OEM-BMW parts from ebay in USA 1/3 the cost of NZ. WHY?

[kulgan 1042]

Why is it that the cost of BMW parts from parts suppliers in New Zealand(Repco, Supercheap,BNT) are generally 3 times the price of that which I can buy from ebay in the US.

A good example was the plastic thermostat cap that cracked on my E38 740i. A new plastic cap from Repco was $239 and yet I was able to purchace a better quality aluminium cap and a thermostat and have it shipped to NZ for $47.

I've just gone through a similar pricing with the rear wheel bearing.. Best price from NZ was $290. A OEM replacement bearing from the US on Ebay cost me $95 landed in NZ. These are quality OEM parts, not cheap Chinese knock offs.

Every time I need to buy a part I give the local shops a go and get thier prices but always I can find a part on ebay so so much cheaper.

So why the huge price difference? I've asked Repco why and thier response was that they really dont care.

Anybody else finding this? Where do you get your parts from?

[yng_750 247]

Old story. Short answer yes they are cheaper overseas. You can get things relativly cheap through our forum sponsors though.

Down side to the usa is high freight costs and wait time for parts. But its hard to compete with a country that has litterally thousands of times more bmws on the road.

Also overseas you have little chance of a refund or replacement with some sellers.

You may have to pay gst on arrival.

And many ebay oem parts are far from oem in reality.

So less cost but more risk and wait.

I go to pelican parts.com but only ecconomical if im buying lots.

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[yng_750 247]

Also i wouldnt be to hard on repco and the like. They may buy 1 or 2 of a part vs 1000 wheb a big us company gets then

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[Driftit 2069]

Economics 101.

And why on Earth would you buy BMW parts from any of those places.

Euro Italian

BM Workshop

BM World

Otherwise Pelican parts in the US has pretty much everything.

[jonesrp 63]

I`ve found the freight costs almost as much as the parts if you`re buying one off. Otherwise I could see a good business op. But it`s never that simple.

[sweetm3 180]

Economics 101

Small population, captive market

We can screw them

[yng_750 247]

economics isnt quite that simple. or sinister.

lets look at exchange rates.

5 years ago

100USD = $198NZD

today

100USD = $117NZD

see where the discount is coming from?

Buying with foreign currency in the us is now great unfortunately buying with USD is now terrible because its not worth anything.

SO you might think hey who cares we dont live in the US so we dont buy in with their money, problem is many countries like china will only accept payment in USD as their currency is to unsteady. so anything we own that comes out of countries like china or india or south America have gone up in price massively.

That would be ok but guess where the factory is getting alot of their OEM parts from now days? bearings, rubber, glass, plastics. alot are asian even on high class cars.

local costs more than foreign but both are a sh*t load cheaper than they were a decade ago.


And again economics of scale. if you are buying brake pads that every car goes through reguarly then its likely that repco or supercheap will do tem at a good price.

if you want a thermostat housing or similar that isnt common then dont expect them to have a great price.

#1 complaint about euro parts in big stores is "why dont you carry stock"???

answer. someone suggests an item. big company has 70 stores, decent stock levels dictate two per store as the restock time is 3 months.
So you have to buy 140 units. 140 units might cost you $6 each. add your freight and overheads. $14 each.total outlay $2359 add Margin $19 each. Add gst $21.85 each sale price

good business dictates that you should sell cost price worth of goods every 12 months at the absolute minimum.
so you must sell 108 units every year for it to make economic sense. and you still havent turned a profit. full profit of you sell them all? $700

VS online supplier. Buying 500 units. $4 each. Has their own container so freight per item is possibly $0.05, overheads are for a single warehouse vs 70 stores so maybe $0.20 each. outlay $2125. Sell price is $17 . to break even in 12 months 125. full profit if all sold? $6375

So each will have to sell similar amount of stock to break even. both taking similar risk but one is earning almost 10X what the other.

And then theres the target market. bmw usa sold 347,000 new cars in 2012 bmw NZ sold 1646 new cars in 2012. and if you want to include it 2180 bmw imports in 2012.

and then people say but why dont you keep this little part i need. even the dealerships dont bother anymore.

If the consumer insists on buying cheaply overseas, they have to recognise that they are getting a discount in exchange for.

. no consumer guarantees act.

. no same day supply.

. no face to face knowledgable service (i.e. no one to say you might actually need a different part from what you are ordering.)
. no warrenties if the part fails (many overseas will exchnage it but you have to pay $50 to send it back on a $30 part, plus another month wait)
. expect the gst threashold to come way down (aus is already dropping theirs to $50)
. expect our tax dollars to pay for the $10 of labour it takes to enforce a $2 gst charge

. and most importantly if the exchange rate goes back up and the online price doubles what happens if the little nz retailer has gone bust in the mean time.

its the same story everywhere. feel free to go into the "ray from hell bm is amazing" thread and explain how the guys at the local polytech charge less, see how that goes.
its apples and oranges. every purchase buys you a range of things, try not to focus on the physical ones.

