by bollybib

If I've got a project that I'm ready to commit a significant amount of money to, I make a list of all the parts and material I think I'll need and put them on a spreadsheet. Then I go through as many vendors as I think necessary and price everything out. It's tedious, but it keeps my cost down. It's also a good way to learn about different vendors' products, pricing, shipping, and terms.

I do the exact same thing! You can save alot doing that.

[WadmalawJoe]

The spreadsheet idea sounds great. I thought I was doing good with my list of parts needed and prices from various places. I'm not fast on the computer so setting up a spreadsheet would take me a minute, but would be nice to see everything at once on one page.
I was surprised to see how much some items have gone up over the last month. I'm not sure if they are taking advantage of holiday shoppers or is it just "inflation". It made me wonder about how much prices will rise next year with the Obamacare crap and various other taxes.

[TobyArnot]

Brothers is not the only vendor doing this. I restored a '62 Bel-Air ten years ago. Ordered parts from The Car and Truck Shop in Orange, Ca. and they were shipped to me (S.C.) from Cali. in boxes from Hubbard's Impala Part (in N.C.) Plus they had removed all the hardware and charged extra for them. My big gripe with Brothers has always been the major backorders.

[midniteblues]

yep I research everything before forking over $.
the thing I dont like is ususally when I pay new prices for something I end up finding the same thing for less elsewhere anyways.

[GMCPaul]

BAT I went thru and reviewed your order with us. In the entire order their were 2 items that you could have purchased from Brothers retail for less than we sold to you for getting you a total savings before shipping of just over $10.00
After shipping the cost would probably hae worked out to be the same or more than us getting it delivered to you.
Of these 2 items you could have saved by buying direct from Brothers retail 1 of the items they recently raised our wholesale price on by nearly 15%, we adjusted our price accordingly when the wholesale cost when up. They I suspect will adjust their retail price on the same part upward once they get the new catalogs printed as has been their practice in the past.
The remainder of the order we were less than them on every part. Which helped you save around $175.00.
I do definately buy some items wholesale from Brothers plus from a few other vendors as I want the BEST parts there are and in order to get some of these parts you have to purchase it from other retailers that are having it made, and if I run out of a part and I know Brothers has it from the same supplier I'll get them to ship it rather than make you wait for it to arrive here then ship to you.
I also wholesale many of our items to other truck part retailers also and we do drop ship to their customers at times but thankfully to my knowledge we've never included their invoices or information in these drop ships to show the parts were from us as we even place their return address on the labels when we print them to ship.
I'm sorry if you felt slighted that you paid more, and you are correvct it does pay to shop around I do the same thing myself when shopping. Myself and the people I have working for me try our best and Always try to go the extra mile to keep our customers happy.
Paul @ GMCPauls

[RenoKeene]

^ Very well posted.

[Portmod7]

Just to throw my $0.02 in, GMC Paul's is the best place I've ordered parts from. I go to them first, and the only time I don't order from them is if they absolutely don't have what I'm looking for.

Very rarely are they more expensive than the others, and like they stated above, the net result is usually them being cheaper overall. Not only that, when they make a mistake, they fix it RIGHT NOW. Plus, I've had them call me right away when they notice something that doesn't look quite right on my order before they process it.

Maybe I'm hallucinating, but I'll tell you what I've seen Brothers do, that just makes my stomach turn over; they promote these "HUGE SALES" all the time, and you get the flier with "40%" off and the "normal" price marked out and a "sale" price below it that looks too good to be true. Well, if you compare pricing, I've found it normally is too good to be true, and their "40% off sale price" is only slightly below, if not the same as everyone else's regular price, or maybe higher. They've got the crossed out "normal" price jacked up 40%, and if you aren't paying attention you think you're getting a screaming deal. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I've noticed

So like I said, just my $0.02, but I am extremely satisfied with GMC Paul's service and pricing.

[BAT]

Thanks for your response Paul, I only checked 2 items and perhaps we both checked the same ones. As stated in my OP, I did not at all mean any disrespect what so ever. I also realize that many items purchased today are drop shipped from a wholesaler to the end user and many times the packing slip has the company's name which you bought from and the wholesaler's return address. I guess I was just a little surprised (or should I say just not expecting it).

That being said, I can say that there was an anomaly in my initial order that was quickly pointed out to me by your office and subsequently corrected. And I can also say that if I had simply placed an on-line order with just about any other company, I would have received exactly what I ordered and then have to deal with return shipping, etc. Also, my emails were promptly returned and were more "personal" than just canned responses. I can not speak to the quality yet for I have not gotten that far in to the 2 skids, but I am sure that based on the comments I have read in these forums I will be pleased. Lastly, I am a firm believer in you get what you pay for and if great customer service is going to cost me a few bucks then I have no issue paying the price (or saving in the long run which would have been the case if I placed the same order elsewhere).

So the bottom line is, will I order again from your company? I am confident that I can answer that with a yes. Thanks for the great service and now I can't wait until Saturday to tear in to those skids!!

BAT

[Mister-B]

Originally Posted by GMCPaul

BAT I went thru and reviewed your order with us. In the entire order their were 2 items that you could have purchased from Brothers retail for less than we sold to you for getting you a total savings before shipping of just over $10.00
After shipping the cost would probably hae worked out to be the same or more than us getting it delivered to you.
Of these 2 items you could have saved by buying direct from Brothers retail 1 of the items they recently raised our wholesale price on by nearly 15%, we adjusted our price accordingly when the wholesale cost when up. They I suspect will adjust their retail price on the same part upward once they get the new catalogs printed as has been their practice in the past.
The remainder of the order we were less than them on every part. Which helped you save around $175.00.
I do definately buy some items wholesale from Brothers plus from a few other vendors as I want the BEST parts there are and in order to get some of these parts you have to purchase it from other retailers that are having it made, and if I run out of a part and I know Brothers has it from the same supplier I'll get them to ship it rather than make you wait for it to arrive here then ship to you.
I also wholesale many of our items to other truck part retailers also and we do drop ship to their customers at times but thankfully to my knowledge we've never included their invoices or information in these drop ships to show the parts were from us as we even place their return address on the labels when we print them to ship.
I'm sorry if you felt slighted that you paid more, and you are correvct it does pay to shop around I do the same thing myself when shopping. Myself and the people I have working for me try our best and Always try to go the extra mile to keep our customers happy.
Paul @ GMCPauls

I checked out your site. Prices look decent. I did notice that your web site could definitely use an upgrade. It looks very circa 1998, and the background was a bit hard on he eyes. It's also a bit difficult to navigate.

Anyway, I know a good web designer. I can pm you his contact info if you want. I'm not affiliated in any way, other than he's done some web design for me
Posted via Mobile Device

[JointTech]

lol all the truck sites have atrocious websites. They should be embarrassed really. Its 2012, I dont want to call and talk to the sales people. The only site worth a **** is LMC. Unfortunately half their parts suck.

[Sequoyah]

Originally Posted by JointTech

lol all the truck sites have atrocious websites. They should be embarrassed really. Its 2012, I dont want to call and talk to the sales people. The only site worth a **** is LMC. Unfortunately half their parts suck.

The troof.

[ChevLoRay]

I needed some new rear coil spring mount/retainer and the bolts. I checked LMC and another vendor (not from the site), but both showed them to be out of stock, although the price for both sites was $29.95 for the set...plus shipping.

For tickles and grins, I checked Classic Industries. They had them, and their price was $14.95. With shipping, I got them for less than $24. I know that vendors do drop shipping...they have to at times.

[Shyguy]

I often have ordered from Classic Parts and LMC because they have good catalogs and supply them to me free.

LMC's catalog is also a good reference book, even if you don't order from them. I keep the different range of year catalogs on hand so I can see what is interchangeable between years.

I have checked out GMC Paul's website and found it bothersome, but on my next build I think I will check on ordering parts from there.

[GMCPaul]

BAT it is great to hear that your Happy with our service and that the guys / girls here were able to catch a error in your order. We try very hard to look out for order errors to prevent the need for returns and I'm very happy they caught one in advance.
I also did catch you saying you weren't dis ing any one at the beginning of your OP so I knew basically you weren't upset with us just and just pointing out to others it is best to price shop. I did do a little more checking and the battery tray we sold you for $54.95 that they are currently selling for $49.99 is a normal price of $74.99 and they are currently selling them at a discount.
Everybody else posting regarding our web site its all created by me originally and updated by me and those working here. We are quite often told by some web design customers and others that we should update the site to be more like other modern sites with tons of pics and links. But then I hear from many more thanking us that our pages load quickly and they love our site for this because they are rural and do not have access to high speed Internet. So I've kept the site basically pic free on the web pages and provide links instead that you can click on to view parts as it helps the page load faster. Anymore the big sites don't care about this and I've seen sites I've accessed from my home where I have no high speed access available take 5-10 minutes to load 1 frig-gin page. I hate it. So my site I develop the pages and try to keep the load time for them to less than 30 seconds if they are connected at 26kbps. I do need to change some things as I'm not totally happy with it on fullness of some descriptions, corrupted links caused by using more than 1 computer to update the web site server resulting in some broken links, but but running a small business, + a wooded ginseng farm and staying close with family pretty much eats up all my available time. I do though read and absorb for future reference the suggestions we receive. But having time or money to implement this is not always possible. The future will tell.
Thanks everyone for your kind woords and I'd like to wish you all A Very Happy & Safe Holiday Season amongst family & friends and hope that 2013 finds us all Healthy, Happy & Prosperous in the things that matter!!
Paul @ GMCPaul

[Custom 68]

If I remember correctly Paul was one of the original site sponsers on here, He and his crew are great to deal with like others have said. I have purchased quite a bit from him over time as well as a few others that are vendors. Thanks to all the vendors for their support and the great parts.
Happy holidays to you also Paul.