[nath 134]

^ Well said. We don't just pay for that single item in our hand to come into existence. We pay for the ability of that business to continue to provide reliable service to us, for the assurance that there will be more available when needed, for the ability of any part supplier at all to remain viable in NZ.

[hybrid 1043]

I've asked Repco why and thier response was that they really dont care.

hahaha yeah, they care when people cotton on and go else where. However, these stores work off conveniance/weekend warrior factor.

For me, BM Workshop Parts division or Euro Italian for parts these days. While theyre only a few dollars more expensive than ebay or other etailers overseas, feel good factor in supporting the locals and theyre in stock 95% of the time.

Way cheaper than the retailers with superior product OEM or OE.

[vtgts300kw 90]

On that note, how much is a E30 Front Wheel Bearing locally?

[yng_750 247]

360 at supercheap. For a whole hub unit.

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[vtgts300kw 90]

360 at supercheap. For a whole hub unit.

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$194 at BMWorkshop I just found out. So only $50 more expensive than Turner in the USA.

You'll generally be able to get pretty close ( price wise ) here in NZ. The only real benefit in shopping overseas is the range of product.

[yng_750 247]

Exactly. Ive found overseas that you can compinants where here you can get only complete units

Also bear in mind sometimes aftermarket are better then oem.

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[Dogballs 115]

a good supplier Ive found:

http://www.ecstuning.com

had very good service sor far...

sell both OEM and after market parts

as mentioned above, save more on freight when you get more than one item at a time etc..

[Mr2low 57]

Best price in nz for rear wheel bearing for the e38

$290 really we list two different options list price on one is 131+ the other 223+ I'm guessing the thermostat cap is a radiator cap 45+

E30 front hub assembly 185+

These are all list price

[vtgts300kw 90]

a good supplier Ive found:

http://www.ecstuning.com

had very good service sor far...

sell both OEM and after market parts

as mentioned above, save more on freight when you get more than one item at a time etc..

They do look good. Shipping is a bit cheaper than elsewhere, prices seem similar on what I've compared.

[gjm 3258]

I needed new rear discs for the E46 Touring. Brent at BMWorld was local and very helpful, had a pair of discs and set of pads (used but not very much at all). Sadly saloon rear brake parts don't fit a Touring.

Spoke to Paul at Milland who was able to supply very economically. This is in no way a slight to any other dealers and/or forum sponsors, who may have also been able to help - Milland's number was handy and I was in a hurry! Not so much of a hurry that I had to go to Repco, though.

Repco, SCA and the like cater for the mass-market. Yesterday I needed a headlight bulb - H7, 12V, 55W. The one that had blown came from Repco (it was stamped on the base) and as luck would have it, we were at Dick Smith in Pukekohe, next door to Repco.

Repco did not have a H7 55W bulb on display. Not. A. Single. One.

OK, they had lots of H7 55W +30%, white, arctic white, blue, +50% and other variations, but not a single plain, vanilla, ordinary item. (Mismatched bulbs will fail a WoF.) I asked at the counter and after about 5 minutes, and having checked the display themselves, they found one 'out the back'. It was about $5 more than a +30% item.

I'm not that fussed - I need one bulb and would have otherwise had to buy a pair. But when standard costs more than a purportedly uprated one, it shows where the market is going if nothing else.

[M3_Power 636]

I am just curious how many of you have shown proof to local dealership parts supplier the overseas pricing and ask them to see how close they could match it?

I can honestly say I hardly buy stuff from overseas now and support the local suppliers.

Wait till you have a bad experience and struggle to get your money back on an expensive item despite knowing all the ins and outs of how to do it - or have a part break within the warranty period and realise that you have little to no come back against the o/s supplier (or the cost of sending the item back outweighed the savings many times over).

I recently purchased a shut-off valve that was $140 (about $20 more than trying to import it from o/s) ... luckily I purchased local as the first 2 that came through were of the incorrect length from BMW Germany and had no chance of fitting at all - it was only based on the fact that there was direct communication from the official channels to tell BMW that this part has been manufactured incorrectly (probably a whole batch of them) that I was finally able to procure a correctly manufactured item. Try that with an o/s supplier - you'll get no where.

Edited March 17, 2014 by M3_Power

[Driftit 2069]

I buy all my BMW parts through Gavin at Euro Italian. He always finds me what I need quickly. I usually don't have time to wait 2 weeks for an essential part.

But I buy all of my performance parts from overseas. Getting anything here is a costly chore, but mostly just not available.

[sweetm3 180]

I am just curious how many of you have shown proof to local dealership parts supplier the overseas pricing and ask them to see how close they could match it?

New water pump $750, gave them the evil eye and quoted offshore price ....$200 discount.

Also had a conversion with a sponsored racer $70 part for my car, was only $6. for his car BMW cost price.

I can honestly say I hardly buy stuff from overseas now and support the local suppliers.

BMW nz $800 a corner brake rotors, hoses,pads. All 4 corners Turner motorsports, shipped approx $1200nz (had to say no to the brake fluid)

Wait till you have a bad experience and struggle to get your money back on an expensive item despite knowing all the ins and outs of how to do it - or have a part break within the warranty period and realise that you have little to no come back against the o/s supplier (or the cost of sending the item back outweighed the savings many times over).

I have also now been in this position (Now got myself a spare vanos cost $1000nz) but all in all my experiences which have not all been smooth going, I have found that the suppliers are more than happy to come to the party if somethings not right. It's a small world now. (imported parts approx $ 10,000 nz).

I recently purchased a shut-off valve that was $140 (about $20 more than trying to import it from o/s) ... luckily I purchased local as the first 2 that came through were of the incorrect length from BMW Germany and had no chance of fitting at all - it was only based on the fact that there was direct communication from the official channels to tell BMW that this part has been manufactured incorrectly (probably a whole batch of them) that I was finally able to procure a correctly manufactured item. Try that with an o/s supplier - you'll get no where.

BBK $3800nz spent, wrong offset on front hats, received replacement no extra cost, saving $1500 nz

Foot note

I don't begrudge company's making a profit, but when I can buy something from oversea, get it way cheaper, get it here quicker, what can I say

maybe I'm tight or maybe you're earning too much

Edited March 17, 2014 by sweetm3

[Eagle 1661]

I'll buy local if its reasonably priced, available or i need asap. For me its usually alot less hassle to shop online, you know all the prices, stock levels etc, and only takes a week to arrive usually.

The issue i encounter with local is the older\less common parts that aren't stocked, which you gotta wait 2 weeks for(understandably) eg M30 intake gaskets - couldn't find them anywhere in NZ(luckily Brent had some).

[NZ BMW 368]

High NZD

Higher volumes

More competitive market

Personally I've started buying stuff from the US. I have an address there to ship to and can have something on my doorstep in about 4-5 if I really need to. I'd like to say that I want to support local parts suppliers but with the exception of a few like Hell BMW I don't see them adding any extra value to me, I find most have crappy service and there are no good NZ based online stores so why bother? Even if some parts I buy offshore are bad I can often afford to buy two or three landed for the same cost so it's worth the risk.

[Driftit 2069]

I'll buy local if its reasonably priced, available or i need asap. For me its usually alot less hassle to shop online, you know all the prices, stock levels etc, and only takes a week to arrive usually.

The issue i encounter with local is the older\less common parts that aren't stocked, which you gotta wait 2 weeks for(understandably) eg M30 intake gaskets - couldn't find them anywhere in NZ(luckily Brent had some).

I got them off the shelf from Gavin at Euro Italian. Still sitting in my garage while I wait 5 weeks for one part to come back that was sent incorrectly from the states.

[jake1829 119]

a good supplier Ive found:

http://www.ecstuning.com

had very good service sor far...

sell both OEM and after market parts

as mentioned above, save more on freight when you get more than one item at a time etc..

Used ecs for a number of purchases - quick, easy and done well imo

Decided to replace all the coil packs in my 335i ( 6 coilpacks)

BMW NZ - $150+GST ea

BMWorkshop - $100+GST ea

ECS tuning - shipped and arrived at my door - NZ $380 for all 6

[Allanw 1071]

I use Milland almost exclusively. (I've brought the odd part with an order of other stuff for the VW etc now and then).

Pricing is good, speed is good, and he'll get me genuine parts cheaper than the dealer will give them to me, and order the right part (The dealer I called kept quoting the wrong part, and wouldn't listen to me!).

I do buy a LOT of other stuff overseas. This week, I've probably spent $1K on bike parts for my commuter bike (which is a $75 Diamondback from 1996 ). Thing is, buying the bits here costs a fortune! For the same price as my local bike shop can supply no-name spokes and an "average" rim, I got DT spokes, Mavic Rim, a new chain and rear cluster... all shipped from the UK!

Then just last night, the order I made was only $160 (the places I use in the UK all seem to charge a flat rate 8 pounds for shipping!), to get "similar" items here... I'd have to go to at least 3 different places AND pay more... Plus freight in NZ tends to be around $15 per order... or $16 from the UK for parts (including a new 26" rim!)

BTW, UK shipping is always WAY cheaper than the US!

Weirdly... (assuming we all know that the Prius is the "anticar", and a manual is a proper transmission)... my hybrid Human/Electric bike is soon to be fitted with a CVT trans